Insanely Clever Classroom Attention Getters From Real Teachers [episode 25]

First off, I am just so excited that we have hit 25 episodes of the podcast, I want to celebrate this milestone because you may not know this, but most podcasts, they don’t get to 25 episodes, they fizzle out by then. So I’m just so excited that not only am I here, still doing this, have you here listening to me. That’s what makes it so valuable. And also, I’m starting doing two episodes a week, we’re gaining momentum, we’re gaining even more momentum with this podcast. I’m so excited. And I want to celebrate just because you know, I’ve talked about how I encourage you to celebrate all of your wins as a teacher or homeschool parent. And I also want to take a moment to thank you because this would not be possible without you here listening. As I’ve mentioned before, this podcast is one of my favorite parts of doing Wife Teacher Mommy, but if nobody was here listening, then I wouldn’t be able to do it. So thank you so much for listening. So I can keep doing this so we can have a reason to do it. And again, the timing just ended up perfectly because for my 25th episode, we dropped our first Tuesday episode. And like full length episode, not just like a little bonus. I’m super excited to be starting to schedule through October, I plan to release an episode every Tuesday and Friday. In general, I plan to have a solo episode, so just me on Tuesdays and a guest on Fridays. Now this might change a little bit here and there just as schedules happen. But that’s kind of the general plan of the Tuesday, Friday episodes. And I plan to do this at least through October. So let me know if you like this format. I will definitely be doing it through October but if listeners like it, and if I continue to find it feasible to maintain this much content creation long term, I will consider keeping it so DM me on Instagram at @wifeteachermommy, or email hello@wifeteachermommy.com. And let me know Do you want to keep seeing two episodes a week after October? I would love to hear.

So before we dive into today’s episode, I also want to let you know about the amazing giveaway that is still going on. And I’m going to keep it short right here just in case my team and I figured out how to add information into the beginning of this episode of the show. You may have already heard about it. But I don’t want you to miss it. We are giving away a full year of Wife Teacher Mommy club, we are giving away tons of items that teachers want in their classroom like a laminator, adorable teacher bag backpack, during Educate & Rejuvenate teachers went crazy over this backpack and tons of them went and bought it cheap because it’s just so great and versatile. I’ve been using mine for like three years now it’s that good. It’s stayed really nice. We are giving away tons of prizes, gift cards, we’re giving away things that you’ll want to see in your classroom, flair pens, friction pens, you name it so much stuff. So go to wtmgiveaway.com or go to the show notes to learn more information about that giveaway.

And in addition to the giveaway, we are also doing a trial of Wife Teacher Mommy club. So if you’ve wondered about the club and just been like, Oh, it sounds nice, but I don’t know if I want to pay 29.99 just to see if it’s for me or not. Well, right now you don’t have to right now you can go check out the information about our trial. It’s linked in the show notes. Super, super simple, you will get to check out what is going on in the club, you’ll get to see the full dashboard, you’ll get to see all the resources and how it works to download them. You can attend a coaching call, you can listen to the private podcast additional episodes, even more than the two a week. It is a great time in the club. And I hope you’ll take the opportunity to try it out and join us you can always cancel before the trial period ends but it’s just a great opportunity. So I wanted to make sure that you didn’t miss it.

Okay, so today’s topic is attention getters. And these are so much fun to use in the classroom. And honestly, even as a parent, I find I’m like, Man, I need to use these with my own kids to get their attention. They’re just so useful in so many ways. But if you’re wondering why to use attention getters, I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir here, because if you’re listening, you probably already know why they are so important and how they help, you’ve probably done it before. And you just want some new ideas. But just in case, I’m going to take just a sec to explain what we use them for. So you know, when kids are getting chatty, and you need to get their attention back on you, or you’re switching gears from group work time back to instruction, these classroom attention prompts come in handy, because they are a way to quickly engage students and get their attention back to you.

Like I said, I bet you already have some regular classroom call and response attention getters that you already use. However, sometimes students and let’s be honest, even us as teachers, we can get tired of using the same classroom call and response over and over and over again. And when that happens, it can be time to freshen things up. But we may want to do it more often than we’ve even done it in the past during this coming school year. So by teaching your students some new classroom attention prompts, they will be excited to use them. The good news is I have some fun and fresh ideas for you right here today on the podcast. And if you want even more, after you’re done listening, I compiled a list of 96 call and response attention prompts on the blog a few years ago. Now some of them are in this podcast episode, I picked some of my favorites. But there are even more on the blog post. And then there are some here on the podcast that are not on the blog, either some new fresher one. So be sure to both listen today and then check out the blog. And you can pick and choose which your favorites that you want to use this year.

So without further ado, I’m just going to go through and kind of name these and I’ll say like student and then teacher. And I kind of also have them broken into categories. So we have like a category of this type of prompt and then I’ll go through some and then another type and then we’ll go through some so that’s kind of how today’s episode is going to work.

So the first category I have is to turn your classes favorite current shows, songs, etc. into a call and response. So here’s my first favorite one. And we posted this one on Instagram and people loved it. The first one is the teacher would say we don’t talk about Bruno. And the students say no, no, no, I think that’s a fun one. Then Allison E. submitted this one it’s from Finding Nemo it’s teacher Sharkbait and students who ah ah they like slap their desk like whoo ah. And then CJ D. from Wife Teacher Mommy club said I love Disney. So last year I did To infinity and the kids say And beyond. Now Sarah R. she said a new one I plan to use this year. Me and my money doesn’t jiggle jiggle class It folds they fold their arms and place it on their desk. And I hate to admit I actually had to Google to see what this was but it is a viral Tik Tok rap. Oh my goodness Tik Tok. I need to get better at Tik Tok we have a Wife Teacher Mommy Tik Tok but I’m still learning the ropes of Tik Tok. Okay, so the next one is the teacher says Please don’t make me lose my mind. The students say up in here up in here. That’s from Alyssa S. Another one from Brena S. is teacher says 321 Stop a student say collaborate and listen. Another one the teacher says Scooby Doo Do the students say where are you? That’s from Jane H. Next one is Teacher Hakuna students, Matata, Lacey C. and going with this further an idea I had is you could kind of start quiet and go bad or like hakuna matata, hakuna matata, you know how in the movie they kind of like do over and over. So I think that would be like perfect. Okay, the next idea is teacher says Hi, Ho Hi ho. And then students say it’s off to work we go. And Eileen says my kids like to change the responses. So example Hi, Ho Hi Ho is off to read we go. The next one, the teacher says I can make your hands clap and the kids clap to the rhythm of the song so I can make your hands clap. Like that. That’s from Chelsea. Then the teaching another one is everybody clap your hands. The students clap five times, usually to the same melody as the song and Heather says it’s super fast, make the kids stop what they’re doing to clap. Okay, so that is our list of the popular songs, show songs into a call and response. Those are some ideas. But again, you can take any of your classes favorite current show songs, etc. And find a way to turn it into a call and response. It can be really fun to even talk to the kids that you teach and be like, Hey, what are your favorite shows? What are your favorite songs right now and figure out what attention prompts you can create out of that. And that will make them more engaged in that attention getter that you create together as a class. So that is another fun idea.

Okay, another category of fun attention prompts is to use popular brands. So here are a few This is from Tommy B. teacher says Red Robin and students say yum. Another from Allison E. the teacher can go oh, oh, oh, oh Riley and the students say auto parts oh! Then another one would be the teacher Bada ba ba ba students I’m loving it. So that’s from Kimberly C. And then teacher, uh oh, student spaghetti-o! That’s from Janine C. And another one is give me a break, give me a break than the students go Break me off a piece of that KitKat bar. And then last but not least teacher go like a good neighbor and the students will sing, State Farm is there. That’s a fun one, right? So you could pick any popular brand that has a jingle and turn it into a call and response attention getter.

Now another one is to have a seasonal call and response attention getter. So here are some ideas for example, for Halloween, and this is one that I feel a lot of teachers use year round, but I feel like it’s super fun for Halloween. So both Santos teachers and Ray Patrice on Instagram shared this one. And they said hocus pocus for the teacher than the students say, Everybody focus. That’s a classic. Then for Christmas you could do teacher could say Rudolph the red nosed reindeer and then the students can sing you’ll go down in history. And another one would be the teacher says jingle bell jingle bell jingle bell the students say rock like clap their hands or sit down or something right on rock. And you could really do this with any Christmas song and turn it into an attention getter. Not just for winter in general. You could pick one from another Disney movie Frozen you could do the teacher says Let the storm rage on and then the kids will say the cold never bothered me anyway. And then another one, the teacher can say frosty and kids say the snowman or another one from frosty could be the teacher says thumpity thump thump. And the students say look at frosty go. And a lot of these when I’m not giving a name. They’re just ones I came up with so hopefully you like them. Okay for Valentine’s Day. I didn’t have any for these I just off the top of my head. I was like, huh, teacher gonna say be mine and the students say Valentine. I don’t know. I think it’s cute. If you try it, let me know. Okay, and then the next one for St. Patrick’s Day you could do coming after me. And then the next one lucky charms that’s another brand one but fun for March. And next for spring you could do singing in the rain for the teacher and then just singing in the rain for the students. Another spring theme one could be teacher, the itsy bitsy spider, and students went up the waterspout. And then last but not least we have summer. Okay, you guys, and this will bring me back to my millennial days. But this one is one of my favorites. What time is it? And then the kids will say summer time. That’s from High School Musical if you don’t know, love High School Musical. And the new High School Musical the musical The series is another good one. And last but not least for summer is School’s out for summer schools out forever. You could do that one if you want for summer. And obviously that is from Alice Cooper’s School’s Out song. God love the 80s band. So that is it for this seasonal call and response, attention getter ideas.

Now let’s move into just some other fun ideas that are still call and response. So Kimberly Locke who actually just interviewed on the podcast last week, she’s one of our members. She said can I get a whoop boop and then I’m assuming students then go whoop whoop. Then Heather S shared I’m so excited for this episode. So glad to hear that. She said I’m in need of new attention getters. I hope you get some from this episode that you like. She says I say shining stars and the class stops and listens and puts twinkling stars spirit fingers up in the air. I also say macaroni and cheese and the class responds Everybody freeze but that’s mostly because I love mac and cheese laughing emoji. I think a lot of us love the mac and cheese. Okay, Barbara L says she counts backwards from five. Amber O says she says teacher says hands on top, kids put hand on head and say everybody stop that’s my favorite. And she said she also uses a doorbell which we’re going to get into later on in this episode. Now Rachel M says My kids love when I say hands on top. They say that means stop a put their hands on their heads. So kind of similar to the other one. Now another fun one is from Kristin C. and she says flat tire and then the class goes shhhh. So those are some really fun ones. Okay, Giuliana 12 from Instagram says her number one fave is if you can hear my voice clap once I tell them if I get to four them, they lose a class point. My other go to is I loudly start counting down from five. They know that if they’re all back in their seats and everyone is quiet by the time we get to one they’ll get a class point. Obviously class points are big in my classroom 100 class points equals party. That sounds like a good good incentive. Teaching science says love this. I’ve tried others. But if you can hear my voice clap once clap twice is my go to having the hand movement helps them to truly stop whatever they’re working on, which is the intent. And I love that just incorporating hand movements into your call and response can get students even more engaged in turning their attention back to you which is again that ultimate goal. Now Tia G she said I say eyes on me they say eyes on you and she said she’s gotten the whole third grades attention before. That’s great. Now another fun idea from Sarah S she says what primary I say freezin squeezed and they freeze and put their hands on their heads or give themselves a hug and squeeze. I love that. Now another one from Melissa P, she says the attention prompt that has never failed in my classroom is, if you can hear my voice do this while doing something like putting my hands on my head. I continue this two to three times until I have full attention. The best part about this attention prompt is that it forces students to look at me in order to know what action to do. Now, these are all such fun ideas. Now I have two more categories for you. One of them is ones that involve posing for the students. And the next category are ones that are attention getters that don’t utilize your voice at all. So we’re going to take just a quick super short break, and then we’ll get back to those.

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Okay, let’s talk about attention getters using posing. So one of them from Pam H is the mannequin challenge. She says I don’t use it often. But I pick up my phone turn on the video and call Mannequin Challenge. Then make a quick video then I stitch together the videos and the kids find it hilarious to watch later. Teacher of the Year right that’s such a fun idea. I love it. Another one from Lesley S is I will say spotlight on me in a loud voice and sometimes I strike a pose. Students stop what they’re doing and pantomime turning a spotlight in my direction. This guarantees that all eyes are on me. Super fun. Last one of the posing Kristie W says I freeze in a weird pose I may put my hands on my head or straight up in the air. This lets my students know to freeze and mimic my pose this emptys their hands and has them stand ready to move or listen for instructions without a distraction in hand. And that is great.

Okay, so we’re going to move on to the attention getters that don’t use your voice because you know, sometimes your voice may get tired, or you want to mix things up. Or maybe your students are even not responding to your voice as well after hearing all day. So we have some other ideas that you can use. For example, another reason Mallory W says that they have retractable glass walls, if you did a call and response the whole hallway would hear. So there are some other reasons you might use something other than a call and response. So one is turning the light on and off. This can be a great way to get their attention, honestly. And it was edited out by my podcast manager, but my son was actually turning the light on and off as I was recording, and that definitely got my attention. It’ll get your students attention too. Another one is music. And I talked about this in episode number 21 of Wife Teacher Mommy the podcast when I interviewed Christine Cox and we talked about classroom music ideas, and we shared more of that adorable song, you hear the intro and outro we shared the whole song, definitely go back and listen to that episode if you missed it. But music is great for transitions like we talked about and it can also be a great attention getter. So you can pick songs or even just like a short clip of a song though, bring the attention back to you. Another one that was mentioned by so many teachers is a doorbell. It was mentioned so many times. And I will link to the perfect one in the Amazon list which you will find in the show notes. But one specific reader said and this was Jennifer H, I was so tired of straining my voice with attention getters for fifth graders that I invested in a wireless doorbell. I bought one with two different buttons one is for attention getting and one is for transition. So two different sounds for each one. That attention getting one is it just a chime that day things twice. The transition one is a little song that plays twice. I think it costs right around $20 But the saving of my voice is priceless. Another idea is an xylophone and Janet G says this year I purchased a xylophone, an inexpensive one for the sole use of gaining my middle schoolers attention. I do lots of pair shares and activities which result in sometimes noisy classroom is when middle schoolers embark on a competition to see who can talk the loudest laugh out loud. So when the noise gets too loud, I pick up my little stick and begin playing different scales on the xylophone. The kids know that by the time I stopped playing the broom should be quiet. Guess what? It actually works very well with my kiddos. I like it much better than shouting out phrases. And another idea for Jennifer W is a chime she says I bring a chime the responses quiet with a finger over their mouth using one hand and the other is a raised hand to acknowledge. And another one from Nora A she says she uses a dog clicker she said it sounds weird. But hey, it works. Another is a kazoo, we had some readers say that that was a really fun, attention getter as well. And the last but certainly not least, is a popular meme or YouTube video on the smartboard. And Christie says you can use any popular meme or YouTube video your kids are talking about as an attention prompt the students love this.

So that is it for the attention getters besides call and response. And that was our last category too. So those are all the ideas I’m going to be sharing with you today. This was a very exciting episode. I love sharing responses with our community right here. And as I explained on the previous episodes, I would love to hear from you as well. I’m planning a two episode segment. And it’s about the gaps in education right now. And there are two types of one episode will be about the educational gaps we’re seeing in education right now. Please tell me what are you seeing right now? As far as the educational gaps and what are you doing about it? And then the second one is the social emotional gaps. What are you seeing right now? What are you learning about it? Tell me, I would love to include your voice on the podcast. So I will include the link to the podcast inbox if you’d like to record your own voice. I’m really hoping to get some voice recordings to share during that segment, it would mean the world to me if you would record a message for me. And you can find that at wtmpodcastinbox.com. And you’ll also find it in the show notes. But if you feel more comfortable just writing a response, kind of like in this episode and the previous one about open house, I shared a lot of reader responses there. If you missed that episode, be sure to listen to that one too. You can DM me on Instagram at @wifeteachermommy, or email us at hello@wifeteachermommy.com. If you would rather just write a response to those two questions, again, talking about your experience and what you’re doing about the gaps both educational gaps and social emotional gaps. And remember my team and I want to continue to support you all year long. So if you’re in the club, be sure to check out our resource requests section where my team and I are working tirelessly to create all the resources that you are submitting and want to see. And if you’re not, but you’re loving this podcast, be sure to check out the giveaway where you could potentially win a full year of the club and so many other prizes. Plus you’ll get bonus entries. If you start a trial of the club. And during your trial, you’ll be able to download some of the resources attend a coaching call, see their request area. Listen to the members only podcast episodes, join our community and really see what it’s all about before fully committing. The giveaway and trial are both going on right now. So go to wtmgiveaway.com To learn more, and I will also link to it in the show notes. Thanks for listening today. I hope you found these back to school episodes super helpful. And there are so many more episodes coming as mentioned. We have episodes dropping on Tuesdays and Fridays through October so I will talk to you on Friday.