A few months again we started the Leadership League in our classroom. I revamped our Homework Club so that the focus is now on behavior rather than homework and I couldn’t be happier with the switch!

History of the Homework Club:

I first posted about our class homework club in 2012, and have used it every year since. It even received an updated makeover in 2013 to match my new colorful chalkboard theme. This year we started off with the homework club, however due to a change in our homework structure, students did not have much homework. Our 5th grade math curriculum is challenging, and I found that providing students with extra support in the classroom and having opportunities for students to work on problem-solving together was much more effective than sending it home with them to try to do on their own. At the end of every month however, my students always asked if we could do something related to our homework club, so I knew I wanted to keep the idea, but tie it to something else besides homework. Of course, the first thing that popped into my head was behavior!

The Leadership League:

I wanted to come up with a reward for my students who are constantly exhibiting leadership qualities by setting a positive example for their classmates, so I decided to create the Leadership League for students who have exemplary behavior for the entire month. My students helped come up with the name… at this point in the year, I had a lot of students who were really into the Lunch Lady series, and book #2 is all about the League of Librarians! The Leadership League name was born from that, thanks to the fun alliteration!

At the end of each month, we will celebrate in a similar way as we did with the homework club. I eat lunch with students in our classroom, we put on music, chat, and I give them a small something, like a homework pass. The students cherish this time and it is a great way for us to celebrate the positive community that they are helping build in our classroom!

If you would like to make your own Leadership League board, I’ve provided some affiliate links for your shopping convenience!

Materials & Instructions:

• Round pizza pan (similar here)
• Chalkboard spray paint
• Ribbon
• Chalk Ink markers
• Numbers (you can get mine here)
• Peel and stick magnet dots
• Hot glue gun

To make the Leadership League board I spray painted a pizza pan and after it dried I attached ribbon to the back with hot glue. I put peel and stick magnet dots on the back of my laminated numbers and wrote “Leadership League” on the board in a chalk ink marker. The board is pretty heavy, but it hangs easily on a clip above our white board. You could also hold it up with a heavy duty whiteboard magnet.

Since I have a large class, when I printed my chalkboard numbers, I changed the print settings so that they printed a little smaller than the original size. That made sure that there was room for all the numbers on the pizza pan!

Behavior Management Systems:

The Leadership League can work with whatever current behavior management system you have in place. I like to start the month with everyone in the Leadership League, because it reinforces the idea that everyone can be a leader. If students don’t exemplify leadership behavior during that month, however, they are removed from the Leadership League until the following month. When we started this a few months ago, I was still using our clip chart, however since then I have started using Class Dojo. In order to stay in the Leadership League, students have to have 80% or above positive behavior points for each week during the month. We usually check the points for the week on Fridays, and then I have student helpers who take numbers off of our Leadership League board if needed.

My students and I love the shift of our Homework Club to Leadership League and the focus on exhibiting leadership behaviors! I’d love to know if you try this out in your classroom, and of course, let me know if you have any questions!