[teacheramycnd]

My third grade class of 28 students has many, many students who just can't stop talking. There are four walls to my classroom and with 28 desks, there is no where to move the children. I have switched desks at least 10 times in the past three weeks (since school started)! I am at the end of my rope! In addition, I have the inclusion class with two ED students and 5 students who have extreme attention difficulties (not officially diagnosed with anything). I have used positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement... our PBIS and nothng works. PLEASE... any help!?!?!?!

[Beachteacher]

Have you contacted the parents about the problem?

One thing that I do that seems to work (sometimes) is I stop talking when they're talking. I just calmly walk over to my timer and start it. However long it takes them to settle back down is how much time I subtract from their recess.

[teacheramycnd]

I have contacted their parents... one actually said she was glad because her daughter was so quiet last year! I have taken away recess, the only problem is it's literally 6 minutes plus before they stop talking and recess is only 15 minutes... with our new wellness policy, I'm sure I'll get in trouble soon! :-) One example... we should have finished 4 lessons in social studies by now and we have finished one. At this rate, we are never going to get through the curriculum. I thought about just biting the bullet and purchasing the Talking Tracker (I think it's called).

I also have a chatty group of 1st graders. I have called parents, sent some to the office for fighting, used love and logic, behavior mods. and
nothing seems to work. I know this is really not too unique for this age group. However, these children truly seem to have a rough time sitting
sort of quiet and remaining seated. I found out later during one of
our community meetings, most of these children have no less than 6 people residing in their home. I guess you may have to constantly speak out loud and clear to be noticed. Otherwise, you miss out.

[PeanutButter]

I tried the timer thing with my 4th graders, but it didn't work. Now, I have the kids earn their recess. I have broken the day into 6 segments (the subject areas, lunch and specials). I told my kids that if I didn't have to ask them to get quiet over and over again, if they were on task, and if I didn't feel like I was going to pull my hair out at the end of the segment, then they would earn a letter. They earn 3 1/2 minutes for each letter (but not to exceed 20 minutes). If they earn only two letters, then they only get 7 minutes. If they earn all of the letters, then they get 20 minutes.

We have done this for about a week and a half. I gave them a big pep talk about how it feels good to earn something before I started. They really like this method better than the timer thing. Also, it means that they have to be well behaved for the entire day, rather than just a portion of it, if they want the entire time. I write the segments that they earn the letter above it and the segments that they do not off to the side in a list. I point this out at the end of the day so that they can reflect on their behavior throughout the day. Also, when we only earned 7 minutes and a child said "Our recess was short", I was able to say to him, "That is what you earned".