The topic today is lining up students—specifically how in the heck does one get students to line up quickly and quietly? But first I have some exciting news to share. Last week, several contributors to The Mailbox Blog received surprise emails. Here are some of their responses:
How exciting! This is awesome! Oh my goodness! This is great!
Wow! I can’t believe this! What great news! Thank you!
What was in those emails? These blog contributors learned that the ideas they shared on recent posts had been selected for publication in upcoming issues of The Mailbox magazine! Yeppers, I don’t need to tell you that these teachers were over-the-moon to learn that, with their permission, a $20 gift certificate per idea would be headed their way. 🙂 And this could be you! Remember: in addition to a great place to share and get ideas, The Mailbox Blog is also a great place to earn some spending power at The Mailbox!
So should we share some ideas? I think so!
What’s your best tip for getting students to line up quickly and quietly?
Eager to hear from you!
Diane
I tell my students they have 25 seconds to line up and be ready to go. I hold my arm up where they can see me and start timing them. I tell them if they can get in line and be ready within the 25 seconds, they can have the time saved added to PE. If they take longer than 25 seconds, that time comes off of PE. Works every time!
I have my kids line up from the smallest to the tallest. Each will have a week to be:
1st person- Line leader
2nd person- Door Holder/lights
3rd person- Hall monitor (students are quite and standing in a square)
4th person- Runner/helper/
*After a week everybody rotates out. Now, the first person is LAST IN LINE. the 2nd person in line is NOW THE LINE LEADER for a week.
If a person is absent, that day or week go to the next person to fill it until the absentee returns. If that person missed his/her turn(a week) upon ther return they complete their week.
The students ALWAYS line up in the same order. This eliminates the “need” to run and be first! It also curtails the temptation to “cut” the guy in front of you as we go down the hall. (It will be obvious to everyone you are not in your right place!) The order is always the same. You can choose how the kids get in line, i.e. by birthday month, clothing color etc. but the children always go to the same spot. Then right before the line leaves I draw a popsiscle stick with a name from a cup right by the door. (two cups~One with “used” sticks, already been called, so everyone has the chance of being first. If you are not paying attention or talking you miss your turn. For example if I draw Mary’s stick, Mary and everyone behind her in line walks out in order and the “front” of the line and the kids behind follow along in order. SO everyone can be first, but there is no arguing about who it is! (and I don’t have to remember!) The order can be ABC by first or last name. It can be a chance to teach alphabetical order or a similar skill, and of course every year someone’s spot has to change until they are standing between the “right” two people. Get the routine down the first week with extra practice and then you are good to go all year! Even when there is a sub!
I call my PreK kids to line up by who is sitting quietly.
The next thing I do is call out is catch a bubble and hold it in your mouth.I puff up my cheeks to show them. They love to pretend they have a huge bubble in their mouth.
Then I say hands on hips and fingers on lips.
Works everytime except for a few quiet giggles. And I love those funny faces.
I have 5 table groups in my classroom which I label by days of the week, Monday – Friday. Each day I have a line leader, but I also call one table group to line up first each day as well depending on what day it is. So, for example, on Thursday, the order is Thursday’s group, then Friday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. There is never any argument because they all get to be at the front, and they also know that if their group isn’t ready, then they get passed and wind up at the end of the line. Works like a champ!
I set a timer. The kids try to line up before the buzzer. They know that recess begins when the buzzer goes off. They also know that I set an alarm on my phone.
We choose a new special helper every day and that friend gets to be our line leader. Yesterday’s line leader is now the caboose. Then, I ask questions to have students line up, like “Which friends are NOT wearing tennis shoes?” or “Which friends are wearing yellow?” I continue until all students have lined up. Really makes them think, even early in the day!
When it is time to line up my kindergarten students I say things like “If you have a g in your first name, line up,” “If you have an e in your last name, line up,” We progress with things like if you name has the letter that starts the word dog, line up or if you have the letter that ends the word cat. My students know if they are caught talking they automatically have to sit down and wait for another option that applies to them, this rarely happens though.
I set up my routine on day one, by modeling the roles that are necessary for a perfect line; then calling on students to practice for the class. There is, of course, a leader; but perhaps more importantly, we have a caboose. The leader’s job is to walk the class to the first designated stopping point in the hallway. At this point, ONLY the line leader may turn around and look at the caboose for a thumbs up or thumbs down. A thumbs up, signals the leader to walk the class to the next stopping point or classroom. If there is a thumbs down, the caboose may quickly and quietly move out of line and give a silent reminder (tapping a finger to the lips) to the student being noisy or make a swishing action with the arm to signal that a student needs to get directly behind the person in front of them. These roles change daily, according to our job chart and within a couple of weeks, this line is close to perfection, with the efficient use of our leader and caboose.
1st I call the Line Leader (this is a job rotated daily on the job chart). 2nd is Basket Holder (our classroom basket with tissues, hand sanitizer, etc.). 3rd is Caboose (the End of the Line Friend). The rest of the room must recall colors in order to line up! I point to our Color of the Month ~ if you are wearing this color, you line up next. I then rotate through color cards naming each color & children line up when they see a color they are wearing. It is so fun to see the children point out the tiniest bit of a color on their clothes ~ if it is there ~ it counts 🙂
Once in line, you put your angel hands behind your back (hands behind back linked at thumbs makes little wings) & a bubble in your mouth (puff out your cheeks like a squirrel). The kids are so proud when I say, “I love your Bubble!”
For my daycare I traced the children’s feet out of contruction paper and used laminating paper/contact paper to place them on the floor where I would like them to line at the door. I also used the same idea with different shapes and areas where lining up is necessary (exits, bathrooms, and hallway). Makes lining up a breeze because they always know where to go, by the shapes I mention.
I have my students say a simple poem that gives them the reminder they need to walk quietly down the hall.
“My arms are crossed,
I do not talk.
I face the front,
I’m ready to walk”
It works really well as the students walk down the hall with their arms crossed and one finger on their lips as a physical reminder.
Enjoy:)
I choose a “secret walker”. No one but me knows who it is. If the secret walker follows all hallway expectations to our destination and back they earn a trip to my treasure chest. Since my students don’t know who I have chosen they all try to be on their best behavior while lining up and in the hallway.
I am a substitute teacher and constantly trying new ideas especially when it comes to lining up! The one students respond to the most is when I give them a problem or clue that they have to solve to figure out who lines up next. So I might say, if your last name has 6 letters in it you can line up. The students who qualify would have to line up quietly otherwise they stay at their desks. I could make it mor challenging for older students by adding steps, or more difficult questions. For example have students add their birthdate plus today’s date, if it is greater than a certain number they can like up. While I usually make these up on the fly, I could prepare them on cards ahead of time allowing for a student leader to have a chance.
I don’t have the patience for line leader and door holder, etc.
I quietly call out, “If you are wearing orange, line up.” All students with orange line up. It could be a little speck of orange and they still line up. Then I call out red, and continue until all students are lined up. I change it though. Sometimes I call out things such as agree and disagree questions to a book we are reading, birthdays, even/ odd numbers, if they know multiplication facts, etc.
This helps with friends not being by friends who want to talk. I always tell them it is a privileged to line up this way instead of line order.
If anyone talks in the group while we are lining up, the whole group sits down (if I can’t find the particular student who was talking).
My first person is the line leader (I never say that), and the second person gets the door. When the student is finished holding the door, they just go to the end of the line and we now have a new door holder.
Teachers all reach into their bag of tricks when trying to line children up. Sometimes we need to line up in ABC order for going to lunch, so I will say, after first starts going, “Who comes next?”. Other times, they line up when their table is called,by it’s # or color or shape on their table basket, or by what color they are wearing, or the color of their shirt. I may say,”I am looking for the quietest student!”, so that I can give a PBS ticket to them. All of the tricks will work to some extent and sometimes we need to just need go back and try again. They do love to put a “bubble” in their mouth. All in all,Kindergarten kids rock! 😉
I teach 3 and 4 year old children and this is something that is quite successful when the children line up.
I will say “Let’s line up and be so quiet that
everyone thinks we have left!” So, I tip toe to the front of the line, my hand over my mouth, and the line leader leads us out and into the hallway. I will whisper “Look, no one even knows we are here! Let’s be extra quiet!”
The children just love thinking they are “invisible” so to speak! Often, some of the other people in the building, play along saying “Oh my, I didn’t even see you all!” or “What a surprise! You’re here already!” The children love this!
I have a preschool class and to make it easy to remember where and how to line up I marked off the floor tiles with painter’s tape (blue=easy to see and remove). By taping around the whole tile the kids know that their feet have to be in the square and not on a line, which helps them not move around so much or crowd each other. We do a duck walk to stay quiet in the hall. Put your left hand in front of mouth make it look like a beak, put right hand behing back make it look like a tail. You can waddle.
Also I have tape numbers in each tile, and a number wheel/job chart so that each day the kids have find their name/number on the chart and get in the cordinating square. It keeps the kids in the same order, but moving up a spot each day, so each child gets a chance to do each job whether in line (door holder) or in the classroom (hand out papers).
I have put contact ABC letters on the floor for the kiddos to stand on. Throughout the year, I will ask the kids which letter they are standing on. Sometimes, I will say if you are standing on letter Q, go to the treasure box, etc. THEY love it!!!!
We chant: Every line has a leader and it has a caboose. Keep your line straight and not too loose. Walk, and walk, and walk in line, keep your hands to yourself and you’ll be just fine. Snap, snap, snap…..cool. ( The teacher (me) snaps as we chant this…then we all snap 3x and cross our arms. At our school-there is zero level in the halls, WE put our hands behind our back and we are ready to go!!!!!
WORKS LIKE A JEWEL!!!!!! 🙂
I line my students up in groups (tables, boys/girls, etc.). I tell the class to watch each group as they line up and judge how they get into their place in line. Each group tries to do a better job than the previous one, and show their classmates what a great line looks like.
Instead of one long line, I have two lines. One Boys and one Girls or one Hot Lunch and one Cold Lunch.
My preschoolers have a hard time walking down the hall in a straight line, so we walk with a partner. I will call on a child to get in line and that child gets to pick his/her partner. I continue this until all the children are in line. If there is one child remaining without a partner, they get to choose the group to walk with. I make sure that all the children get a chance to to choose a partner. The children enjoy having a partner while walking down the hall, as well as helping each other to follow the hallway procedures.
“If you are happy and you know it, stand on the rug”. Instead of something sticking on the floor, we have a long NARROW non slip carpet runner infront of the door going into the room.I teach 2 yr olds, and they all love to stand on the rug, it’s narrow so they have to stand in a line… then it’s the chant,”hand on the lip, hand on the hip” both hands are “busy” so they are less likely to touch someone.
In the classroom we have a line on the rug, but you could use masking tape.If I want them to all watch me for instructions to go to centers/ art, I tell them “Toe the line” even the youngest ones know where their toes are, and they put their toes on the line. I think my dad (who was an master sargent in the Air Force) would be proud of all the soldiers standing at attention!!
I am a pre-k teacher and to have students line up I call an attribute/characteristic (i.e. if you have a sister line up) or I ask questions about topics we have been covering to have students line up (i.e. what is a word that rhymes with cat?) whether the students gets it correct I have them line up with responses such as “great job, you may line up” or a “nice try, bat is an example, you may line up”. Students really pay attention because at this age they tend to want to be toward the front of the line. Then we sing a hallway song- “My hands are hanging by my side, I’m standing straight and tall, my eyes are looking straight ahead, I’m reading for the hall”. As we are walking down the hall we play the sound train. Students are in the line I quietly say a letter, so they all have to be listening to hear, and then they whisper that sound until I say another letter (example: I say “B train” the students in a whisper voice say /b/, /b/, /b/, /b/ until I say another letter. In the beginning of the year I start by saying “let’s make a P train it goes like this /p/, /p/…” I also have students move their arm in a circular motion for the wheels of the train. I have been complimented about this strategy by coworkers. The students surprisingly do not get out of hand at all because they want to play the “game” rather than be ever so quiet walking down the hall.
We line up according to the rows we sit in: oval, square, triangle, and rectangle. When I call a group, they must take turns doing a transition activity such as identifying a letter, clapping syllables, telling me a rhyming word, etc. They have fun doing it that way. 🙂
I also line my students up by table, but I do have 3 helpers every week that have a special place in line. It also puts my line in 2 sections so I can tell students where to move easier. I have a line leader, a caboose, and a middle man! 🙂
To get students, grades 1 and 2, to line up quietly and quickly, we stand and go by rows, except before we can move, they repeat after me, ” I will not talk until I am _______________.” It usually works. Sometimes I have to have them repeat it. It gives them the challenge not to talk until they are at our destination, and they know that is not a long time. I also praise them when they have done a good job.
I have my school aged children, at my child care center, line up in a few different ways. 1. We play a trivia game 2. I make a seasonal bucket that has a floral foam piece inside (covered by decor). Each child has his or her own people-shaped popsicle stick with their name written on the bottom part. Each stick is randomly stuck into the foam so that the name is hidden and a drawing is made by the teacher.
I have 5th graders. 🙂 I write each student’s number on a two-color counter and place them in a small jar. When we get ready to line up, I first pick two counters from the jar, not letting the students see whose numbers have been chosen. I then ask the students to line up. If the students whose numbers were chosen line up quickly and quietly, and do a great job in line going from and returning to our room, they put two colored round stickers on a cut-out gumball jar. When the gumball jar is full, the class draws a reward from our reward jar.
If the students chosen do not do a good job lining up and moving in line, I never reveal who they were. We just quickly discuss what needs to be done to improve. Because the students do not know who has been chosen, they usually all work hard to do a good job, and when necessary, if the whole class pretty much struggled with lining up, I am able to ‘cheat’ a little and not give out a reward. 🙂
Using this method has really helped! 🙂 But I have found that using a variety of methods really works the best, so I like to switch things up from time to time. Another thing that I have done that I really have seen great success with is to use a music box. I wind the music box up on Monday morning. Each time we go to line up, I let it play and stop it when the line is ready to move out the door. The last thing I Friday afternoon, I play the music box and if there is any music left, the students have earned an extra recess for the next week. 🙂