As teachers, we all know setting good exceptions and demonstrating correct behaviors and actions are CRUCIAL to a successful classroom.
Our students will transition to and from many activities in a school day. How will they know what to do or how to react? We know how valuable our time is in the day and we don't want to waste it on crazy transitions.
One tool I used last year was call and response. I found this free on on Teachers Pay Teachers called Attention Grabbers. Basically, the teacher makes a call and the students respond. These take practice, practice, and more practice. We used "macaroni and cheese"---"everybody freeze". I taught my students to freeze with their hands on their heads. This helped them completely stop whatever they were doing and focus on me for directions. We added a new one later in the year where I would call "Shark Fins" and the students would freeze and put their hands up over their heads like shark fins. These were fun and worked great. The kids liked them too BUT if the room was nosey it might take me calling twice for everyone to hear.
Over the summer I was following the blog The Kindergarten Smorgasboard. Mr. Greg has TONS of wonderful ideas about just about anything to do with the classroom. Well, one day I happened upon his post about his wireless doorbell. I was hooked. I immediately went on Amazon and ordered me one. I went with the Anko Wireless Doorbell. It was a cheaper model than the one Mr. Greg used but it fit my budget so I went with it.
Ya'll..... I LOVE this gadget sooo sooo much! Like seriously, stop what you are doing and go get you one!
I have used those little desk bells to signal students in class while in public school but this thing is so much better.
You can pick from tons of tons and it has a good range of volume controls.
So....you may be asking....how do I use this in my room? Well, I'm so glad you asked! :D I use it all throughout the day. The first week of school I introduced it as my "Magic Button". I told the students that I have this very special, super cool Magic Button in our room. (cue- big eyes of wonder from 16 little faces!) I asked if they would like to hear it to which of course they all approved. I told them that my Magic Button was so very special....that when you hear it, you must stop what you are doing, put your finger on your button (mouth) and freeze! I was very dramatic in this as you can probably imagine---I mean, you have to sell it to them right? I asked them again if they would like to see how it worked and again they approved so I pressed it and we all "magically" stopped what we were doing, put our fingers on our lips, and froze! Now, as you can imagine...we had to practice this many times. We made it a game similar to freeze tag to get them use to it. As our class began to do learning centers, the magic button became their signal to clean up and get ready to move. Our magic button tells us when to clean up morning centers, learning centers, when the class volume gets too loud, or really any time I need to get their attention. This simple tool saves my voice from having to yell out a call to response over the voices of 16 little people.
So....you may be asking....how do I use this in my room? Well, I'm so glad you asked! :D I use it all throughout the day. The first week of school I introduced it as my "Magic Button". I told the students that I have this very special, super cool Magic Button in our room. (cue- big eyes of wonder from 16 little faces!) I asked if they would like to hear it to which of course they all approved. I told them that my Magic Button was so very special....that when you hear it, you must stop what you are doing, put your finger on your button (mouth) and freeze! I was very dramatic in this as you can probably imagine---I mean, you have to sell it to them right? I asked them again if they would like to see how it worked and again they approved so I pressed it and we all "magically" stopped what we were doing, put our fingers on our lips, and froze! Now, as you can imagine...we had to practice this many times. We made it a game similar to freeze tag to get them use to it. As our class began to do learning centers, the magic button became their signal to clean up and get ready to move. Our magic button tells us when to clean up morning centers, learning centers, when the class volume gets too loud, or really any time I need to get their attention. This simple tool saves my voice from having to yell out a call to response over the voices of 16 little people.
SO....wireless doorbells for the classroom....a MUST HAVE :D
P.S. You may want to share this with your neighbor teachers ---they will come ask you about the weird bells or chimes they keep randomly hearing hahaha!
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