If you don't have their attention, it's like teaching to the air. The thing is, getting kid's attention isn't really hard if you know the tricks! Once you have their attention, it's time for that great lesson you spent all night preparing! How do you do that? My favorite technique is using small celebrations, which means chants and cheers. Chants get everyone on the same page, and eager to learn. Cheers are used to celebrate a great answer, or following the rules. Everyone gets in on the fun, and it's a real ego-booster for the child who receives the celebration. Both cheers and chants are super quick to do, but dynamite in what they can achieve!
How do they work?
Chants:
Chants are perfect to get kids (all of them) to do something you want done. It doesn't matter if it's cleaning up, taking out a book or whatever. Use a chant and everyone gets in on the fun. A few chant videos are included below.
Cheers:
Cheers are perfect for celebrating any small achievement. If the class is extra quick following a direction, have a cheer. If a student answers a difficult question, time for everyone to give him a cheer. It's extra fun if the student gets to choose the cheer the class will do for them. Trust me, it makes EVERYONE smile. It's important to have a class list somewhere, and mark off each child as they are chosen for a cheer. You don't want to skip anyone. It's a very powerful motovator, especially for that problem child who doesn't often get possitive reinforcement. An added bonus is that kids go home and tell their parents when they get a cheer. I can't even tell you how many of my parents have mentioned the cheers, and what a great idea they are. Some cheers can be a little loud ( We will, we will ROCK YOU!) Nothing like a little Queen added to the curriculum. But I don't really worry about a loud cheer. With a little modeling and practice the kids know that once a cheer is done, they quiet down. Now for a list of great cheer/chant sites. It helps to see them done.
Celebration Cheer and chant Links:
Terrific chants demonstrated by a classroom:
Great site with 10 cheer directions and videos:
This is enough to get you started! If you want more, just look on Google. There are LOTS of videos to choose from. These are just my favorites. Good luck bringing real joy into your classrooms!
To see how to use Music to grab your students' attention, check out this post!
Want lots of free ideas? Check out my Pinterest page at:
If you are interested in resources that are sure to grab your students' attention, check out my TPT store!
