For the past few weeks we’ve been taking a deeper dive into classroom transitions. We’ve covered two different characteristics of transitions: having clear beginnings and endings and ways to have transitions unfold rapidly. To wrap up this mini-series, today we’re discussing the final characteristic of classroom transitions, which is minimizing the downtime between activities.

Feedback of the Week: Chunk Spelling System

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Hey, there. Thanks for joining us today. Today is the last installment of our three part series deep diving into classroom transitions.

We start our episodes with a morning message just like we used to do at morning meeting in our classrooms. This week's morning message is what are your reading right now?

Emily, what are you reading? I'm just about to finish Spare, Prince Harry's memoir. And I don't know if I should be embarrassed of that. Like I feel like people expect me to be embarrassed if I announced that. And yet I'm not. I'm not embarrassed. I have found it to be really interesting.

And I think it's important to let people tell their own side of the story for anyone who wants to hear it. If you don't want to listen, you don't have to listen. But if you are interested, I do recommend listening to the audiobook. And I second that, it's really compelling to hear in his own voice.

I'm also reading The Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most by Cassie Holmes. As someone who chronically feels like there are just not enough hours in the day, I'm excited to implement some of the strategies in this book, and try to figure out how to optimally schedule my time so I can create moments of joy.

Oh, that does sound good. I'll let you know what I'm doing. Okay. What are you reading Heidi?

Well, I am on the last chapter so close of Defend the Dawn by Brigid Kemmerer it's the second in a trilogy. And I love her books so much. But I hate that they're trilogies. Because it is so wait for the next one.

That's why I still haven't started this this trilogy at all. Because I'm like, I might want to just wait till all three are out. Yeah, that's very smart. I, I thought it was a standalone when I started it. I didn't know it was going to be and then I thought it was just going to be a duology. So when I found out it was a trilogy. I was very sad. But it's very good. So you have something to look forward to.

What was her other trilogy that we loved? A Curse So Dark and Lonely? Yes, that one was so good. But we started it when there was only like one or two out and then we had to wait. So I learned my lesson, I guess.

But when does the last one come out? I think this one came out in like late summer, maybe Oh, really. So maybe in a few months, I'll have to check because I'm excited to read that one.

We'd love to hear what you're reading over in our teacher approved Facebook group or on Instagram at @2ndstorywindow. And that's with a two.

It's time for the feedback of the week. Last week, we shared our Chunk Spelling System for the resource of the week. And this week, we're sharing some feedback from teachers who have used this system and love it.

Mandy said, "This is absolutely amazing. I'm using this with a student with learning difficulties. We worked on the app chunk this week. This was the first time she has ever made a 100% on her spelling test. She was so so proud of herself and so was I. She is beginning to use initial sounds and recognize sound symbol correspondence that she did not have previously." I love that.

And Heather said, "What a fantastic spelling program. This program is well laid out and provides a ton of options for word families. I love how easy it is to implement. The whole class can study the same pattern, but each student is challenged at their own level.

I am obsessed with your homework menus and all that critical stimuli because she did a good job there. What a great idea. The kids and parents love the spelling activities. It really helps parents to keep the word study fun each week."

And you can find a link to our Chunk Spelling System at the link in our show notes.

This is the last episode in our three part series on classroom transitions. And then we will be transitioning to another topic.

This series has focused on three characteristics of efficient classroom transitions. As a reminder, those characteristics are first efficient transitions have clear beginnings and ends. Second, they are rapid and third, they minimize the amount of downtime between activities.

So if you are keeping track at home, that means in a third episode, we will be discussing how to keep your transitions efficiently moving from one activity to the next with minimum downtime.

And we're kind of obsessed with efficiency, so I'm excited to dive into this. If you are interested in tips and strategies for managing the time transitions, check out our previous episode episode 48.

No more wasting valuable time on transitions. And if you go back to Episode 47, we talked about giving your transitions a clear beginning and end. We give you lots of details in the episode.

But as a summary, there are two types of transitions: routine and prompted. A routine transition is just part of our regular classroom day. It's how students come into the room and make their lunch choice, things like that. It's how they move to the run for morning meeting. It's how they line up to go into music class.

Because routine transitions are just part of your regular class procedures, you can teach them just like any other procedure. Yay, easy peasy. Tell, Try, Tally. We love it.

Prompted transitions are more variable, however. These are the transitions you'd frequently use within the lesson. Like getting into a group of four for a project, or prompted transitions often end the lesson. So for example, you might want your students to clean up their phonics game, go back to their desks and get out the reading journals.

Because the directions in a prompt to transition will vary, we want to make the beginning and end of the transition clear by standardizing how we give those directions.

So step one, you'll signal for attention. Step two, explain your action cue like when I say go. Step three, give directions and say how you'd like them completed. Step four, check for understanding. Step five, give your action cue and step six monitor. There's a lot to unpack there. So make sure to check out the whole episode, episode 48 If you missed it.

This distinction between routine and prompted transitions is important. Because if we want to minimize the wasted time between transitions, we need to know what kind of transition we're dealing with.

We'll come back to routine and prompted transitions in a minute. And for now, let's discuss what's true for all transitions. Emily, why don't you give us the key to transition success.

Okay, I'm ready, get ready, I'm going to dole it out. The super important can't be overstated rule for keeping any transition time from becoming wasted time is to focus on what happens after the transition. Students need an activity they can start immediately.

So that means if students are returning from their specialty classes, they engage in something as soon as they enter your room. If students are rotating at literacy centers, they need a task that they can start immediately. As students are getting into small groups, they need a responsibility to complete right away.

We've talked a lot about this with the morning routine, because that's our favorite routine, the most important one. The students arrive at school, then they transition into the classroom by hanging up their backpacks, making their lunch choice and getting started on a meaningful activity.

We talk about it, we practice it, they'll do it every single school day. But every transition needs to have an activity they can start independently on the other side. So think of it as a transition bookend.

When we taught preschool, we would bookend the students arrival with journal drawing time. So they would come in, put down all their stuff, and then they would have time to draw in their journals.

With our second graders, the bookend from arrival to transitioning to starting today was morning work. And Emily, I know your school was different. But my students arrived slowly over 20 or 30 minutes.

So I gave my early kids some independent activities that they could choose from that I didn't have to direct. And then when the bell rang, it signaled another transition, they clean up their activities and ended the transition by getting started on their morning work.

I didn't have to prompt any of this, I did list the steps on the board for reference. But after a couple of weeks, it was really just an automatic routine.

And the activity you choose to bookend a transition doesn't matter so much. Simply having something they can do independently is the main goal. Ideally, you would want something meaningful, but keeping the kids engaged is really enough.

Yeah, because if you leave kids to their own devices, you then have the work of regaining their attention before you can move forward with your day. Which maybe it doesn't sound like a big deal. But redirecting wandering attention is a huge drain on your time and energy.

It really is. It's much easier to keep their attention focused by giving them something to pay attention to.

So let's dive in by considering the routine transitions you have during a normal school day. If you're not driving, grab a paper and just jot down a list of your transitions. Anytime students enter the classroom is the transition. Anytime students leave the classroom is a transition. And then any switching between subjects, activities or locations in your room is a transition.

And you're probably going to be surprised by how many transitions you during a school day. High fives for everyone, we're managing all of that. It's all that executive functioning we're doing all day long managing all of this.

Once you've got a list of your routine transitions, note if there's anything you're already doing as an independent activity at the end of that transition. If you do have a bookend activity, and it's working jot it down next to the transition that follows and make sure you keep doing that.

Now, what about the routine transitions that don't have a book end? If you need to plan a transition bookend, there are three things to consider. First, is this a major transition or a minor one? A major transition is something like coming in or out of the room, a minor transition is getting out of science journal.

Those transitions, both might be routine, but they do not require the same amount of effort. Definitely put your focus into bookending your major transitions before worrying about those minor winds.

And then once you know, if you're dealing with a major or minor transition, consider what lesson or activity is coming next. What do you need the kids to gear up for?

If you're heading into a science lesson, maybe bookending your transition with a word sort isn't going to be the most helpful. But maybe you have a science vocabulary folder your students work with until everyone is settled, and you're ready to start the lesson.

Do whatever you need to to keep the kids engaged. But if you are intentional about it, these transition bookends can be like gold nuggets, they're just little chunks of learning time that would otherwise go to waste.

And once you've considered whether a transition is major or minor and what is coming next, consider where the students will be when this bookend needs to happen.

So for example, my second graders came in from recess, they would get out the dry erase markers and whiteboards to start number of the day at their desks. Coming in from recess is a major transition. So I definitely needed something that they could get started on while everyone got their drinks, got settled, and then I could get ready to teach.

Because our math lesson followed recess number of the day was really just an ideal way to wrap up the transition from recess and then set us up for the day's math lesson. And since I typically wanted them at their desks for a math lesson, it was ideal to have a transition bookend that happened at their desks.

Now, of course, you'll eventually have to transition from number of the day to the actual math lesson. But that is a minor transition. So it should be easier to manage. It's definitely easier to manage cleaning up whiteboards than getting them all back in from recess.

If the kids followed directions during the number of the day routine, I would just give them 30 seconds to free draw on their whiteboards. And then they had 10 seconds to hand their whiteboards to the first person at their tables, and the markers to the second person at their tables.

And then while those few kids were returning the materials, I would bookend the cleaning up of number of the day by having the kids get in what I called learning position. So they were expected to sit up straight, clear their desktops, and look at me. So I am still bookending the transition with a task, it's just a much smaller task the number of the day.

So what if you need your students to move to a space like the rug where it's challenging to use supplies? In that case, you need to get creative when planning your bookend activities. As the kids are coming to the rug, maybe you just want to chat for a minute about what they did in specials or what they have for lunch, that's still an activity.

Or maybe you want to do something like play a quick round of the quiet game. It really doesn't have to be academic to benefit your transition. Our goal with a bookend is to smoothly lead them into the next activity. And you can't do that if you lose their attention.

Right. If we don't give kids something to do, they will find something to do very likely they're not going to start tipping desks over but they will start playing. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just counterproductive if you're then going to need them focus for a social studies lesson.

Our goal is to minimize wasted time between activities. And the key to doing that is not giving kids an opportunity to get off track. Bookends between activities are what make that possible.

So the guidelines for planning your bookends for routine transition are: one, consider if it's a major transition or a minor transition; two, consider what is happening after the transition; and three, consider where they'll be at the end of the transition.

Keeping these three guidelines in mind will help keep your day flowing from one activity into the next without needing a lot of work from you. And that works really well for routine transitions.

But when it comes to prompted transitions, you need different tactics. Sometimes you're lucky and a prompt to transition will lead right into an activity. For example, turn to page 86 in your math book and get started or get some scissors and cut out the shapes. But frequentl you'll probably want to give additional information once they've completed the transition.

Yeah, so let's say you want to discuss how to complete page 86 before you have them start. In that case, consider bookending your prompted transition with a ready signal of some kind. That would sound like turn to page 86 in your math book, and when you're there, hold up your pencil.

That's a signal to me that you're ready to move on. You're still giving kids a task to be engaged in, even if it's not an academic task. You're keeping that elusive engagement that you're working hard to try and keep hold of throughout your day so that things keep moving smoothly.

Prompted transitions are harder to bookend though because by their nature, they're not part of your daily routine. That means whatever you want students to do will require some explanation. So you sometimes have to get creative and how to bookend them.

If you're having them get out whiteboards, maybe they can have time to draw until everyone is ready. Or they can even draw on the back of a worksheet while they wait.

Once you've had some practice bookending your transitions you'll develop a stockpile of potential activities that will help you keep your kids focused until everyone is ready to move on.

Transitions really can work as a friend by helping set students up for the next activity, or they can work against you. It is much easier to direct the flow of a river with strong riverbanks than to let it run wild and have to correct its course a bucketful at a time. Oh that's a good visual.

Our students energy and focus work the same way. We can direct it into productive channels, or we can spend our time for it to get back on track. And the way we keep our students energy flowing in productive ways is to bookend transitions with activities.

Consider what routines you can add as bookends to your routine transitions. Prompted transitions require more creativity. If students can't start their work right away find something else for them to do so they don't start entertaining themselves.

And that is a wrap on our classroom transition series. But we've thrown a lot of information that you have in the last few weeks. So how about a quick recap? Let's do it.

The first episode of the series is Episode 48, where we talk about the differences between routine and prompted transitions. And we shared the six steps for making a clear beginning and ending for prompted transitions.

In this second episode of the series, episode 49, we dive into how to make your transitions happen rapidly. If you can save just 15 minutes a day with efficient transitions, you buy yourself an extra 75 minutes a week. By the end of the school year, that would be 45 hours of extra instructional time. Imagine what you could do with 45 bonus hours of school.

And in this the final episode of the series, we shared three guidelines for minimizing downtime in your classroom transitions, so your day flows smoothly from one activity to the next. That is the dream.

We'd love to hear your biggest takeaways and insights from this classroom transition series. Come join the conversation in our teacher approved Facebook group, or connect with us on Instagram at @2ndstorywindow. And that is with a two.

Now let's talk about this week's teacher approved tip. Each week, we leave you with a small actionable tip that you can apply in your classroom today. This week's teacher approved tip is keep a basket of bookend activities handy for grabbing at a moment's notice.

Tell us about that, Heidi. So when I would have my students transition to the rug, they didn't have any materials with them usually. So it was tricky to know how to bookend that transition. And because I could only play the quiet game so many times, I had a literal basket of tricks that I would keep at my chair back at the rag.

So I had you know the lyrics of songs we could sing or poems to practice, a deck of those like second grade trivia questions. Oh, yeah, those brain quest? Yes, I had those do I think I may have gotten them from you. A joke book to read from just lots of little things to keep kids engaged while everyone got settled with the rug.

If you have a place or time of day where the transition is a little sticky, maybe because the students just end up sitting there waiting for you to start. Consider keeping some activities handy to keep that transition time from becoming wasted time.

Those brain quest trivia books, I kept them on a shelf right next to my door. And I would do it while we were lining up for lunch. Some of the kids were getting there and standing there waiting for everyone else to finish washing their hands. I would do the trivia while we were waiting, very smart.

And our no technology brain break cards are perfect for your basket. You can print them, stick them on a ring and keep them handy to bookend any prompted transitions. And we'll link to those in the show notes.

To wrap up the show we're sharing what we're giving extra credit to this week. Heidi, what are you giving extra credit to this week?

My extra credit goes to @summersoffcomic on Instagram. Never even heard of this, this will be fun. So one of my cute neighbor girls who is actually all grown up and studying to be a teacher, she introduced me to this account. It's a comic about all the crazy stuff that happens when you're a teacher.

And I get that it's going to be hard to appreciate a comic without seeing the pictures, but I'm gonna give it a shot. So in this particular, I don't know what we call this episode segment of this comic. You see kids running around in their cute jammies, and teachers are in their matching PJ sets.

And then there's a speech bubble, but you can't see the speaker and it says, "So I am learning that pajama day is mostly performative, and not literally what we fall asleep in." And then on the next slide, you see the teacher in her actual pajamas, which if you're like me, is not what anyone should be wearing in public. So if you need a laugh about the craziness of teacher life, definitely check out @summersoffcomic.

Oh, I'm gonna check that out. Yes, tell me what you think, Emily, what is your extra credit this week? I'm giving extra credit to Dr. Teal's Bubble Bath. They also make epson salts and things like that. I am a lover of bubble baths, and so are all my kids. We go through a lot of bubble bath and so I've become kind of a connoisseur of which one I like that isn't too expensive. It's a tricky balance.

I found the Dr. Tea'ls kind makes really nice soft bubbles that lasts a long time. And it has those epsom salts in it and essential oils that are relaxing and nice for your skin. And my personal favorite is the glow and radiance kind because that smells like citrus is so nice. Love us it just smell.

That's it for today's episode. Remember our three guidelines for minimizing downtime in your classroom transitions. And don't forget our teacher approved tip to keep a basket of activities handy for bookending your transitions.

Be sure to check out our show notes for links to anything we've mentioned. And if you've enjoyed this episode, please consider sharing it with a teacher friend. Recommendation from friends are the number one way that people find new podcasts.