TEACHER.....I have to go to the bathroom!!!!!

How many of you hear this countless times during the day???  Moving down from third grade to kindergarten this phrase came out more times than I could count.  Luckily, we had a bathroom right in the room.  I also noticed another little thing about my sweet little darlings.  If one would ask then all of them would need to go even if I was in the middle of a what I thought was a fun lesson or activity we were doing.  I thought how could they possibly want to miss this cool science experiment to head to the bathroom???? Wishful thinking on my part.  There must be something magical about a bathroom at this age....I have yet to understand it.  :) 
  So after hearing "Teacher....I have to go to the bathroom."  (Because in kindergarten that is what your name is until they learn it).  I decided to come up with my own signal to teach the kids at the beginning on what to do if they needed to go to the restroom. I have to tell you it was my own MAGICAL key to a bathroom phrase free classroom. 
  In my room, I taught the kids how to use the thumbs up sign to let me know they needed to go to the bathroom.  We were sitting on the carpet one day and I said I have a new way for you to let me know that you need to use the restroom.  So I showed them the thumbs up sign.  I told them they could raise their little thumbs anytime they needed to go and I would just look at them , nod my head, and they could go.  No need to disturb anyone .  So we tested it out.  I started reading a story together and I stopped and pointed to one of my darlings and asked them to pretend they needed to use the restroom...I asked the rest of the class to show me how they ask to go to the bathroom.  Of course I said do we yell out "Teacher, I need to go to the bathroom!!!"  Really loud ....cue the giggles from the kids.  :)  Or do we raise our thumb like this.  Of course you hope they choose the second answer.  They did and then I say what do I do....I say I look at you , nod my head and you go quickly and quietly.  

                                                       Clipart courtesy of www.mycutegraphics.com

Any great tips you have on how you get your students to the bathroom without disrupting your class?  Let me know.  I would love to hear from you. 

Julie