Teams

Teams are groups comprised of four students that are formed to fight alongside one another and against other teams while training to be Hunters at Beacon Academy. So far, only three teams are known - Team RWBY, Team JNPR, and Team CRDL.

Beginning
The day after arriving to Beacon Academy, first-year students - such as Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, and others - are gathered at the edge of the Beacon Cliffs overlooking the Emerald Forest. The headmaster and an accompanying Hunter stand before them, explaining the rules of the Beacon Academy Initiation: After being launched from the Cliff and landing in the forest below, the first pair of students to make eye contact with each other are partners for the rest of their time at Beacon, which consists of four years.

This process makes up two of the necessary four members in a team and in Players and Pieces, it is revealed that the other two members are added based on a matching relic found at the abandoned temple, with the leader being chosen by Ozpin based on who in the team showed the best leadership skills during the exam.

RWBY

 * Ruby Rose
 * Weiss Schnee
 * Blake Belladonna
 * Yang Xiao Long

JNPR

 * Jaune Arc
 * Nora Valkyrie
 * Pyrrha Nikos
 * Lie Ren

CRDL

 * Cardin Winchester
 * Russel Thrush
 * Sky Lark
 * Dove Bronzewing

Trivia

 * Since first-year students were seen speculating how teams were going to be formed and even asking others to join theirs the morning before being assigned teammates, it seems that the process and details of creating teams at Beacon are kept secret until the initiation. Glynda herself calls what the students heard as "rumors", although Pyrrha apparently knew the teams consisted of four students each beforehand and Nora was aware that the test would take place in the forest.
 * It is unknown what would happen if the first-year students that survive the initiation are not divisible by four or an even number, as they would not be able to create pairs or full teams. It is possible that the left-over students are made their own team, or they could be absorbed into other teams to make them consist of five or more members.
 * There were twenty pedastals visible in the temple; ten of each colour, both divided into five pairs: pawns, rooks, knights, bishops, and the crown pieces.  Since selection of pieces appears to be the key to sorting pairs into teams, this suggests there were places for at least ten teams of four freshmen in that year.  (Although there did not appear to be fourty freshmen launched from the cliff and it's unknown if ten whole teams survived the initiation.)
 * Each team has its own motif. RWBY's is color, JNPR's is warriors, and CRDL's is birds.
 * In episode 8, two teams were seen working together for the first time; however, it was before the offcial formation of both teams, RWBY & JNPR.
 * Currently, information is only known about teams RWBY and JNPR, with CRDL still to have further information to be revealed about them.