Speaker 1: Do you need to know about transitions when you teach kindergartners and first graders? You need to spend about 30 seconds in a kindergarten and first grade classroom to know that the use of transitions and the use of effective transitions is going to come in very, very handy. Today we're going to talk about three types of transitions and how to use them in your classroom effectively so that things run smoothly. Here we go. Hey, my name is Angie and I was in education for 25 years and if I've learned one thing, it was that transitions, easy, quick transitions are essential. You know how it is, the administrator walks in with their little clipboard and it's right during the transition and it seems like your room is in chaos. It happens every time. Why can't they walk in when everybody's doing what they should do? But let's make sure that they walk in and they see this transition and it takes 30 seconds and they're like, can you present at this next staff meeting because that was awesome. Okay, so what types of transitions are there? Well, there's really three different kinds of transitions. The first kind of transition is when you're transitioning in and out of the classroom, you're going across that threshold, you're going to library, you're going to recess, you're going to lunch, you're coming back from library, you're coming back from recess, you're coming back from lunch, all the things. So those kinds of transitions are what we're going to talk about first. First thing is that if they're leaving the classroom, the best way to get their attention is with a chant or song. Lunch, lunch, lunch, we're a hungry bunch. Watch us stay so cool. We'll walk in line and stand so fine because we know what to do. Great, let's go. Okay, they know, they hear that cue, they're like, oh, I'm going to stand on my dot. Where's my dot? I'm going to stand on my dot and if you watch the lineup video, you know that I take the little velcro-y things, put a number on them, put them on the floor and I can move them around easily and out the door we go. Okay, coming back in, it should always be a routine. If you didn't catch the after lunch routine, they're coming in, they know exactly what to do. They're coming back from library, you prep them before. When you get back to the classroom, please put your library books in your backpack and go to your seat and you will have something at your seat waiting for you. And my expectations for my students, my kindergartners and first graders, were to walk in a single line quietly from one spot to the other, little bit of space, no stragglers, and that was the thing. We did the secret walker. If you've never seen the secret walker, it's like I've chosen my secret walker and I will be watching to see if our secret walker is doing it correctly. And so if they do it correctly, then your class gets a point or reward. If the secret walker doesn't do it correctly, you say, well, we didn't quite make it. You don't call them out. It was Jesse. He was the secret walker and he did terrible. No, either way, you know, my secret walker did an excellent job today. Pat yourself on the back, kiss your brain if you were probably the secret walker. And they're like, yeah, it was probably me because I did a really good job. It's like, yeah, thank you. So coming in, coming out, think about exactly what you want it, want them to do, and then practice. Practice and reward. Okay. The next type of transition that you have in your classroom is just moving about your classroom, going from one spot to the other, from math, to reading, to carpet area, to your chair, to small group, to big group, to all those things. Right. And the best way that I know to help with those transitions is with songs. So if we were needing to transition, I would put on a song. Usually it was a very short, short song, like the theme to Snoopy. Right. And I would turn that on and they knew that I had to get from point A to point B quickly. I got to put this way. I got to put this way. Done. And of course, knowing me, yes, I would reward them and I would give them pats on the back and yahoos and high fives and all that and tell them they're awesome and have them tell me that they're awesome and all that, really building that community of we can do this together. It's a contagious thing. When a classroom feels that positive energy and that unity, they get it done. So when you're transitioning in the classroom, you want an auditory cue. You could also do a visual cue if it's particularly, if you have some students that do that. So an auditory cue, a visual cue. Sometimes an auditory cue could be like a doorbell, a certain tone on the doorbell. I know a lot of teachers who do the doorbell. They have it around their thing and ding dong. You get their attention, ding dong, class please clean up and go to your seat. And make sure you practice these transitions. They won't know automatically what to do. They don't have that kind of ability to really understand what is expected. So you need to practice and you need to tell them when they're doing it right. Also, make sure that your expectation for their behavior is appropriate for their grade level and for their age. If they are not able to do three things at a time in a certain amount of time, then don't expect that and don't get mad at them if they can't do that. Break it down. Make it age appropriate. So what are some transitions that your kids might get mixed up on or hooked up on? Well, some of them are as simple as they're doing something with the pencil and their pencil breaks and they have to transition. I consider this a transition. They transition from having a broken pencil to sharpening their pencil or trading their pencil and then coming back. Whenever they have to switch from one activity to the other, I consider that a transition. When they're using the restroom, when they're moving around in centers and stations, each one of those is a transition that you need to teach them what to do. And how about snack time? That's a huge transition that can go really wrong really fast. So you have to set up those routines and procedures for those times. When it's time for snack, you will go and get your snack. You will sit at your spot. If you have a container that needs me to help, please raise your hand or ask the person next to you. Okay, so give them some strategies. Now for the third transition that a lot of people really don't think about, but in my mind, it was some of the things that just would throw my class off for actually the whole entire day. And those are the special transition times like you're going, it's picture day, or it's a party day, or it's somebody's birthday, or it's an assembly, or it's a field trip, or you have a special speaker coming in to do something. And you have to transition from a regular school routine out of a routine. Okay, so you're actually, you're disrupting what you always do in your classroom to do something else. And that can throw a lot of kids off. So you have to be prepared. First of all, you have to prep them. This is what's happening today. Today is picture day. You guys look amazing. This is what's going to happen. And you have to just spell it out for them, right? That's when a lot of times I would use things like my dots that have their names on it, like at an assembly, or at pictures, or we're going someplace, and I could bring these and I could just put them places. And they knew where they needed to stand, where they needed to be. Because a lot of it in kindergarten and first grade, they don't even know where they're supposed to be, right? And if you say, I'm going to bring the dots, and when you see your dot go down, you know that that's where you're supposed to be. And then you can kind of pre-do it before. Because if you're like my, if your students are like my little students used to be, Jesse and Joni, they would be sitting together during an assembly. And that is not a good idea ever for them to be sitting together, ever. So this is a really great way instead of going, well, you switch here, right? You, you come and sit by me, kind of thing. You can just switch their dots, do whatever, okay? This is a great thing. So prepping them for those kinds of transitions. So you really want to know what it's going to look like. Are you going to use a hand clap? Are they going to echo back? Do you have some kids that are really adverse to sound, loud sound? And this is going to set them over the edge. One time there was a student who, because of heart conditions, couldn't be startled. So we had to figure out a whole lot of different subtle ways to get the kids' attention. Everybody clapping. If it was sudden, that would startle them, right? So it had to be something like, lower the lights, a very faint chime, or something like that, okay? It's amazing. When you want to get their attention, don't get louder, get softer. It's amazing. It works every time. See, you just cued in a little bit better, didn't you? So I hope that helps with transitions and thinking about what kind of transition it is and what do you need to do to help them transition. Is it going to be an auditory cue? Is it going to be a visual cue? What kind of cue is it going to be? What exactly do you want them to do? Have you practiced it enough? That is a big one. And when you see kids forgetting how to transition, that's okay. Change it up. Change the song up. Change the cue up. Have them practice. Show them the expectation. Set it again. Do the reward. Do the praise. Set your intention back into play. All right, down below, tell me what transitions you're going to work on this week. Make sure you like and subscribe to this video. My name is Angie. Remember, the Creator of the Universe loves you, and I think you're pretty amazing too. I will talk to you later. Happy transitioning. Bye-bye.