Hand Signals

I am absolutely the biggest fan of hand signals. Not only does it help lower the amount of distractions within your classroom, it also help students not get up and leave your classroom as often. I use sign language to help me with me - R for Restroom, W for Water, and I do a thumbs up or thumbs down in response. I went over it the first day of school and remind them occasionally but they love it!

I got these images from clikr.com

I put a border around them in Word and put the word for what they stand for underneath. You can download them here

I also do "Check ins" students give me a thumbs up, thumbs sideways, or thumbs down if they are not understanding what we are going over. It helps me decide if my students are ready to keep going or not.
I liked Mrs. Gilchrist's example below and added my thumbs down to it. I'll post a picture of it later :)