 To give my students proper time to clean up or to get prepared or to transition from one activity to the next I often use countdowns. Now my countdowns can be in English. I might count down in Spanish I might count really fast. I might count really slow. They may never know But what they do know is that by the time I get to one They're ready with their whole body to listen to what the next step of the day is For example, I might say okay boys and girls. We have 10 seconds to get cleaned up for the next activity 10, 9, 8, and they make it really exciting. They like to join in as well 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. And by 1 they're expected to either be on the carpet They're expected to have their center cleaned up. They're expected to have transitioned into the next station Whatever that expectation is that I told them before the countdown Also, if I have a real quick one like let's say they're gibber-jabbering talking in line and we need to get outside So really quickly I'll say three two one. We're done And at that we're done It's a magic magic moment when they all go to that zero voice Which is nothing and they're ready to go outside ready for the next step Countdowns are a quick way to get your kids ready In a certain amount of time