Teacher-Tested Tips:

Games to play
Submitted by: Mary Smith-Kobs, First, Originally posted at the Discussion Forums
I teach first grade. Dismissal can get out of hand. Two games my students have enjoyed playing are 'Heads up 5-up' and 'The quiet game'. The first is a modified Heads Up 7-up, while the second is even more simple. Pick one student to begin. The class must be silent. The first student picks a student who is silently sit... more »»

Mad libs, vocabulary games
Submitted by: Upsdaisy, Originally posted at the Discussion Forums
My class this past year went absolutely nuts over Mad Libs. We all laughed so hard. In fact it was the last thing we did on the last day of school. They also liked a game called Blurt which really surprised me because all it was was a vocabulary game. There were cards with words and brief definitions. They had to guess the word. They begged for this game every day. I used up all the cards in the deck and just went to the dictionary. It was great.

Quiet Game
Submitted by: shoselton, Originally posted at the Discussion Forums
This "quiet game" might help during dismissal....the kids love it and most importantly, it's QUIET. All you need is a Nerf ball. The children spread out in the room. One person (usually the winner of the previous game) gets to make the rules i.e. throw underhand, throw overhand, right arm stays behind your back, catch ... more »»

Student Clues
Submitted by: clarnet73
When I did my student teaching in 2nd grade, the teacher picked one student per week who got to give "clues" at the end of the day... all the kids are dismissed at the same time (it's a reasonably small school), so to get them all lined up, the person of the week (used as another job on the job rotations) gets to give ... more »»

Use a song
Submitted by: J. Brady
I use a song to dismiss my students. I constantly have music playing in my classroom and the students know the cue to clean up for dismissal. This takes a lot of practice, but is quite impressive when the students can do it. I use a Raffi CD and play Day-O. In this time, the students should pack up their backpacks,... more »»
Grade Level(s): 1-2

Using a Student Helper
Submitted by: AngelaS, 3rd, Originally posted at the Discussion Forums
My students are to sit and read quietly or rest their heads on their desks. I have to be in the hall for hall duty, so I have another student (a well-respected, leader-type) dismiss students. They must be called one at a time when their bus is announced. Anyone who was talking or playing will be called last and may have to stay in the classroom a few extra seconds before being dismissed. This generally works very very well and the kids enjoy it. It's also no work for me.