Hand Signals!

While stalking reading a few of my favorite teaching blogs, I came across the mention of hand signals. At first the idea seemed a little kiddie for my fifth graders but the more and more I thought about it, the more I began to fall in love with the idea.

Being a new teacher, one of the problems that I notice that I have is unnecessary movement in the classroom. When one student gets up to sharpen their pencil or to throw something away, the next student takes it upon himself to do the same which creates a domino effect. A lot of the hand signals that I have come across had about five hand signals total but I figured since my little honey pops are in fifth grade that I would only need three (bathroom, ask a question, and leave seat). If I think that they need more hand signals later, I will add as I go!


I have created three hand signal cards to include in my classroom on the wall. I will post these in my classroom and go over them with my students on the first day of school in August. I am also going to cut them out, place them on card stock, and laminate them!


I am hoping that it works  with my babies as long as we do a lot of PRACTICE! :)

Pics below!