11.12.2013

Helpful Hint {A Quiet Classroom}

I'm linking up with Blog Hoppin' today to share one of my
most helpful hints {I believe} for teachers.

It can be difficult to get a classroom full of 6 year olds to work
quietly. I've tried lots of different things to get my students to work
without talking for 10-15 min. at a time, but nothing has worked as good as...
 
 

 
I discovered this lovely concept a few years ago from a 
good friend who also teaches 1st grade.
She had seen the idea on pinterest so I searched to see if I could find the original
source. I found a post from Teaching Chick that gave me a little info and a lot
 of inspiration! Check out her post here.
If you search for quiet critters on pinterest, you will find lots of ideas!

So, what are Quiet Critters?!
Cute, friendly, little pom pom friends!

They come out and sit on students' desks when they are working
quietly. I usually make up some sort of silly song as I'm setting them on my
students' desks. The find it very entertaining!
 
 
 
If a student is talking, their Quiet Critter gets "scared" and goes
back to its home {a jar where I keep the Quiet Critters}.
A Quiet Critter also gets scared and taken back to their home if they
are touched!

You would not believe how much the kids eat this up and how tranquil
your classroom can be when you need it to be QUIET!!!!!
My students love them!

I started out with one set of QCs, but then found more of these little pom
pom friends at craft stores during different seasons.
Now I have a whole collection of QCs and I change them out
by the season/month.
 
 
 
This year, I told my students that the QCs are magical and they turn into
a new version on the first day of each month. They totally bought it, ha!!!

Like I said, I've found several of these in craft stores. They come in a package
with all the pieces that you need to assemble them. I've had parent volunteers
put these together for me.
 
This year, I found several of these from the Oriental Trading website and they
came already assembled in the package, which was a pleasant surprise!
You can find some of the ones I have from them here.

I made a little printable for one of the versions of my Quiet Critters song.
I figured I probably should put it in print so I don't have to make it up
each time! Feel free to download by clicking the pic below. :)
 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2_vZ1SwmROxbktFZUJoM0RVcVE/edit?usp=sharing
 

If you have come across some of these pom pom friends, leave a comment
sharing where you found them!


Photobucket

5 comments :

  1. I love these!!!!!!!! I am looking at going part time (kinder) next year and I can see those little bitties absolutely loving this!!!! I know what I am going to be making this summer with my girls. They will love to make these for my classroom.
    Lisen :)

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  2. so cute! LOve them! I will have to start doing this with my few kids that are just NONstop! lol

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  3. I would love to try quiet critters in my 3rd grade classroom. I heard about them at a workshop this past weekend. Worth a try even with older kids.

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