So far at my school, we've had three ways to quiet loud voices in the classroom:

A gentle touch or squeeze to the shoulder (something I won't be able to do in public school, and I'm finding can be more trouble than it's worth)
Quietly asking them to be quiet (which engages the kids a bit too much because they often just respond in the same loud voice)
Ringing a singing bowl (which some of the kids just keep talking over)

What do some other teachers do to quiet rowdy students during a quiet work period?

[GreyhoundGirl]

1) Dojo points to kids doing what they should. The ding is magic (I kid you not).

2) proximity control. Just standing next to kids works wonders.

3) sometimes just standing and waiting works. Sometimes I set the timer and they owe me that much recess time.

My favorite is #1. It works the fastest every time all the time.

I've heard about Dojo. One of the public schools I interviewed with talked about how much they liked it.

[Mshope]

A lot of times I will just stand there. I don't look mad, I just wait. After they quiet, I might go on with the lesson or say, "You will stay x seconds after the bell."

When I'm doing a reward system, I will quietly remove points or marbles or whatever. Personally, I don't touch people as a rule. If the class is taking too long to be quiet, I might start checking names off my behavior chart. If they get three strikes, they can get a referral or phone call home.

If it is one group, I might also just stand behind them. I usually don't have to say anything and someone will mumble, "sorry." We have pretty cooperative kids this year.

[teacher511]

I use a few things to help quiet down my students.

1. I say "One, Two..." then the students respond saying, "Eyes on you." They stop talking and then I will remind them of my expectations.

2. I have a chart in the front of my classroom with the 4 different voice levels (no voice, whisper voice, class voice, and outside voice). I move the clothespin to the level that is appropriate during that time. I also have a classroom job called the Noise Monitor who will stand up in front of the class and remind their classmates what their voice level should be.

3. Finally, I use the "NOISE" management system. I have the letters N, O, I, S, E on my whiteboard. When the class is talking during work time, I just stand up and take a letter away. Usually I don't even have to say anything to them, once they see me take a letter away they stop talking. First you take E away, then S, then I. If they go the whole day without losing those 3 letters, then they get a sticker towards a whole class reward. Once they get O taken away, then they lose 1 minute of recess and if they lose N, then they lose 5 minutes of recess. I found this on Pinterest and it works great in my classroom!

I hope this helps.

[QueenBee2011]

I will go up to the children a few at a time and do motions of what I'd like them to do. No words at all, just hand motions and mouthing.
I don't know why this works, but all of the sudden they're all speaking in a whisper.
I also don't speak I just write something on the board like, "Quiet room". They will respond to that too.
Go figure!

[linda2671]

For the whole class, we do a rhythm clap that they repeat. Some teachers say, "Class, class," and the kids respond, "Yes, yes."

When I'm teaching reading groups and the center activities get too loud, I ring my bell (like you ring when you're waiting to be waited on at a business. When they hear the bell ding, they have to stop talking until I ring the bell again, then they are supposed to whisper.

[Hpylife]

Call backs,,,so say " Class , Class" and they replay Yes, yes,,,or "macoroni cheese" they reply "everybody freeze",, to infinity!, they reply "and beyond",,,you can google tons of these and the students usually love it.

I've also noticed that when noise gets loud, it's time for a one to two minute brain break .

Other ideas: clap and they return clap, say "if you can hear me clap once" or "if you can hear me snap once" etc...try the app "bouncing balls" ,,you can have it on your smart board, it projects images that move according to sounds. You can change the images--balls, emojies, bubbles...it has a built in microphone and when noise level increases the images move more. I would put a sticky note at the level I wanted the noise to stay below. Great visual . www.bouncyballs.org

[Lakeside]

I second the word on the board method - because you don't have to talk to ask them not to talk!

I've also done a row of smiley faces - from really sad to really happy - across the top of the board. I move a magnet that points to how the day is going.