My sons third grade teacher did this clapping rythm. As soon as the kids heard it, they had to repeat it. It was her way of getting the classes attention and it worked really well. Whenever I was in the class helping out, I was surprised at how quiet the class became after that.

I’ve worked as a substitute teacher, and I like subbing for second grade more than I do for any other grade level. They seem to be so much more manageable. I’ve found many incentives that work. One of them that works well is that the quietest get to line up first, whether it’s lining up for a restroom break, lining up to go to phys. ed. class, lining up to go to lunch, or lining up for end-of-the-day dismissal. If they don’t get quiet, they’ll be late for wherever they are going. Being the teacher’s helper or being the first person to choose are also strong incentives. One second grade teacher I know kept a guinea pig in her classroom, and the most well-behaved students were the ones who would get the opportunity to feed it.

My secondgrader used to do Timberwolf quiet, and pinch her ring finger, middle finger and thumb together (the other fingers were apparently *ears*)….Timberwolf was her school’s mascot.

Oh I just read a great tip on this…you could get a music box and wind it up at the beginning of the day. Explain to the kids that whenever they are too loud, you will play the music and turn it off once they are quiet…If at the end of the day there is still music left on the box, they will get a reward…a sticker or a treat or something.

Try this site too:

http://home.att.net/~clnetwork/quiet.htm

Second grade was a long time ago for me but one thing i do remember was that our teacher had this cute system of “pulling cards.” We would have this chart with all our names on them and each one contained a green, yellow, then a red card. If we were caught talking or something else we were not suppose to do we had to pull a card. If we got down to the red card we were not allowed to go outside for recess. Its not a cute rhyme or song but it got the job done, good luck!

Ask them politely first, children-even 2nd graders-are intelligent and like to be respected. I would recommend turning off the lights as a warning or counting down from five-if it takes them longer than five start count seconds and that’s how long they get to miss recess. Children respect respect and also love their playtime-especially when it is a reward not just expected.

A Bullwhip. Works every time. j/k.. It’s not nearly as much what you say to them but how you say it. Flex your tones a little. When you are teaching you speak with them in your “normal” voice. When you reprimand them you presumably speak to them in a different tone. Take the tone you use when you reprimand them.. and take it down just a notch. The main ingredient though is respect. If they don’t respect you you could ask them in a milliion different ways in a million different tones and it would do no good at all.

Flip the lights off as a signal. Kids get the visual hint, and you don’t have to yell yourself silly. You could do the clapping rythm thing, or rhyme once the lights are off, I suppose.

How do you do it? I once thought I’d like to teach, until I spent a day with my son’s class…I’ll stick to auditing, instead. But Thanks for teaching!

Do a clapping rhyme or ring a bell

-teach them chinese whispers…..this way they will we quite and soft spoken in class.

-do a black point marking…. divide students into groups and tell them which ever group makes a noise or misbehaves in class they will get black point and a star for pupils that are good… at the end of every week reward the most disiplined group.

-teach them to play name place animal thing on paper.. this is a quite game and keeps kids busy.

-give them lots of pictures to colour … kids love colouring.

-read them a story… good fairytales always keeps kids amused and holds their attention for a long time.

whisper your directions to them

clapping rythym

catchy phrase that goes with your theme (example–I have a pirate theme so I say “All hands on deck!” and the kids throw their hands in the air and reply “Aye-aye captain!”)

lights off

thank the kids by name for doing the right thing (even if they aren’t when you thank them, they will start at that point)