Transitions are those periods of time when the children are moving from one activity to the next. How well your day flows in your classroom can depend on how well you handle your transitions. Some of the most stressful parts of a practitioner’s day can begin with transitioning children from one activity to the next without it all ending up in a total stressful chaos moment!
Creating short, smooth transitions throughout your day will provide you with more time to be spent in meaningful activities.
Examples of strategies you can use before the transition:
- Plan your daily schedule to include minimal number of transition times possible.
- Consider what the children and adults will do during these times (e.g., which adult is responsible for greeting the children and who will begin looking at books on the carpet with children?).
- View transition times as opportunities for learning - Transitions hold many opportunities for skill-building, problem-solving, listening, following directions and cooperation.
- Make transitions fun - A good practitioner can make wearing two mismatched gloves sound like the most fun and exciting thing in the world just by facial expressions and tone of voice. Utilize your face and voice as teaching tools.
- One adult should stay with the majority of the children who are ready (or not ready) and the other staff member should be facilitating the rest of the group. - Strategically positioning yourself is an invaluable tool during transitions. Do not penalize the children who are ready and doing what they should be doing.
- Eliminate 'Lining Up' and minimize waiting. - Lining up lends itself to children being in each others' body space. This often leads to pushing, shoving and kicking. Movement in small groups is preferable - and much more manageable. Stagger small groups of children. If you must line-up, or there is an unexpected wait for the next activity (example: lunch is late), use fingerplays, songs and games that require no props are essential.
- Give children adequate time to prepare for transitions. - You like to know what is coming next in your day, don't you? Do you like it when you're right in the middle of something and someone demands that you stop right now and do something else? We need to be respectful of children and their choices. They need to mentally prepare for changes, and feel that they have some control within their environment and their day. Predictable cues can also be an effective and helpful tool. Children respond to structure and routines. Consistency enables them to feel safe, secure and more in control and competent.
- Choose children first who are not engaged in any activity, (or who need some redirection), to start moving into that next phase of the day.
- Utilize positive reinforcement as a tool. - Children generally strive to please. Reward appropriate behaviour with recognition, praise and positive reinforcement. Don't fall into the "Well done” pitfall - the more specific and concrete your comments are, the more it indicates that you are really looking and paying attention, and are sincere.
- Know upon whom you need to keep an extra close eye. - Certain children predictably 'lose it' during transition times or take advantage of the fact that your focus is fragmented. You will want to shadow these children closely - again using positive reinforcement when they display appropriate behaviours.
- Some children need specific directions comprised of only one or two commands at a time. - Some children cannot comprehend or process multiple directions given all at one time.
- Model and demonstrate appropriate behaviours. - Do not assume the children truly know what is expected. Be patient with children new to child care - they probably know nothing about 'snack time', 'group time', etc. and/or many of the expectations.
