Transition+Ideas

8/31/11 Everyday the kids take a turn being the line leader, caboose, and door holder. When they line up to walk in the hall somewhere, they all know to do "hip and lip", and to line up beside the black line of tiles in the hallway (on the far right side of the hall).

9/6/11 Mrs. Self says "I want a bubble", which means to make a bubble with your cheeks (hold your breath). They do this so that they will get quiet for her to start a lesson.

-Yes, Mrs. Self used the same transition strategies for her kindergarten class because that particular classroom worked best with routines, and they all were used to following the "bubble" and "hip and lip" routine.
 * IS THIS THE ONLY TRANSITION STRATEGY YOU HAVE SEEN?**

10/8/11 Mrs. Dickens gets her students to all line up at the door before exiting out into the hallway. She expects everyone to behave in the hall and walk quietly. I feel like every classroom teacher should model good behavior in the hallway, so if you expect your students to follow the "hip and lip" strategy, then I feel the teacher should too, at least at first so that the students have someone to follow.

10/9/11 Mrs. Dickens will wait until the whole class becomes quiet and until everyone is sitting in their assigned seats before she allows the students to move to centers. This makes the transition of students walking around the classroom go a lot smoother and quieter.

10/18/11 Today Mrs. Dickens used a new transition strategy! She introduced syllables to the class, and informed the students that you can clap out words, or place your hand under your chin when you say a word to count how many syllables are in that word. She had the class find out how many syllables are in each of their names, and when they found out if they had one, two, three syllables etc. in their name, then Mrs. Dickens stated, "If you have one syllable in your name, please quietly line up at the door". She did the same with two, three, four, etc. syllables until everyone was lined up to go to C.A.M.P. I thought that this was a creative, fun way to line up!

10/20/11 Today Mrs. Dickens asked the boys in the class to line up first, then the girls. She also told the class that she was looking for the quietest boys and the quietest girls when they lined up.

11/2/11 Mrs. Dickens rings the "class bell" when she wants the class to stop what they are doing and listen before transitions in the classroom.

11/3/11 -Plan for classroom transitions ahead of time (let the students know when and how they are going to transition). -Begin the school year with a standard set of transition rules. -Play a "quiet game" while the students are walking through the halls to see who is being the "most quiet" student.
 * Transition Strategy Ideas:**

11/4/11 Mrs. Dickens uses bathroom passes and library passes for the students to leave the classroom. There is one bathroom pass for girls, and one for boys. There are two library passes for girls, and two for boys. The library passes are for four students at a time to go check out books.

11/9/11 Today Mrs. Dickens said that she needed all of the "smart kids" to line up to go to C.A,M.P. She did this because she knew that all of the students would line up, because she always reminds them that //everyone// in her classroom is smart! I really like how she says this, because it is very encouraging towards the students. Also, when Mrs. Dickens tells her students that she is proud of them, or that they are smart, it reassures the children that this classroom has a warm and inviting atmosphere.

11/10/11 Mrs. Dickens will ring the "class bell" when the students are in centers. The bell lets them know that it is time to clean up their area, and move to the next center.

11/11/11 Today Mrs. Dickens called on the most quiet students to line up first, before the classroom left for C.A.M.P. Another transition strategy is that she counts backwards from ten, and during this time the students have to be in their seats by the time she gets to one. Also, she informed me that another useful strategy is clapping out a certain beat, and having the students clap twice after she claps the certain beat. This is another way to inform the students it is time to transition somewhere quietly.