Ooooh sweet mama, this one is frustrating.

I used to go all year with kids yelling out, because I didn’t know how to make it stop.

I tried to tell myself, “I am asking questions to the group, it’s fine that they all answer.” 😬

Uh-uh.

Not cool.

Not OK.

Not getting them ready for kindergarten.

But honestly, I didn’t know what to do. (Other than remind them all day, every single day, “RAISE YOUR HAND!”)

As I became more experienced, I learned not to repeat myself.

(LET THAT SINK IN.)

NEVER REPEAT YOURSELF.

If I say something and they don’t hear it… I don’t say it again.

Instead, I take action.

For example:

I say, “Raise your hand please!”

A kid yells out.

I’m not going to repeat, “Raise your hand PLEASE.”

I’m going to stop… reach down to my apron, grab a sticker, and slowly walk over to a child who IS raising their hand, and put it right there on their shirt!

(mic drop.)

I might even go for a, “High five, super star… I saw that hand from across the room… I could tell, YOU HAD SOMETHING TO SAY. WOW. Kiss your brain…. now, let’s hear what YOU have to say…”

All jokes aside, repeating yourself is not good for you, but more importantly it’s not good for your students!

Check out this quote from the brilliant Love and Logic Creator, Foster Cline:

Swap the word PARENTS for TEACHERS and the damage is still the same.

Instead of repeating yourself… take action.

Click here to learn more ways to take action from one of my Insta Posts.

OK, now that we’ve covered that.

Let’s get back to the problem of kids raising their hands.

First off, here’s an experience you need to set up and

just

let

happen…

…One kid is raising their hand, you point it out, dramatically, so everyone can hear, "WOW, look at ALEX! His hand is up and he is SILENT! Just sitting there quiet as a mouse, but I SEE THAT HAND!"

Then, you call on him, "Alex, what did you want to say?"

(99% of the time, they are going to say something SO RANDOM.)

"My unicorn is purple." (😂)

And I say…

"How cool, thanks for sharing.”

(You could also take this moment to reiterate the WHY, by saying something like, “It was so awesome that you raised your hand. When we raise our hands, everyone gets to be heard.”)

And now, it’s gonna snowball...

REMEMBER,

let

it

happen.

Because now, the other kids have heard your message about how great it was that he raised his hand and they all put their hands up. (Some of them sincerely don’t even know why they put their hands up, but THEY DO. THEY RAISE THEIR HAND ...because the other kids are doing it and because they heard you say something about raising your hand.)

So now, you’re looking at an entire army of little people, with their hands up. (🙌)

They might not all be silently raising their hands, but THEY ARE RAISING THEIR HANDS.

Bring attention to the behaviors you want to see, try your best to ignore the kids making noises… most of them will catch on.

If they don’t catch on, look at them, pause, and put your finger to your lips (the universal shh signal).

Then, call on the next quiet kid and point out how quiet they are… WHILE ALSO keeping your voice quiet.

(This shouldn’t turn into a loud “ME ME ME, PICK ME!!” noisy situation)

You should even be able to whisper.

**(Fun fact: I whisper most of the time during my whole group instruction… WHY? Because it REQUIRES them to LISTEN.)

Because they are all in control of their bodies and raising their hands. (Oh, they are? … HOW? You might be wondering?)

Because you are eliminating the negative behaviors as you go, by narrating the positive ones.

If some of them are leaning forward in that way they sometimes do,

correct that with the next kid you call on.

“Sam, you’re sitting all the way on your bottom, thanks for being so calm. What did you want to say?”

(The other kids are going to hear that and adjust what they are doing with their bodies.)

Each time you start to see a negative behavior trend happening, SQUASH IT, by positively phrasing the behaviors you WANT TO SEE as you call on the next child.

You’re literally putting fires out as you go… and they are catching on. (So that wildfire of a hand-raising-problem you had before, is fading… blue skies are peeking through.)

The whole point of this activity is to make kids WANT to raise their hand.

And you are going to let it happen…

because even though they are all saying THE MOST random things ever…

they are all QUIET and waiting for their turn.

It would actually be best, in this moment, to give each kid one turn to say whatever their little heart desires.

Because they are catching on to the concept of raising their hand AND they are all DYING to say whatever random thought has popped into their head.

It may take 10, 15, maybe even 20 minutes… but you will see that those precious minutes are

YOU

TAKING

ACTION. 💪🏻💪🏽💪🏿

Instead of repeating yourself… 40, 50,…. 8,000 times.

And that, my friends, is how you get your pre-k students to understand the concept of hand raising.

This activity will help, but it will not be enough to make it a habit for whole class.

You’re going to need some more fun activities like this one to drive the message home.

I will be sharing them with you by email so make sure you SUBSCRIBE to my email list for freebies, tips and tons of fun resources.