One year, my classroom theme was sports-related, and my class was called “Team Newingham.” The students were sports stars, and I was the coach. Here are a few ways I’ve incorporated this theme into the first week of school:

• On the first day of school, I gave each student a hat with felt self-adhesive numbers stuck to the front indicating our room number.
• As a first-week activity, students created pennants to hang in the classroom and the hallway with slogans like "Go Team," "Work Together," "Be a Good Sport," and "Room 13 Winners."
• Another first-week activity was creating individual baseball cards. I made a simple template that resembled an oversized baseball card and students filled in personal information including their height, their birthday and city of birth, favorite hobbies, number of people in their families, etc. This was a great way to get to know my new "team." We hung the completed cards in the hallway.

Check out photos and download materials to create your own team theme.