Submitted by Andrea Cope, Texas

Idea posted September 14, 2004

In fifth grade, we have Music Olympics, which lasts all year. I divide my fifth grade classes (six total) into four countries each, and they compete across the grade level. Everything they do earns points: from pitch matching, to notation quizzes, to recorder levels, to cooperation, to bringing supplies for the teachers in the lower grades, you name it...it earns points. My husband even gets into it through Boy Scouts. On campouts they ask him to tell me all the songs they sing around the campfire so they can earn points. We even have kids come up to us in restaurants and volunteer to sing a scale or do a dance to earn points. One kid even knocked on the door and offered to mow the grass (we regretfully turned him down). Every six weeks they have a set of challenges they can do for extra points. Some examples:

  • Go to a high school football game and get an autograph from the tuba player (after halftime)
  • Watch a musical with someone over 60 years old. As for proof, students have to fill out a written form. Everyone who watched has to sign and answer a few easy questions, mostly opinion based. Points for attending a musical, ballet or opera require a copy of the program.
  • Present facts (orally, without written notes) about your Olympic country
  • Share food, dance, or a song from your Olympics country
  • Share food, dance, or a song from the country of your heritage
  • Compose and perform a parody that makes me laugh
  • Compose, notate, and perform a piece for recorder, xylophone, piano or violin
  • Write a story in which the main character lives in your country
  • Find an adult who works in the school building (but not a fifth grade teacher) who has a connection to your country. That gets them talking to the rest of the school staff.
  • Once a season, all ten high schools put on their halftime/competition shows in the football stadium for Marching Band Night. My kids only have to stay for three shows to get their points (because it's a school night). It brings out families and gets everyone all excited about band. To get points, they have to find me in the stands and sign in. That's half the fun! (The people sitting around me always ask why there are kids jumping up and down pointing to me and calling out the names of countries.)
  • And my favorite - dazzle me! Points unlimited!

I am the all-powerful, totally autocratic queen of points. I give points if I catch someone being kind, especially if it's anonymous. Some are noted in advance (50 points per movie), and others are unlimited and totally subjective. Other teachers can also make suggestions of groups or individuals they think deserve bonus points. We developed a free market economy in which the countries can sell their tutoring skills or facts they've researched to other countries for a point fee.

I keep track of the points on my seating charts. There are four sets of risers, and each country is assigned to a riser, so that part is pretty simple. At least once a week I post points for them to see. I've tried lots of ways to do that and haven't come up with the perfect system yet, but I'm getting close. First, I made an alphabetical chart, laminated it, and updated totals with a dry erase marker. Too many curious and excited fingers kept wiping away the numbers. It was also too hard for them to figure place when it was alphabetical. So then I started listing them from first to last place on chart paper and posting them in my room or outside my door. Most recently, I wrote the countries on sentence strips, cut them apart, and laminated them. Then, I put magnet strips on the back of each one. I made three long strips numbered 1-8, 2-16, and 17-24, also backed with magnets. I can move their country to the appropriate number so they can see their place. They still wanted to see the point total, so I wrote that in next to each country in chalk. I even wrote the difference between each one and the one above it in parentheses so they could see their goal. This process worked pretty well, but it took a lot of time and wiped out my blackboard space. After big projects or tests, I ranked the teams on chart paper so they could see how their individual efforts affected the group. That was very effective. Kids known to be lazy were whipped into shape pretty quickly by their fellow countrymen.

The initial groupings are fairly random. I just divide each class into four groups and we stick with it all year. Each group has to have an ambassador, though they can change who that is at any time. Group activities are a piece of cake, because they're already sitting in their groups. Ambassadors pass out supplies and keep everyone on task. Many of the groups end up with two or more kids who can't get along, but there is no moving. Part of the process is to learn to work things out, just like in the real world. Any new students are quickly brought up to speed so they can help earn points in their country. Very rarely does anyone ask what they get if they win, but my answer is "smarter."

The winning group from this year (Nigeria) was the "loser" class; they were way down at the bottom of the heap both academically and behaviorally. Their teachers couldn't believe they won and by over 50,000 points! At one point, I found out they were helping another country in their class (in last place) to move up, and they were doing it for free. At least one member of the Nigerian team was in my room every single morning at 7:30 a.m. to earn points. None of the other groups were as diligent. They were still earning points the day AFTER they were announced as the winners at the big awards assembly. To celebrate their win, we had a Nigerian celebration that included a private drum circle and a Nigerian snack. They were so proud of what they had done. Just before they went back to class, they had a big, spontaneous group hug and pepped each other up for middle school.

The kids in the lower grades follow the point chart and are all revved up about it by the time they get to fifth grade.