Achieving Smooth Transitions

Achieving Smooth Transitions

In the early years classroom, the teacher usually teaches several groups. Students rotate from the teacher’s group to the teaching assistant’s group and on to independent work. Ensuring smooth group transitions is essential to minimise wasted instructional time. 

The ways to achieve smooth transitions are:  

• Use a timer to provide an audible signal for switching groups. 
• Clearly define each step of the transition, such as allocating twenty seconds for putting away materials once the timer goes off. At the end of twenty seconds, students should be standing by their chairs, ready to move to the next group. 
• Create a signal for each step of the transition. It can be as simple as the teacher saying ‘one’ as students push in chairs and stand up, ‘two’ as students move to their chair in the next group and ‘three’ as students sit down in their new group. 
• Establish a classroom ‘traffic pattern’ for moving to each group. 
• Set the expectation of walking feet and quiet voices during movement.