My little blog has been so neglected. I don’t even remember the last time I blogged! I am going into week 5 of the school year, I can’t believe it! Teaching, planning, and life have kept me plenty busy {I’m sure you understand}. I’m back to share my pinterest pins, borrowed ideas, and classic classroom management skills to keeping your kiddos quiet during “teacher time”/”independent work time”/”reading time” or whenever you just need some peace and quiet 😉
1. LET THEM TALK {on topic}
Kids are talkative {and teachers for that matter too}! Whenever possible, talk less as the teacher and allow them to use their little voices together. How does this look? Stop calling one student at a time ALL the time. Assign them table groups or partners to talk with. Pose the question and give them a minute to discuss with their tables or partners. I do group talk, but I also assign partners for a little more organization and participation. I like to use “Peanut Butter Jelly Time”. If you’ve ever seen the Family Guy song, you’ll know what I’m talking about {if not, watch below}.
We just sing “It’s peanut butter jelly time peanut butter jelly time peanut butter jelly time” and put our hands together as two pieces of bread. Each student is assigned to be pb or j with another student. Then I tell them it’s pb’s turn to talk or jelly’s turn to talk. They love it and it gets out jitters as well as the talkies. They can’t stay silent for very long, so break it up throughout the day allowing them time to talk {on topic} with their peers as much as possible.
2. THE WHISPER BELL
Do you have one of those “teacher bells”??
Who doesn’t? I have used mine several different ways in the past couple years {attention getter, paper gatherers, transition starter…}.
But I recently came across this video from Teacher Tipster…
I started this with my kids and they love it. Everytime they hear the bell they whisper “WHISPER BELLLLLLLLL”. It’s a good reminder for them that they need to be whispering, not yelling!
3. VOICE LEVEL CHART
I’m sure many of you have something like this:
A voice level chart must be practiced. You need to review the levels with the students and have them practice what each level sounds like.
4. REWARDS
{this is intertwined with behavior management as well}
Classroom rewards is always a way to keep the kids in line 😉 I use table points/bean jars/dojo points…
Table Points-each table will receive a point for doing a direction quickly and quietly, at the end of the week the table with the most points gets to pull from the prize box.
Bean Jar-Everytime the class as a whole gets a compliment for being quiet in the halls they get a handful of beans in their jar. They get beans for waiting patiently and quietly while the teacher talks to an adult {when those pesky parent visitors come in for a “chat”} or working quietly. I’ve also seen things like this:
little fuzz balls can be used as “warm fuzzies” for kindness or even “quiet fuzzies” for when they are quiet 😉 When they fill the jar, we get some sort of class party.
Class Dojo-the wonder maker. If you haven’t seen this yet, please check out Mrs. Lamb’s Class blog post on how to use Class Dojo. It is an online behavior management system.
Class Dojo can be used for individuals, whole group, and small groups. You can pick the positive and negative points {such as: working quietly or shouting out}. You can even text with the parents!
How do you keep your kiddos silent when you need that peace&quiet? I’d love to hear from you!
Tania says
I may try this. My children have not found their whisper voice in the last 5 weeks.
Can you hear myself modeling (whispering)? 🙂
tania
My Second Sense