Snapshots of Classroom Management 1: Antsy Pants

Several years ago one of my choir directors came to me and said, “I tend to lose control of my kids when I am handing out or collecting instruments.  Do you have any songs that will accomplish that and keep their attention?” I could not find any at the time, so I started writing transition songs. Directors kept coming and asking for songs or chants to accomplish specific tasks. After several years and four volumes of Preschool Praisentations, I had quite the little collection of transition songs and chants.  Thus was born Songs and Chants for Antsy Pants.

Transitions
A transition is more than a song or chant to get children in line or to sit down. However that’s the part we’ll discuss today.  Just as these transitions serve a real purpose, the key to understanding any transition lies in the art of anticipation.  Anticipation is best served by having a lesson plan. With a lesson plan in place, transitions will be easy to include in your teaching. Here are some of the different types of transitions included on Songs and Chants for Antsy Pants.

Types of Transitions:

• Greetings can be poems or songs or even fun chants. These songs will call everyone together as you sing. They can also be routines, like putting on a hat. But be consistent so that children recognize when your time together begins.
• Call & Response transitions can be used to teach almost anything—rhythms, melodies, words, confidence, pitch, dictation, voice fluctuation, scripture. They can even be used to call everyone together. In Antsy Pants we use the call and response technique in songs to learn names. Listen to examples from the CD.
• Singing or Chanting Instructions are a wonderful way to keep talking to a minimum and keep students’ attention. When distributing instruments I will sing a song over and over again until everyone has received their instrument. Usually the kids sing along.

Example: Using fluctuations in the voice is another way to get attention. Going

from a full speaking voice to a whisper is very effective in getting kids attention. 

• Fun songs can teach many things such as manners, coordination, body parts, names of places or things, etc. Fun songs can also be used just to get the wiggles out or reset the attention span.
• In the same manner that a greeting can be a poem or a song or even a fun chant, so can a closing. Closings can also be routines. But again be consistent so that children recognize when your time together is finished.

Tip: Use voice fluctuations for giving instructions. Chants, song instructions,

and sounds are also a wonderful way to transition to a new activity.

Tip: You do not need a transition between every activity.

  

How to Implement Transitions

Set a goal.  Think about your teaching time.  Where is it that you need help?  Distributing items or collecting them?  Do you need more control standing up and sitting down between activities?  Choose one or two transitions to learn.  Write them in your lesson plan and get in the habit of using them.  For example, learn a “stand up and sit down” song, and get in the habit of using it before learning any more transitions. Once using it become second nature, choose another transition song to learn.

Teaching should not be an overwhelming process but a fun, continually growing process.   These transitions are a simple tool for reaching your goal.

If you give a man to fish, he can eat for a day.

If you teach a man to fish, he can eat for a lifetime.

Keep teaching, keep improving, and whatever you do, keep singing.

Mrs. Darlene