All that Noise, Noise, Noise, Noise...

If you were to walk by my classroom you would most definitely hear NOISE! But noise isn't always a bad thing...as long as it's the right kind. I am not the teacher that has to have silence in her room all the time. I actually enjoy the buzzing of a working classroom. I love the group work, the collaboration and the sound of students sharing their ideas with one another and the excitement that learning can bring about. However, we all know that there are those times when your room needs a little sound management, as I like to call it. For that reason I have found some awesome and fun websites to help with controlling the noise level in your classroom. Check them out below!

Bouncy Balls

This website has colorful balls that bounce according to the noise level in your room. The louder your students, the more bouncy the balls. (Fun part: You can also change the balls to eyeballs, emojis and bubbles!)

Calm Counter

Not as exciting as the Bouncy Balls, but a cool monitor that goes from green to red when the noise level gets too loud in your room. This would be good for a small amount of noise to instruct the students to keep their level in the yellow area for group work.

Stop Light

This one isn't a noise monitor as much as a noise controller. You click on the light that you want the kids to work at. For example, no talking would be red. It's a visual reminder on the board for the students to keep their noise level under control.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Here we are in January! Can you believe it! Though I'm sad to see all of the holiday celebrations end, I am super excited about the cold weather that is to come in the next couple of months! Since I live in good 'ole North Carolina...we don't see much of the white stuff around here. However, that's not going to keep me down! We make our own using an awesome website called Make a Flake!

It is a wonderful tool that can be used with students of all ages. I use it with my younger students to practice mouse control and with my older ones to work on geometric shapes. This week one of my classes is creating their own snowflakes and then writing descriptive sentences about them. We are going to upload pictures of our snowflakes to a Voicethread and record ourselves reading our descriptive sentences. Grab this quick and simple freebie for a place for you kiddos to write about their own snowflake!

Need a little inspiration? Check out their AMAZING gallery of snowflakes made by others!

Who says it can't snow in the south? You just have to get a little creative!