The Rest Area

Create a "Rest Area" in your music room as a tool for classroom management. Learn more about how this can work in your elementary classroom in this blog post.
During our time together at summer school we have SO many things to accomplish and so little time to do them!  To make things run smoother and to help encourage students to reflect on their choices and make even better ones next time I've created a "rest" area. :-)  This is a place for students to sit and think about the less than desirable choices they have made regarding their behavior or attitude.  A few moments of "resting" and students are ready to join back in with the classroom activities doing even better than before!  The musical rests remind them that this is a time for silence.

At some schools students may have to fill out a reflection sheet about why they were moved to the rest area and a copy of it is sent home to their parents.  This is a great way for students to refocus and for parents to stay connected.

I've considered painting an old wooden chair in bright colors and designs with rests all over it, but my principal would prefer that the rest area or "safe seat" isn't TOO attractive!

Create a "Rest Area" in your music room as a tool for classroom management. Learn more about how this can work in your elementary classroom in this blog post.


8 comments:

  1. Ryan BrodersenJune 5, 2012 at 6:34 PM

    What do you do if you have more than one student over there?

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  2. miredoJune 6, 2012 at 11:50 PM

    I LOVE this! :) This will definitely be implemented in August! Thanks for sharing :)

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  3. AnonymousJune 7, 2012 at 1:56 PM

    I absolutely LOVE this idea. I hate having to say time-out. Right now, I just say for a student to go to the grey chair or the orange chair but I like this so much better. Must do for next year!

    Cara
    http://miscellaneousme.wordpress.com

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  4. Tracy KingJune 27, 2012 at 10:24 PM

    Actually, for these activities I expected more than one at a time in the rest area. I created three identical chairs and placed them around the room. I had a few extra empty chairs, but never needed to use more than the three. Its amazing how putting one student in the rest area for a bit motivated the others to make good choices! :-)

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  5. Renee CookJuly 6, 2012 at 7:30 PM

    i just found your blog... and spent hours looking through it! what great ideas! thanks for posting :) the new school i'm teaching at uses a similar setup but calls it a "safe seat." i like rest area better for music!

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  6. AnonymousJuly 25, 2012 at 8:12 PM

    love this idea!

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  7. AnonymousJuly 30, 2012 at 10:58 AM

    I have a "re-tune chair." Just like instruments need to be re-tuned, sometimes our behavior does too!

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  8. Tracy KingJuly 30, 2012 at 10:29 PM

    I like that! Sometimes I need to sit in the re-tune chair! :-)

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