"Waiting Games"

[Awesome4s]

Does anyone have good transition ideas or Waiting games that you have tried in your class that you could share with me?

I work with children with A.D.D and A.D.H.D and I just can't seem to settle down the group I have in the AM class.

I find that singing silly made up songs work when they are cleaning up a center but to keep the early finisher busy while they wait for the others isn't working well for me.

Thank you in advance.

[raynepoe]

Well I have them all clean up, and when they are finished they can either help others or rest at their table/draw in journals.

I have made 24 transition cards that I keep in a pocket on my board for fill in space when we are bathrooming, finishing the journals, or just have a few minutes. Each card has a simple activity and a clip art picture. (A picture of a kangaroo and the number 10, a balloon and the number 5 for deep breathing, a picture of scissors and 15 for scissor kicks) I have my guys sit around circle and have a child pick a random card and we do it. They LOVE this...

I also have a few attention songs that I use that can stretch forever, like Clap, Clap, Clap your hanfs as slowly as you can.... Clap, Clap, Clap your hands as quickly as you can. I can stretch that out forever by doing different motions like tap your nose, pound your fists, rub your belly, etc.)

[WaProvider]

I have tons of rhyming songs in my head from transitions. Try just googling prek songs on youtube. However, I agree with the previous poster. Your early cleaner isn't just going to wait. There could be a job, passing out crayons or whatever. They could go to help a cleaning crew (but in my room that early cleaner always figured out this was just more work), they could choose the book you read next from two books you like and then quietly look at it while you get ready. They could set up the flannel board.....any number of odd jobs. But NO don't just wait. No one waits in PreK well.....but I love them all the same...I don't wait well either.

[Preschool0929]

Do you have an assistant in your room? Typically while we are cleaning up, I am on the carpet doing songs/fingerplays with the students who finish early and my assistants are helping the rest to finish cleaning up. We do mostly motion songs so that they aren't sitting to long. One of our favorites is a jumping song that goes "(child's name, child's name) jump up and down, jump up and down, jump up and down, now sit down". We go around and everyone gets a turn. If it is getting wild, I typically do "If you can hear me, pat your belly...if you can hear me, tap your head" etc... I've also in the past used books/puzzles for transitions. You can have a box of "special" books and puzzles and have students get a book/puzzle out while they're waiting. You might also check with an OT and see if they have any sensory suggestions to help your group to calm.

[Loony]

I am also at a loss with what to do as my kids finish work. I don't have an assistant so it's a little challenging. The thing is, I have kids who finish work in 20 minutes and kids who take 40 minutes in the same activity. When it's one or two that have finished early, I tell them to grab a book or a puzzle. However, when I have about 7 kids already done (in a classroom of 11) and they all want to play, I don't quite know what to do with them. On the one hand, I need to help those few stragglers who still haven't finished, but on the other I don't want to give my first 7-8 an activity that will take them 10 more minutes to complete because then I can't pry them from it mid-activity. Does that make sense?

Any suggestions?