Classroom Call Backs (Attention Getters)

     Ever stop to count the number of times you have to get children's attention throughout the day? Neither have I! But I would guess we're talking double digits. Multiply that by 5 days in a school week and your clap/clap/stomp, lights out, or "All set/You Bet," gets real old by the end of the first week! So if your "Macaroni Cheese/Everybody Freeze" isn't as "chill" as it once was, you might need to add a few more attention getters to your teacher's toolbox!

     So to help meet my own attention getter "quotas," I created some call and response rhymes/chants for each month of the school year.

Here's how they work:

      In September, I'll introduce the two call backs and use them repeatedly until the children know them well. When October arrives, the same rhymes/chants are altered slightly to reflect a seasonal theme providing a novel, but consistent routine for gaining children's attention.  For example, in the “Ten Up on Top” call back, children are "holding up" apples in September, pumpkins in October, pies in November and so on. With the "head and shoulders" call back, children "freeze" like different seasonal characters such as scarecrows, monsters, or turkeys.  Even within a month such as October, there is lots of opportunity for variation as you can substitute "candy corn" for "pumpkins"  or "mummy" for "monster." 

You can get the March FREEBIE here:

or the whole set here:

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Have fun with those Kinders and thanks for dropping by!

Jackie

 

    

  

    

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Class Cheers

    When I was pregnant with my first child, I noticed pregnant women everywhere! Certainly pregnant women were nothing new, but I was tuned-in in a way that I had never been before. Positivity is like that too! The more you look, the more you’ll find! 
    While there are lots of ways to reinforce positive behavior, I’m not a fan of many of them.  Mostly because there is often a flip-side to these techniques where something is taken away or witheld when behavior is not-so-positive.  There’s a lot of see-sawing and keeping track and I have a hard time being consistent and equitable.  Maybe that’s just me! 

     Class cheers, however, are something I can really rally around!  They encourage me to look for the positive and, together with the children, celebrate accomplishments, good deeds, kind words, and more! They are also just plain fun and the kiddos light up like a Christmas tree when the cheer is for them!

     So, if you’d like a few cheers in your “back pocket,” I’ve written one for each month of the school year allowing you to introduce a new seasonally-themed cheer from September to June. Use these to recognize individual children, partnerships, teams, or even the whole class while building classroom community and creating a positive learning environment. 

You can get the March Cheer FREEBIE here:

or the whole set here!

You might also like this:

Thanks for dropping by!

Jackie

   

  

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Hands-in-Your-Lap Rhymes

      While criss-cross applesauce might seem like magic in September, it has usually lost its charm by December.  So if you’re like me and find that your classroom management needs a tune-up right about now, try these monthly hands-in-your-lap rhymes to provide a consistent, but novel routine for gaining children’s attention. 

     The first two lines of each rhyme invite children to move their hands in fun and engaging ways such as flickering like a candle, kneading dough, or flying like a bird. In the third line, the word “lap,” introduced in the September rhyme, is playfully switched out to match a seasonal theme and children can imagine their lap as a mixing bowl, mailbox, flower pot, nest and more.  The last line, Ready, set, go! is repeated throughout and signals to children that teaching and learning is about to begin!

You can get the March Hands-in-Your-Lap rhyme FREEBIE here:

or the whole set here!

You might also like this:

Thanks for dropping by!

Jackie

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