Transitioning Using Content Vocabulary, Sight Words Etc. Bright Idea Hop

I am very excited to be participating in the Bright Idea’s Blog Hop.



I love seeing posts that help bring me back to what blogging really is about, sharing great ideas. During the last hop I found a TON of amazing ideas from some amazing bloggers that I just had to store away for future reference. They were just that good. If you have been hopping along you should have come from Jessica’s blog, The Littlest Scholars.

Today I am going to share one of my most favorite ways to transition in the classroom. Not only does it cut down on the quadrillion questions from students about what they are to be doing, but it also is helping students develop a greater vocabulary or practice skills/ideas used in the classroom each day. They are learning while transitioning.




In Kindergarten we have several sight words we have to learn each week. In order to transition, students are not to move or “make the transition” until they hear me say the “Word of the Day” which is most often one of our sight words. Our word of the day is displayed in the front of the classroom and we discuss what it is during carpet/calendar time in the morning.

Thank you to Kristen Smith for the help with the pictures :)

We talk about the sight word/word of the day and use it in sentences, spell it etc in order to understand everything there is to know about the word. Then when it is time to make any sort of transition in the classroom students do not make that transition until they hear me say the word of the day. Students learn to stay seated and listen to all directions by practicing this technique each day. It soon becomes routine and let me tell you, if you happen to forget to say the word of the day in a transition time the kids WILL let you know.

Sometimes I will mix things up and use a different words as our word of the day. During holidays I will oftentimes use fun words like turkey or stocking as our word of the day, always making sure we talk about the word during morning meeting. Other times I will use content vocabulary. For instance, when we are studying apples at the beginning of the year, I will use terms like apples and fall and we will then discuss how these terms are related to our study on apples.

There are so many possibilities with this idea. The main idea is to help make transitions more effective with an added bonus of practicing and reinforcing key vocabulary and sight words in the classroom.

Using this technique in the classroom helps keep me sane as a teacher. It has DRASTICALLY cut down on the amount of questions you get about what students should be doing once they go back to their seats after being on the carpet or after they get out their pencils etc.

You should be able to drastically cut down on this very scenario happening.

Students are listening to you and your directions the ENTIRE time and not focusing on doing what they are to do after you say the word of the day.


I hope some of you can find this helpful. I know it has been one of the best things I have implemented in my classroom.

Next up on the blog hop is Fern, from Fern Smith’s Classroom Ideas. Fern has a great post for
you all about professional teacher behavior! Just click on the button below to check it out!



Alternatively, you can search by topic using the link-up below and move along to any other blog on the blog hop!

An InLinkz Link-up

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