Recently I have introduced a jar of quiet critters to the class. These are pom poms that have feet attached made from felt and eyes which are glued on. Quiet critters have proven to work really well in Room 3. Due to the class often being loud when working at their desks, quiet critters allow for the environment to be quiet. The children know that the critters only come out when the room is quiet as it will hurt the critters ears and scare them, resulting in them having to be put away. This management strategy allows children to be really engaged and focused on their learning without any distraction from others. Each time we use the critters, the learning is to a high quality and all of the children have finished the activity in the time frame. I do find the critters work best when the task is an independent activity. The children respond really well to this management strategy and are often very sad when the quiet critters have to go back into the jar. I have also thought these would work well when testing.
I can't wait to see this in action. What a lovely idea and I can really see your class hooking into this. Quiet Critters sound like they reinforce that Golden Rule of being gentle too. I can see lots of potential for your Quiet Critters in Room 3. Imagine writing letters from/to your Quiet Critters. Some Quiet Critters could develop their own special characteristics or personalities.
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