smooth transistions

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Home : 2002 : July : 28

smooth transistions
By Betsy

Starting the first week of school I teach my class poems. (My favorite author is Jack Prelutsky!!) When we are making a transition(taking out books, lining up, or even walking to lunch) I let the line leader quickly name
a poem and the whole class recites it while doing whatever it is I instructed them to do. My students have always loved doing this and will even ask to do it if I forget.
There are so many other things you can do to maintain control during transitions. If students are taking out a textbook you could announce the page number and ask a student to write the number on the board. Then

you can ask the class to announce the # rounded to the nearest ten, hundred, thousand and so on. They could also give the number in expanded notation; identify how many ones, tens, etc; even or odd; and so on. The possibilities are endless. You could do things such as have them recite the continents and oceans, sing a song you may have learned about a math or english concept, spell a spelling word, give the definition of a vocab word, and so on.
I think it is very important to make use of every minute I have of instructional time. These types of transistions are great for reviewing and also for assessing what students may need extra help with. I also believe in giving the students a chance to do some sort of talking during this time (or they will do it during the lesson) but don't like for it to get out of control. That is why the activities I listed above work for me. I usually don't have students raise their hand to answer these types of questions, rather I like for the class to answer together.
I have really rambled on and on and my puctuation is probably terrible, so I help you are able to get something out of this post.