Hand signals

You’ve probably heard about using hand signals in the classroom in order to cut down on disruptions. Penny Pinching Teacher shares a few that she uses with her fifth graders, like three fingers shaped in a ‘w’ to signal when they need water, and holding a pencil in the air when they need to have it sharpened. This makes communication between teacher and student short and more likely not to create commotion in the middle of the lesson. Think about other signals that your particular classroom needs and come up with hand signs with your students- such as a signal for a student who needs to take a 5 minute walk from time to time or a signal for a student who is bothered by too much noise around him or her.

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