Simple Solutions for a Noisy Cafeteria
“Teachers are the only professionals who have to respond to bells every forty-five minutes and come out fighting”
Make Your School Awesome Staff
October 12, 2021
A cafeteria is an exciting place for students to gather and enjoy the company of their peers. It is important to create an environment where students feel comfortable, safe, have an opportunity to practice their social skills while getting a little brain break from their daily academic routines. The cafeteria should be a fun, relaxing, and enjoyable environment that promotes socializing. Many paraprofessionals and teachers working in school cafeterias understand the importance for children to have time to interact and socialize with their friends. Students should communicate in a peaceful and orderly environment where they can enjoy their lunch and partake in conversations that do not consist of yelling across tables.
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Many school administrators and teachers struggle to create the perfect environment balancing the noise volume with the ability for students to have fun while also enjoying their food. An overly noisy cafeteria can be problematic for many students, especially those with sensory needs. Creating a healthy cafeteria environment with just the right balance is essential to ensure students are refueling, getting downtime, and having enough time to eat all of their veggies.
If your school building is struggling to manage volume and behavior within the cafeteria, here are some helpful tips:
1. Make sure teachers practice with their homeroom students how to enter the cafeteria in an orderly fashion with assigned seats. Similar to entering a classroom, if students are filled with energy and disarray, these behaviors will continue throughout the lunch period. Bringing in a quiet, orderly group of students will have a tremendous impact on promoting positive behaviors in the cafeteria.
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2. Principals and school administrators should set high expectations. Every staff member must be on the same page with their staff and students. Building administration should visit each individual classroom separately and explain their behavioral expectations in the cafeteria. Posters serve as great reminders along with verbal cues. This helps in building daily routines that promote positive classroom to cafeteria transitions. Set those expectations early in the year and model them regularly. Display your posters as reminders and continually review behavioral expectations.
3. Transitions and movements are challenging within the cafeteria setting. Ensure students are appropriately scheduled, and there is room for organization and continuous flow on the lunch lines. Use visuals such as signs or colored posterboards to call up groups to purchase items versus yelling and adding to the high volume of the room.
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4. Keep students busy. There is nothing more disastrous than having multiple students in one area with a tremendous amount of downtime. Be creative with your scheduling to ensure limited downtime. If there is limited wiggle room in your schedule, make sure you provide students with hands-on activities such as playing cards or doodling on pads to fill in their free time.
5. Make certain that your staff is properly trained. All staff members working in the cafeteria must understand their role. Incorporate training throughout the year and explain that this is not a social break nor a punishment. Staff must interact with the students regularly and refrain from chatting with their coworkers. If stations are an issue, simply place colored "X's" on the floor for staff to stand on, or provide a visual map showing the areas you wish the staff to stand and supervise.
6. Develop a positive incentive cafeteria game with your students! You may create teams by tables, sections of the cafeteria, or even homerooms. Use a "visual behavior tracker" to keep students on task without providing loud verbal reminders. Use giant red, yellow, and green symbols on poster-board or purchase large colorful cones.
These objects can be great visual reminders to have students self-monitor their behavior and noise level. When students are loud, move them to red; when their behavior improves, move them to yellow; when they are outstanding, move your kiddos to green and toss in a bonus ticket.
Display a large prize drawing bucket. Place your winning tickets in as staff award them. Encourage students to stay in the green to earn tickets! Once a month or marking period, pull a random winner. Prizes can be creative. Win a class pizza party, extra recess, ice pops at recess or free choice seating for a week. Think outside the box when creating your grand prize or make a mystery prize board!
Important teacher takeaways!
If your school has an unruly or boisterous cafeteria create a committee to review the current environment. Develop a plan to promote and establish best practices. Visually post rules, expectations, and regularly review procedures with your students and staff. Make sure teachers are pushed into high traffic areas and are visible to students during lunchtime.
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