Tricks of the Trade & Giveaway!!!!

It is finally Thursday and I am very happy to see it!  Today, I am teaming up with two of my favorite girls, Jessica from Joy in the Journey and Becky from Compassionate Teacher, for their Thursday linky party- Tricks of the Trade.  Today's topic: Transitions and Attention-Getters.

Attention-Getters:

1. I use a whole brain teaching attention-getter.  I say, "class" and the students respond, "yes".  If I change my voice in any way, the students have to mimic my voice when they respond.  I sometimes will say, "class, class, class" and they will have to respond, "yes, yes, yes".  Or I will say it really soft to see who is listening.  This works well, I even have told the special teachers about it and they use it with my class.

2. A bell.  I sometimes change up my attention-getting.  I will use a bell.  When the students hear the bell, they must freeze and focus their eyes on me.  It works very well when they are being extremely noisy.

Transitions:

1. Music.  Last year, I would have a morning meeting with my students everyday.  We would go over the plan for the day, do some math review and a little language arts review.  I found that my students were lingering completing their morning tasks and needed a gauge as to when they needed to be at the rug.  I found a song that was 4 minutes and 30 seconds long and that became our cue that we needed to get to the rug.  I would play the song with about five minutes left to go and when it came on they knew they had to be at the rug when the song finished.  It worked great.  When we first started, students would be at the rug right away.  After a while, they knew the song so well and would gauge their time more wisely to be at the rug. 

2. Timer. A timer is a teacher's best friend, I think.  I will often time my students to take out their books or when we are packing up in the afternoon.  I will sometimes in the morning project a timer on my board for the kids to see, showing them how much time is left to complete an assignment.  I will also use individual timers for students who take a long time and need help with time management.

Now for a very exciting opportunity....

I have decided since I passed my May goal of 50 followers way before I every thought I would.  The only way to repay all of you was to have a 50 follower giveaway!  You have the opportunity to win four books and two items from my TPT store!  You have until Sunday night to enter and I will choose one winner and announce it on Monday!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Well, that is all folks!  Have a great rest of your Thursday!

Rosie