Transitions

Transitions in our classroom are very well-planned. Christin laid out procedures the first week of school with the students, and we practiced several times.

Now they are just second nature.

Our system is to use a bell as the signal. The children, when they hear the bell, are to drop what they are doing, and put their hands on their shoulders, criss-cross.

Christin gives a direction and says 'Go' and the children do whatever the direction is. Usually, she says "And meet me on the rug" as a follow-up to whatever direction she gives. The rug is our classroom meeting place. We do large group activities here and spend most of our day migrating back and forth between the tables and the rug.

I like this concept because it really gets the kids moving back and forth throughout the day. Children are not meant to be sitting at desks all day, so Christin's back and forth teaching style really works to curb any disruptive activities.

Sometimes it does get a little crazy when she gives 2 or 3 directions at a time, but I feel like that is helping the children practice their listening and ordering skills. They must mentally keep track of all 3 things before heading back to the rug, which not all of them are skilled at yet. It is helping them to become self-guided, as they know the routine for the most part.

At this point in the year, it is just a lot of reminding them, rather that explicitly telling them what to do. It is amazing to see the growth that has happened in such a short amount of time.