How to transition from recess to classroom?

Engage in a Brief Discussion, like in writing, the best transitions are the most seamless ones, where students don’t even fully realize that transition is occurring. A quick discussion is a great example of this. Facilitate a brief discussion about the fun activity to help students transition mentally. Encourage them to share their experiences and thoughts, keeping their minds on the fun that occurred, but also doing something that requires quieting down, listening, and less energy. To give an extra dose of calming, use think-pair-share to conduct the discussion. Give students the discussion prompt and one minute to write their response, then two minutes to share their writing with a partner, and finally a few minutes to share with the class. Use Recognizable Signals, starting at day one of the school year, introduce a signal students recognize as indicating a transition is about to occur. It could be turning on a certain lamp in your classroom, you can also play a gentle chime, use a call-and-response, or even play animal sounds. Use a Timer, structuring the time of an energetic activity and making that time known can help ease the transition. If you have a screen in your room, project a timer for the “energetic” activity. That way, students can see how much time is left and when they will need to redirect to the teacher. Incorporate Movement, incorporating movement into the transition can help students transition both physically and mentally. Encourage them to stand up, stretch, or participate in a brief physical activity before moving on to the next task. Build on the Fun Activity, in writing, the best transitions act as hooks, connecting one idea to another, thinking through how to articulate the connection between the energetic activity and the calmer one is so important. Even if it’s a loose connection, highlight the relevance and value of what students were doing in the first activity to help them see the bigger picture and stay engaged in the learning process. Set Clear Expectations Early On in the School Year, communicate clear expectations and boundaries with students from the very beginning of the school year and do not budge on them. Share your primary transition system with students, spend the first week practicing it, and then stick with it. Use Positive Reinforcement, offer praise and positive reinforcement to students who transition back to focused learning quickly and effectively. Whether it’s words of affirmation, a classroom economy system where students earn ‘class dollars’ to be spent on prizes or privileges, or even just a simple smile or thumbs up, positive reinforcement is powerful and effective.

The key to your students transitioning effectively and quickly throughout the day is practice, practice, practice. Sit down with your class at the beginning of the year and discuss their thoughts on managing themselves during transitions. Make sure your students feel in control and like they are managing their own time. Think Through the Logistics, Do you want your students to walk in two lines or one, Should they collect their own equipment or will you allocate an equipment monitor to carry each person’s books. Cues are Key, Getting your students to quickly drop everything and prepare to change activities does take some practice. You need your students to know exactly what to do when you want their attention, and they need to do it fast. Playing particular songs when you want your students to complete different transitions is a great way to train them to transition a certain way on cue – and the best part is that they know they only have until the song is up to complete the transition. These fun movement cards encourage your class to concentrate on their walk through the school to ensure they complete the right actions. Their eyes are less likely to wander, their mouths are less likely to chatter and their minds and bodies will be nicely exercised by the time they reach their destination.

Use a Reinforcer Instead of resorting to threats or punitive consequences to corral your students from the recess transition, try using positive reinforcement to motivate them. Before heading out for recess, clearly communicate what they can earn upon returning. Whether it’s an extra few minutes of playtime later in the day, a reward ticket based off of your classroom management system, or the chance to be line leader, make sure the incentive is enticing and clearly understood. Make it a Game Sometimes, the allure of the playground is just too strong for kids to willingly leave. To make the transition more enticing, turn it into a game! Challenge students to race each other to the line or see how quickly they can go across the monkey bars before heading back inside. Give Them a Job For the students who tend to stray off course during transition time, giving them a sense of responsibility can work wonders. Assigning roles such as line leader, jacket collector, or head counter not only keeps them occupied but also gives them a sense of purpose and importance. Recess Transition Activity Rather than expecting students to immediately dive back into academic tasks after recess, provide them with a gentle transition activity to ease them back into the classroom routine. Activities like mindfulness exercises, SEL activities, coloring, or quiet reading can help students unwind and refocus without feeling overwhelmed.

Music is Key. Coming in from recess can lead to many “interesting” situations – bark being dumped out of a student’s shoes, kids wandering around even though you told them to hang up their coats and head to the carpet, and just the overall feeling of chaos. To help with the post-recess craziness, play some music. You will still have your routine of water, coats away, etc. But, you will also be playing a song at this time. There will always be students that move faster than other students. Playing music gives them something to do while they wait. When they get to the carpet, they can sing along while everyone settles in. After everyone is settled and the song ends, this is when Circle Time begins. Make it a Routine. As teachers, we KNOW how important kindergarten routines are. If you play the same song every day and stick to this routine, kids will learn the song and know how much time they have left to get to the rug before it’s too late. By having this solid routine, you can transition to Circle Time more efficiently and herd those kittens a little easier.

In my classroom, we happen to transition from lunch right back to the classroom. Before moving onto grabbing our math workbooks, we "Rest and Digest." During this time, students are still and quiet. The lights are off as they grab a drink of water, make their way back to their seats, and settle in. They can listen to calming music, I usually play soothing music or nature sounds from a YouTube video while students are making their way in, and all the while as their sitting at their seats. They can color or draw using whatever materials students have easy access to, or they can read a book, which is literally no prep on your part. Breathing is also an option, teaching children to control their breathing gives them the ability to focus, and deep "belly breathing" is a great place to start. If transitioning from RECESS back to the classroom is what you want to focus on, you can check out the companion to Rest and Digest, Rest and Reflect.

One strategy is to make ten minutes post-recess quiet time. During quiet time, the lights are off, calm music might be playing, and students have the choice of a few quiet activities. These activities could be reading a book, coloring, drawing, or writing in a journal. I’ve seen sudoku or crosswords, math word problems, and rebuses. Whatever you choose, carve out ten minutes post recess for students to get regulated for the next part of the school day, have some much-needed quiet time, and provide you with ten minutes should you need to help resolve a conflict or process emotions without your lesson taking a hit. I’ve worked with teachers to universally design other hot spot transitions like their return from lunch recess, as students pour in, dysregulated from the wrongs they suffered at kickball, hot from the exercise, and needing to process their emotions. This is a predictable result of recess in elementary school, but often, dealing with the aftermath means altering plans, cutting lessons short, or finding something for everyone else to do while you solve the problem.