Grade 5 

2/28 
Attention Strategies 

Strategies That Work  Strategies That Do Not Work 

   
- Verbal Signal  - Music 
- Shh-Shh-ShhShh-Shh  - The teacher used music as a 
- The teacher would say  signal to start work and pay 
the phrase  attention to the noise level in the 
“Shh-Shh-ShhShh-Shh”  room. If the students could not 
and the students would  hear the music, that was an 
respond back with the  indicator for them to lower their 
same phrase. This works  voices. 
because there is  - The music was also used to 
repetition in the phrase  signal attention to the teacher 
and when one student  once the teacher stopped playing 
picks up on the  the music 
repetition of the sound,   
it causes a domino effect 
and has all students 
engage in the signal and 
pay attention to the 
teacher. This is also an 
easy signal that engages 
all students even if they 
have objects in their 
hands.  

 
 
 3/7 

Strategies That Work  Strategies That Do Not Work 

   
- Auditory Signal   
- Bell   
- Teacher rings a bell three 
times to grab students 
attention. This works 
because it is a loud signal 
that easily catches the 
attention of students. 

 
3/21 

Strategies That Work  Strategies That Do Not Work 

   
- Auditory Signal   
- Silent Treatment   
- Teacher would remain 
silent until the class gave 
their attention to the 
teacher. This was 
effective with older 
grades as they tend to 
catch on quickly that the 
teacher is remaining 
silent and waiting for 
them. 
- Hand Signal 
- Shush Pose 
- Teacher would hold one 
 finger to mouth and 
teacher would wait for 
students to give 
attention to teacher. 
This was effective with 
older grades as they 
respond fairly well since 
they tend to catch on 
quickly.  

 
3/28 

Strategies That Work  Strategies That Do Not Work 

   
- Verbal Signal   
- “Hot dog”   
- As teacher was doing a 
clay unit, students would 
be distracted by clay so a 
signal was needed to get 
their attention. Teacher 
would say “Hot dog” in 
humorous way and 
students would respond 
the same way. This was 
effective since it caught 
the older students 
attention since the 
teacher said the phrase in 
a funny way. 
 4/4 

Strategies That Work  Strategies That Do Not Work 

   
  - Positive Reinforcement  
- The teacher would specifically 
point out positive 
behavior/action of student in 
order to grab the attention of 
other students and make sure 
they would do the same (Ex. 
standing in line, doing work 
quietly, etc) This does not work 
well for older students because 
they tend to not care about how 
their classmates behave. 
 
4/11 

Strategies That Work  Strategies That Do Not Work 

   
- Verbal    
- Yelling   
 
- Although not 
 
encouraged, if no other   
 
signals work yelling is 
another option that 
grabs the attention of 
students. This works 
because it is a very loud 
signal to grab the 
attention for students 
and know that the 
teacher is not happy.  
Interview

Science Teacher

- If facial expressions, body language, or tone is associated with certain signals, it can

teach students to pay attention by picking up on the teachers physical appearance as well

Art Teacher

- For Grade 5, attention grabbers, call and response, match me, or simon says strategies

need to be altered to be more suitable for their maturity level because if it seems too

immature for them, they won’t listen to it.