tips for carpet time

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tips for carpet time
By Jessica

My first graders do pretty well at the carpet.
What has worked well for me is consistency in my expectations. Whenever they come to carpet, I repeat the expectations for behavior. For ex. I countdown...
5-Criss-cross
apple sauce (this means sitting with crossed legs)
4-hands in your lap
3-mouth is closed
2-eyes on the teacher.
1-You are ready to learn.
(Sometimes I say these without the countdown if I need to remind them.)
I think that you have to be very consistent about expecations in the beg. of the year, or you will be dealing with it all year and it will only get worse!
If there

is talking when there should not be, I stop whatever I am doing and repeat the expectations. (I also ask myself...have the kids been sitting too long?) If I want to do a lot of teaching at the carpet (particularly during our morning meeting) I break it up with a quick drink break.

Something else that has worked well is putting masking tape on the carpet to mark the area in which they are supposed to sit. For ex.,
we sit next to our blackboard, and my kids often have to walk up to it for part of an activity, so I marked off about 1 foot from the wall. I also have a strip in front of me and a small easel, so they don't get too close. This makes movement easy for me and the kids. If there is one student talking or distracting the class I stop what I am doing, quietly walk over to the student, crouch down and repeat the expectations in a whisper voice. This usually helps keep the general tone positive for all the kids but lets the 1 child know that there behavior is not acceptable.

My students do not have assigned seats at the carpet, but I move students closer to me if I know they will have trouble.

I also "reward" my students for doing a good job at the carpet by ending the time with a short movement activity. I tell them how happy I am that they (fill in the blank) and that we should play a game together. The kids love to play "Simon Says", but I change it to "(Our principal's name) says."
This gets them refocused and moving so they are ready for the next activity.

For some activities, I want my students listening and responding to me, but not each other. For other activities, I want my kids talking and listening to each other. If I know that they all have a response for something I tell them to "Turn and tell your neighbor." This gets them talking and feeling like their ideas are heard.

Oh-one more thing--I use procedures from "Boys' Town" in my classroom. For ex, students in my room know that if they want to answer a question or tell me something at Group Meeting, they are to
1. Look at the teacher.
2. Raise your hand.
3. Wait until the teacher calls your name.
4. Answer in a nice voice.

I repeat this before and during response times and it really helps. I bought the posters from Boys Town Press and they are helpful with classroom procedures. If you are interested, look on the web for Boys Town Press. I got the set for special-ed and elementary. (These have 16 procedures in this set. The posters have small pictures that are great for the little kids.)

Hope this helps!
Jessica