Back to Basics: Routines and Transitions in the Early Years

Hi! My name is Tracey and I have been a Queensland early years teacher for 17 years. As a Prep teacher (and Year One teacher before the introduction of Prep) I was given the important task of introducing our youngest students to school life.

Term One is a crucial time for establishing classroom expectations, rules, routines and transitions. I have experienced first-hand that if you put the time and work in early, the rest of the year flows more smoothly. Every minute spent explicitly covering the ‘basics’ in Term One can saves hours correcting issues down the track.

The following list is a working document. I plan to add to it as I think of new ideas. It is also specific to my experience and context. Every class is different. Classrooms and resources vary and teachers and students are all wonderfully unique. In my opinion, there is no classroom management tool or list that is a ‘one size fits all’ formula.

I do believe however in the benefits of experienced teachers sharing their journey with others because even one trick or tip can save a fellow teacher some precious time or make their jobs a little easier.

Some of the micro-lessons on this list have been included to help students succeed and feel prepared and ready for learning. Other items are there to ensure that students have a clear understanding of how to be safe and respectful at school.

I have included micro-lessons that help give children agency. When children can locate and use the items in their learning space it fosters independence, nurtures creativity and gives students a greater voice in their learning. I have also included micro-lessons that have helped my students feel confident and relaxed in the classroom. I have found that the more you include students and communicate with them openly, the less anxious they are about the ‘unknown’. If expectations and rules are not clear it can create a lot of angst in young learners.

I have not included specific details on how I teach each micro-lesson as I believe each teacher has their own teaching style and flare. I will say though, that many of these micro-lessons work well as investigations. A simple example is teaching children to care for the glue sticks. Investigations are fun and can be very simple. In Term One find two glue sticks and try a “What happens if we leave the lid off one of them for a week?” experiment. Children will arrive each morning and see the lidless glue stick drying up and shrivelling in front of their eyes until it is no longer sticky. Investigations like this are easy but effective. You will throw out half as many dry glue sticks throughout the year and the children will have been a part of the learning process. It’s all the little things you do in Term One that make a big difference over the span of an entire year.

Back to Basics: Routines and Transitions

THE START OF OUR DAY

• Where to wait with your family before the morning bell.

i.e. at the bottom of the stairs, in a special area of the school.

• Which areas are out-of-bounds before the morning bell.

i.e. the verandah outside the classroom, the playground.

• What the transition will look like if you attend Before School Care.
• What to do when you arrive at the classroom each morning.

i.e. Morning routine may include greeting the teacher, unpacking certain items from your school bag and putting them into labelled containers (drink bottle, fruit break container, home folder, school diary, library bag, banking bag)

• What to do when you have unpacked your bag.

These activities may change over time. They might include Morning Sign In, name writing activities, fine motor activities/puzzles at the tables, quiet reading on the carpet, quiet investigations/provocation tables.

• ‘Closed’ activities: Which classroom areas are not available in the mornings.

There may only be 10 minutes between the classroom door opening and the official start to the day where children are settled and attendance is called. For this reason, you may want to restrict the number of areas of the room that are open. Areas such as puppets, dress-ups and home corner may be ‘closed’ in the mornings and enjoyed at a later time.

• Younger siblings. Expectations around their adequate supervision.

Encourage children to take ownership of and be proud of their classroom. Older siblings can help to assist their little brothers/sisters to follow classroom rules before school to ensure their learning space stays safe, organised and clean.

• Attendance: When, why and how often we take attendance.

Expectations during roll call – sitting quietly and listening for your name.

THE END OF OUR DAY

• What the pack up routine looks like.

Home folders, artwork from the day and important notes may be handed out at this time. Routine may also include a dedicated time for children to ensure that all of their belongings (drink bottles, lunch boxes, hats) are placed safely inside their bag and zipped up.

• What the pick-up process looks like if you are being picked up by a family member.

Each class is different. Children may be asked to sit on the carpet and stand up only once they have seen their parent/caregiver. Some classes are dismissed with an attendance roll in a different part of the school. Whatever the process, if students understand what happens each afternoon it will calm any anxiety and ensure safety.

• What the pick-up process looks like if you are being picked up by After School Care.
• What to do if you can’t see the special person picking you up.

i.e. Stay with the teacher. You may also wish to explain to children that sometimes grown-ups get stuck in traffic, for example, and that it is nothing to worry or feel stressed about.

LUNCHTIME

• Where we will eat our lunch each day and who we will share the area with.
• How to line up after lunch and where to put our lunch boxes if we are transitioning to outside playtime.
• The importance of closing our lunch boxes to keep our food safe from animals. E.g. hungry crows and ants.
• What do we do if we need to go to the toilet during lunchtime.
• NO SHARING RULE. Education around allergies.
• What you might find in your lunch box and when it might be a good idea to eat certain items.

 If food is not refrigerated it is best to eat any meat or dairy products in first break. Students may also need to be reminded to leave some food for second break.

• What do we do if there is something in your lunch box that you are too full to eat or don’t want to eat?

You may wish to encourage children to take their leftover food home rather than put it in the bin. This helps families to learn what their child likes/dislikes, gives them an indication of how much they are eating during the day, and helps them know how much to put in their lunchboxes in future.

• What do we do with the rubbish from our lunch box?
• What do we do if we can’t open something?
• What do we do if we don’t have a spoon?
• What do we do if we spill something?
• How to look after our lunch boxes.

i.e. Put them straight back into our bags / a class basket after lunch, never kick/throw/slide a lunch box – they are expensive and need to be taken care of and respected.

• Why we need to use our lunchtime wisely.

If you talk too much you will run out of time, resulting in being hungry later. When we are hungry it makes it tricky to concentrate on our learning and can even make us feel unwell.

• The benefits of a healthy lunch.
• The tuckshop

Where it is, who runs it, what kind of things are inside and what kind of foods they make.

• The tuckshop box – how the ordering system works.

WATER BOTTLES

• Where drink bottles go in the classroom.
• Open and closing bottles. How to fill up your drink bottle by yourself.
• How to turn the taps on gently to refill your water bottle.

TOILETING

• Where the toilets are, what they look like and how to use them.

Don’t assume all of the boys in your class have seen a urinal. Some will be seeing one for the first time and have no idea what it is!

• What to do if you need to go to the toilet.

This may be different in different contexts i.e. in class, at playtime, at P.E.

• How to wash and dry your hands properly.

Ensure that children can turn the school taps on and off easily. They may be a different type of tap than what they are used to at home. If the school bathrooms have hand dryers be mindful that the loud noise at ear height may cause anxiety or fear for some students. This may result in them avoiding the toilet block. Knowing this means you can provide them with support.

• The importance of sensible, quiet behaviour in the toilet block.
• How and where to wait sensibly outside the toilet block if you are waiting for your friends.

PLAY TIME

• Where the safe areas and the out-of-bounds areas are in the playground.
• Sun Safety
• How to use the playground equipment safely.
• Sharing and taking turns in the playground.
• Playground rules and expectations

i.e. Flow directions on the monkey bars, not throwing sand in the sandpit.

• How to stay cool in the heat

i.e. drink lots of water, spend time in the shade, have rest breaks.

CARPET / CIRCLE TIME

• What to bring with you when you come to the carpet area.

i.e. just yourself – no toys (although you may allow sensory tools)

• Where and how to sit on the carpet during carpet time.

Sitting spots or rugs for each student make great visual markers to help children know where to sit. They can also be placed strategically to ensure distractors like shelves and activity corners are out of arms reach.

• How to make a circle.
• Putting your hand up to speak. Why it is important.
• What good listening looks like.

Some teachers like to use visual posters like ‘The Magic Five’ – Eyes are watching, ears are listening, mouths are closed, legs are still, hands in lap.

• What to do if the person next to you is distracting you or you can’t see properly.
• Storytime manners/expectations

I.e. questions and comments at the end, no talking during the story

• Sensory Helpers (if using) – what they are, where they are kept, when you can access them.

How to stay focused and engaged in the lesson whilst using a sensory helper.

PROJECT / INVESTIGATION TIME

• What Project Time is for and why we have it.

If you search Project Time in the Age-Appropriate Classrooms group you will see a lengthy post on how I have set up and utilised Project Time in previous years. It is not a mandatory part of a program but gives children opportunities to have a voice in their own learning, be creative and develop social skills and higher-order thinking skills.

• What Project Time in the classroom might look/sound like.
• How to access and set up the materials we need for our projects.
• How to pack up our projects.

Where to store them if you need to continue working on them the next day. How to take a photo of them if you want to break them – great for Lego and other construction materials.

Back to Basics: Getting to know our school

VENTURING OUT

• Our school grounds. How many ovals are there? Where is the library? Who is in the office? What is the hall for?
• How to move around the school.

Some classes line up in pairs and others prefer single-file. Some classes have weekly or daily ‘Line Leaders’. These systems can help the lining up process run smoothly and prevent children from racing to be the leader.

• How to move through the school respectfully.

“When we’re walking, we stop talking.” Remind class that our school is a home for many children and staff and we don’t want to interrupt their learning.

• How to move through the school safely.

No pushing in, no running. Face forward and look where we are going (you don’t realise how many poles there are in a school until you have taken a prep class on a walk!)

• Safety on the stairs. E.g. holding onto handrails

SPECIAL PARTS OF OUR TIMETABLE

• What does P.E. stand for and what kind of activities might you do in a P.E. lesson?
• What kind of things might you learn in your music class?
• The library

Who has been to a library before? What do we know about libraries? When can we start to borrow books?

• Assembly

What is it? Who will be there? What will it look like? Sound like? How long will it go for? What will happen afterwards? What does being safe and respectful at assembly look, feel and sound like?

OUR NEW FRIENDS

• Other teachers in our school

At primary school, you get to have different teachers for different subjects (music, library, etc.) and you get to visit different areas of the school. The teacher aide will stay with you all and join in the fun.

• Special people in the school: Principal
• Special people in the school: Deputy Principals
• Special people in the school: The staff in the office
• Special people in the school: The tuckshop volunteers
• Special people in the school: The grounds staff
• Who else goes to prep at our school?

Discuss the other prep classes, where their classrooms are, who their teachers and aides are, etc. Remind students that all staff are friendly and available to help.

• Who else goes to our school?

Discuss the older children in the school. Find out who has siblings and what grades they are in. Go for a walk around the school and find out where the different year levels have their classrooms.

• Year 6 buddies

Discuss how old they are, when we are going to meet them, what kind of activities we could do with them, how often we will see them, why they are special.

• What to do when a visitor comes to the room.
• What to do when the classroom phone rings or an announcement comes over the speaker.

TAKING CARE OF OUR BELONGINGS

• How to recognise your name on your belongings.
• How to write your name and why it is important to know how i.e. so that we can identify our work.
• Where to write your name on your work.
• The contents of your school bag.

What is in there? What is it all for? When is it used?

• Why it’s important to put things inside your bag and not on top/underneath/on the floor.
• Everyone’s hat looks the same, finding your name in your hat – always checking it’s yours before putting it on.
• Where hats and munch and crunch belong during the day.
• Special toys need to stay at home so that they don’t get lost or broken.
• What is a lost property box? Where is it kept?
• What happens if I can’t find something that belongs to me?
• ‘Just in case’ clothes: Where your spare clothes are kept in your school bag.

Back to Basics: Learning Tools

WRITING / DRAWING MATERIALS

• Exploration: What can we write with?

E.g. pencils, felt pens, crayons, chalk, oil pastels

• Which of these writing/drawing tools do we have in our classroom? Where are they kept?
• What are the differences between them? Which type is best, or are they each useful for different purposes?
• How to hold a pencil.
• What to do if your pencil is blunt.

Sharpening procedures are different in each room depending on access to electronic sharpeners and the independence of the children.

• How to sharpen a pencil safely.
• Felt pens: What you are allowed to use them for?

At school, they are not to be used to draw on the furniture, the cushions, the floor, the whiteboards, your clothes or your friends.

• How to secure felt pen lids on properly, and why this is important.
• Crayons and Oil Pastels care

E.g. keeping them off the floor. A stepped-on crayon or oil pastel makes a terrible mess and can stain

SCISSORS

• Where to find the scissors in the classroom.
• How to hold a pair of scissors.
• How to move safely when holding scissors.
• How to pass scissors safely.
• How to cut along a straight line.
• How to cut along a curved line.
• How to cut slowly and carefully by keeping your scissor arm relaxed and turning the paper.

GLUE

• Where to find the glue sticks in the classroom.
• How to use a glue stick.
• How to wind down a glue stick and put the lid on properly so that it doesn’t dry out.
• Where to find the craft glue in the classroom.
• When it is better to use the craft glue.

i.e. for items like wood, pom poms, pasta.

• How to use the craft glue and applicator.

STICKY TAPE

• Where the sticky tape is kept.
• How to use the sticky tape safely by keeping your fingers away from the blade.
• How much sticky tape to pull off the roll at a time so that it is not wasted (“thumb” length is a good rule).

STAPLERS

• Where the staplers are kept.
• What staplers can be used for.
• How a stapler works and how to use one safely. What the staples inside look like.
• Refilling the staplers.

This may be an adult responsibility. It depends on the learners.

PAINT

• Where the art smocks are kept.
• How to put an art smock on and why/when we use them.
• How to use the different types of paints.
• How to brush the excess paint off the paintbrush.
• How to clean your brush in the water cup before changing colours, and what happens to the paint palettes if you don’t clean your brush
• How to paint at the easels.

Where to find paper and how to attach it to the easel.

• How to experiment with paint using a range of different materials.

E.g. paint rollers, sponge stamps, cotton buds, marble trays.

• How to use the drying rack.
• How to wash and dry your hands after painting.

STORYBOOKS, GAMES AND PUZZLES

• Who the books in our classroom belong to and why it is important to take care of them. How to turn the pages gently.
• What to do if you find a book on the ground. Where the books in our classroom need to be returned to. What to do if you find a damaged book.
• Which games are available and the times/sessions these are available to be played with.
• How to take care of the classroom games and puzzles.
• What to do if it is pack up time and your puzzle is incomplete.

Perhaps there is a special shelf where incomplete puzzles can go to be finished later.

PLAYDOUGH & OTHER FINE MOTOR

• Where everything is kept and how to read the container labels.
• When these activities are accessible. Asking a teacher first.
• How to take container lids off and on.
• Different ways to use the playdough tools.
• A quick way to pick up playdough

E.g. by dabbing small pieces with a larger piece

FURNITURE

• How to look after the tables.

E.g. They are not for standing on, drawing on, sticking sticky tape to

• Safe use of chairs (not for swinging, standing on, etc).
• Why we tuck our chairs in when we are not sitting on them.
• How to stack the chairs.
• What the whiteboards are for and who can use them.

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

• How to transport and use iPads safely for learning. Where they are stored and when they are accessible.
• How to use headphones.
• How to use the classroom digital camera.
• How to use Bee-bots and turn them off after use.
• How to use the charging stations.

SOCIAL LEARNING

Lessons involving social skills, growth mindset and gross motor skills also play a big role in my Term One program. These lessons are varied as they are inspired by the individual needs of students and daily happenings in the room. Recognising teachable moments is a wonderful way to engage children in classroom management. Learning that is “just in time” rather than “just in case” will often feel more relevant and meaningful to the children in your care.

 

Click here to download a free, easy-to-print PDF checklist containing the lists mentioned in this article.

 

TIP

Involve children whenever possible in exploring these concepts. Children come to school with a wide range of experiences and ideas and will often come up with ideas and solutions to problems we’ve never thought of! Ask them to feed into the conversation. Ask them what worked well in their Kindy/Preschool rooms and be flexible and open to trying out new ideas.

The important thing is that routines and expectations are set. By making these decisions as student-centred as possible you give children a sense of ownership, empower them and show them that their input is valued and respected.

 

Wishing everyone a wonderful school year!

Tracey