Positive Classroom= Positive Learning

I have never understood why teachers in Early Years or KS1 shout/ raise their voices to get the children's attention in the classroom. From day one at my school, I was taught to do several things to save your voice and stress! They are the following:

• Sing- Children absolutely love to join in with a familiar song. Once they hear me start to sing they immediately stop, listen and join in.I can  instantly gain their attention.
• Clap a Rhythm- Again, instead of raising my voice and shouting to fight to get attention, I clap a simple rhythm. Immediately children stop, look and join in giving their undivided attention to me.
• Rhyme- I say '1,2,3 and look at me.' They learn to reply, '1,2 looking at you' so they know they give me their attention.
• Give me 5- After saying this the children know to do good listening, good looking, no talking, hands still and good sitting (as shown below in the picture!)
• Movement-  After doing either of the points above to gain silence. I start to do easy movements and they copy me.

A great link to look at is the following link (Tips)

So the questions I am extremely interested in are:

1. Why does singing/ rhythm/ movement immediately engage young children?
2. Why does shouting not have the same effect?
3. Is shouting by a teacher/ practitioner really necessary in an Early Years classroom?

I know from experience, using the above techniques certainly make my life easier and less stressful! Here are some great call and response ...