20 Attention Signals

Here are 20 call and response teacher attention signals to use in your
elementary classroom.

1. Teacher says, "One, Two" - Students' response, "Eyes on you."

2. Teacher says, "Eyes" - Students' response, "Open."
3. Teacher Says, "Ears" - Students' response, "Listening."
4. Teacher says, "If you can hear me clap once, if you hear me clap
twice."
5. Teacher says, "Hear Ye Hear ye" - Students' response, "All eyes on
the queen."
6. Teacher says, "Give me five" - Students respond by raising their
hand.
7. Teacher says, Peanut butter" - Students say "Jelly."
8. Teacher says, "Tomato" - Students say "Tomahto."
9. Teacher says, "Ready to Rock?" - Students response, "Ready to
Roll."
10. Teacher says, "Hey" - Students respond with "Ho."
11. Teacher says, "Macaroni" - Students respond with "Cheese."
12. Teacher says, "Marco" - Students respond, "Polo."
13. Teacher says, "One fish, Two Fish" - Students response, "Red
Fish, Blue Fish."
14. Teacher says, "Silent Guitar" - Students respond by playing air
guitar.
15. Teacher says, "Silent Wiggles" - Students respond by dancing
around.
16. Teacher says, "Hocus, Pocus" - Students response is
"Everybody focus."
17. Teacher says, "Chocolate" - Students response, "Cake."
18. Teacher says, "All set" - Students say, "You bet."
19. Teacher says, "Hands on top" - Students say, "That means
stop!"
20. Teacher says, "Chica Chica" - Students say, "Boom Boom."

Tips for Getting Students' Attention

 Practice, practice, practice! Go over your attention signal until your

blue in the face.
 Praise students for getting (and doing) the signal correctly.
 Make it fun! Change it up and say (or do) the signal fast, or slow,
soft or loud.

More Tips and Ideas

 Wear bright clothes

 Use humor in your lessons
 Video tape your lesson and play it to your classroom
 Teach with a fun accent
 Have students take notes
 Play background music
 Give students a checklist of what they need to know
 Turn the lights off while teaching a lesson
 Have students use a computer
 Have students take photos during a lesson that pertain to the lesson
How to tell if it is a countable or uncountable noun?
If there is a “a”/“an” in front of the word or “s” at the end of a word, then this word will be a
countable noun.

Example

If you see “a motorbike” or “motorbikes”, the word “motorbike” must be countable.

Countable nouns Uncountable nouns

oranges, carrots, onions, pineapples,
pears, bananas, sweets, noodles,
tomatoes, mushrooms, grapes,
strawberries, apples, eggs, snacks,
potato chips, vegetables, cakes, pounds
bread, lettuce, milk, cheese, rice, beef,
oil, garlic, meat, salt, ice-cream, sugar,
pork, food, water, chicken(meat), butter,
soup, tea, coffee, money

Sometimes countable and sometimes uncountable

egg, ice-cream, lettuce, coke, chocolate, chicken,

Words used with countable Words used with uncountable

nouns nouns

many, a few, few(close to zero), fewer much, a little, little(close to nothing), less

Words used with both countable and uncountable nouns

some, a lot of (=lots of) , plenty of, enough, any, more
How to count the uncountable nouns
When we want to count the uncountable nouns, you have to put a phrase in front of the
word.

Examples:

a bar of white chocolate, 3 bars of white chocolate

a bottle of milk / juice, four bottles of milk / juice

A jar of coffee / jam, three jars of coffee / jam

a carton of milk / juice, 4 cartons of milk / juice

a bowl of ice, a few bowls of rice

** HINT **
“Milk” and “jam” are uncountable, but “carton”, “bottle” and “jar” are countable.

You cannot say 1 milk, 2 milks, but you can say “1 bottles”, “two jars”.