CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
September 2026
Turning Carpet Time Around
Small strategies, playful cues, songs, movement, and everyday classroom tools that help young children listen, participate, and regulate themselves.
There are days when I look at my carpet and genuinely wonder how 22 little bodies can find 22 completely different ways not to sit on it.
One is lying down.
One is touching the person beside them.
One has suddenly become extremely interested in their shoe.
And another desperately needs to tell me something that has absolutely nothing to do with what we’re discussing.
For years, I found myself saying the same things:
Sit properly.
Eyes on me.
Stop touching.
Listen.
And then one day you realize… if I’ve said “sit properly” seven times in the last three minutes, maybe saying it an eighth time isn’t going to magically work.
So I started trying different things.
I started singing instructions instead of repeating them. I introduced little classroom cues. I used movement when I could see they needed movement. And for some children, I realized that having something small in their hands actually helped them listen better.
And no, it doesn’t need to be a fancy fidget.
Sometimes it’s literally something I find around my classroom.
The more I teach, the more I realize that classroom management isn’t about finding one trick that suddenly makes every child sit perfectly.
It’s about knowing the children in front of you.
Sometimes I still need to remind them.
Sometimes the carpet is still chaotic.
And yes, sometimes someone is still upside down.
But now, instead of only thinking, “How do I stop this?” I try to think:
“What can I change to help this child succeed?”
That little shift has changed a lot in my classroom.
One is lying down.
One is touching the person beside them.
One has suddenly become extremely interested in their shoe.
And another desperately needs to tell me something that has absolutely nothing to do with what we’re discussing.
For years, I found myself saying the same things:
Sit properly.
Eyes on me.
Stop touching.
Listen.
And then one day you realize… if I’ve said “sit properly” seven times in the last three minutes, maybe saying it an eighth time isn’t going to magically work.
So I started trying different things.
I started singing instructions instead of repeating them. I introduced little classroom cues. I used movement when I could see they needed movement. And for some children, I realized that having something small in their hands actually helped them listen better.
And no, it doesn’t need to be a fancy fidget.
Sometimes it’s literally something I find around my classroom.
The more I teach, the more I realize that classroom management isn’t about finding one trick that suddenly makes every child sit perfectly.
It’s about knowing the children in front of you.
Sometimes I still need to remind them.
Sometimes the carpet is still chaotic.
And yes, sometimes someone is still upside down.
But now, instead of only thinking, “How do I stop this?” I try to think:
“What can I change to help this child succeed?”
That little shift has changed a lot in my classroom.