Try It Before You Buy It!

Don't you wish you could try everything out for about a week before you buy it? Shoes, that dress that seemed cute from Old Navy at the time... you get the idea. Well...a few weeks ago I came across a fabulous idea on...you guessed it... Pinterest!

The idea is that kids use hand signals to ask to leave the classroom! I was immediately intrigued. My group this year has had a "yelling out problem" as of late, and I started to think that it wasn't necessarily the fact that they were leaving that was bugging me...it was the fact that I was hearing, "Mrs. Tackett can I go to the bathroom?" every five minutes.

I decided to simplify the system and explained to my kiddos that they were going to be taking part in a little "experiment." Naturally, they were beyond excited. I wrote on the whiteboard the numbers and explained that when they needed to leave the room they were to raise their hand, with their hand in the shape of the number, letting me know where they needed to go.

1- bathroom
2- locker
3- drink
4- sharpen pencil (they are only allowed to sharpen pencils when I'm teaching if it is an emergency)

We decided as a class that "5" was pointless, since that is the shape their hand is in when they have a question.

Well what do you know? The system is FANTASTIC! I can't believe how effective it is! And...I don't have to hear my name every five minutes! I am so glad I started this system out with my kiddos this year so that next year I can make any tweaks or changes. Plus, now I have experience dealing with this new system!

I definitely recommend trying new things out in the classroom as soon as you see fit...don't wait until "next year." Let your students now be the experimenters...you may be amazed at the results!