Arrival/Dismissal Routines

What’s Here

This page (which is a chapter overview of The Cornerstone book) describes 3 major routines for your daily schedule: arrival at school, returning to the classroom from lunch and special classes, and dismissal. You’ll discover a variety of different procedures for each so you can choose ideas that fit your teaching style and situation.

Choosing What Works for Your Class

I change arrival and dismissal routines from time to time, based on my needs and those of students, so you’ll see lots of different ideas here.  Remember that routines can and should be modified throughout the year, so nothing is ever set in stone.  Decide on something you think will work, teach it to your students, and adapt it as needed, taking the time to explain to children why you are making changes and showing them exactly what you’d like them to do differently.  The possibilities for classroom structure are varied, and you have a great deal of freedom to try new things when you know how to teach procedures effectively.

Arrival at School

When students first enter the classroom each morning, they should expect a predictable set of tasks to be awaiting them.  This will set the tone for the entire day and communicate to children, “Welcome back.  This is a safe, familiar place for you.  You know exactly what to do, and you will be successful at meeting the expectations.”  The morning should be a calm, quiet time (assuming that’s your preference) for you and the students to gear up for the school day.

The precise tasks you require of your students will depend on your school’s arrival system for students.  One of the most influential factors is whether children will be slowly trickling in for fifteen to thirty minutes, or whether most will arrive all at once.  If students come in slowly, you will need to have open-ended and ‘early finisher’ activities planned for students who have completed their tasks before other students even enter the room.  This can be handled quite simply by having early arrivers read books quietly or get on the computers.  If students come in all at once, you will need to design procedures to prevent chaos when students are unpacking, getting their chairs, and sharpening pencils.  If your children line up outside your door in the morning, you can let five in at a time when the bell rings, and spend a moment greeting and talking with the others.

Regardless of your situation, you will still have many routine tasks you want students to complete: unstacking chairs, unpacking book bags, taking out homework and papers from home, using the bathroom, sharpening pencils, and so on.  You will need to explain these things on the first day of school.  I usually review them at the end of every day during the first week (“So, when you arrive in the classroom tomorrow morning, what are the things you will need to do?”).  I also include them on my Morning Work list written on the board until students are able to recall and complete them routinely.

Returning to the Classroom From Lunch and Special Classes

Whenever students enter the classroom, they should be able to count on a predictable routine.  That routine will depend on whether you want students to complete a task right away, or listen for your specific directions.  You could have different procedures for specific times of the day: for example, when returning from specials, students may need to sit and wait for you to give directions for the science lesson, but when you return from lunch, you may want the class to take out their journals and immediately begin writing.  Decide ahead of time what you want students to do each time they return to the classroom.  Then explain, model, practice, and reinforce your procedures.

End of the School Day

One year, I used this chart to show which buses had been called.

Dismissal can be one of the most chaotic times of day, especially if students are dismissed slowly by their means of transportation home (bus riders, then daycare students, then car riders, and so on).  That’s unfortunate, because a hectic and stressful dismissal can leave the teacher feeling exhausted and unproductive, even if the majority of the day went well.

Here are a few ideas for making the last transition of the day a smooth one:

• Have structured routines so things don’t end on a crazy note.
• Insist on absolute silence when dismissal announcements come over the loudspeaker.
• Have a visual reminder so students know which buses have been called.
• Keep a record of how students have been dismissed for the day.

Another year, I had a lot of kids whose schedules changed daily, so each morning, they moved their clothespin to indicate how they'd be going home.

This cute chart provides a record of which students go home on each bus--very handy for substitutes.

This page is an overview of Chapter 10 of The Cornerstone. In the rest of the chapter, you’ll learn how to:

* Establish Morning Work procedures and choose appropriate assignments

* Transition back into academics after lunch and special classes: train students to go directly to their seats, look at the board for assignments, and/or wait quietly for your directions

* Implement the strategies you see in the photos above: create structure for the end of the school day, track which students have been dismissed, and get kids to be SILENT during bus call announcements (it is possible!).

Free Arrival/Dismissal Printables Referenced in the Book

Dismissal schedule (pictured in orange above)

Cornerstone Cross-Reference

Find even MORE info about organization in The Cornerstone book and eBook! Book-exclusive content includes:

Ch. 9: How to Teach ANY Procedure
*Read the full chapter in its entirety!

Ch. 10: Predictable Daily Routines
*Establishing Morning Work procedures and choosing appropriate assignments
*Tips for transitioning back into academics after lunch and special classes: training students to go directly to their seats, look at the board for assignments, and/or wait quietly for your directions
*Ideas for structuring the end of the school day, tracking which students have been dismissed, and getting kids to be SILENT during bus call announcements (it IS possible!)

Ch. 11: Tips and Tricks for Difficult Procedures
*Don’t deny bathroom permission, but don’t allow kids to take advantage of you, either–it’s simpler than you think!
*How to handle bathroom requests when it’s not feasible for kids to go (such as during assemblies and recess)
*No more thirsty kids constantly trying to get drinks–tips and tricks for letting kids keep water bottles on their desks
*3 different methods for distributing materials to students: teach your class to use one or all of them
*Detailed instructions for inexpensively obtaining and using ‘mailboxes’ for kids’ to-go-home papers

Ch. 12: Student Responsibility and Organization
*Strategies for teaching kids how to organize the supplies they keep in their desks
*Showing students how to keep a set number of pencils in their desks and having a consistent procedure for them to be sharpened
*Establishing routines for cleaning up and rewards/consequences for when students do or don’t meet your expectations
*How to give students the responsibility of keeping the class running smoothly through a genuinely useful class job/helper system

Ch. 13: Teaching Work Habits
*The little-known secret to getting kids to stop talking the second you open you mouth
*How to respectfully and firmly handle interruptions
*Establishing your expectations for sitting at desks and on the rug (and how to handle kids who complain constantly about others touching them)
*Explicitly teaching about QUIET and SILENCE: defining your expectations for the two terms and teaching kids to differentiate between them
*How to practice getting and STAYING quiet
*Training students how to whisper in a way that’s developmentally appropriate

Ch. 15: Teaching Children to Be Self-Reliant
*Show your students how to get your attention appropriately (i.e., without tapping you or following you around the room)
*The beauty of the 3-Before-Me rule: how this guideline will cut 90% of redundant, obvious, and unimportant questions
*Responding to attention-seeking behaviors: specific statements of encouragement (rather than praise) that you can use to foster independence
*Teacher control vs. self-control: How to construct questions that redirect behavior through problem-solving
*What to ask instead of ‘why’ when it comes to behavior: replace ‘Why are you doing that?’ with ‘What should you be doing?’
*One-liners to help untangle yourself from petty problems during instruction
*Teaching kids to solve social problems independently: discussing physical confrontations and the claim “If someone hits me, my mom told me to hit them back!”; a sample discussion of the consequences of fighting (no sugar-coating or political-correctness here)
*An example of facilitation using active listening
*The hidden reason why children tattle: once this issue is addressed, you’ll see major break-throughs in self-sufficiency

Recommended Resources

Using Music to Facilitate Transitions

Songs for Teaching: Using Music To Promote Learning is the definitive site for any teacher wanting to use songs in his or her instruction. This site explains when and how to use music in the classroom, how to create your own songs, and includes an unbelievably extensive list of age-appropriate song lyrics and tunes sorted by every theme imaginable. The best part? It include lyrics, tunes, SOUND CLIPS (great when you can’t read music!), and where-to-purchase info if you want to buy a particular recording. A tremendous resource worth checking out, whether you are an avid music user or wanting to incorporate song into your classroom for the first time. Be sure to visit the Classroom Management Songs page.

You don’t have to use songs that specifically address procedures or concepts: any song will quiet a group of kids.

Here’s a beautifully-designed printable list of songs (organized seasonally) from Kelly’s Kindergarten that are great for early learners.

If you don’t like your voice, play a song from this extensive list of science concept tunes right on your computer!

There are also sing-along-songs you can play from your computer from Mrs. Jones here.

Books and Websites With Excellent Transition Tips

Sponge and Transitition activities from AtoZ Teacher Stuff

Yoga and Other Brain Breaks for the Classroom

Here are two links that explain the concept in more detail and give photographs and examples of Brain Break exercises: Alite Programmes and Michigan Dept. of Ed.

Mrs. Gold shares 3 short yoga lessons you can use with your class (Calming and Focusing, Focusing and Energizing, and Meditative and Calming) along with ways to implement and the benefits of using yoga during transition times. I have used a similar program provided by my district and the kids LOVE it.

CNN’s 2007 report on the benefits of yoga in the elementary classroom.

Includes brain break info Easy-to-read format and practical Very up-to-date: published in late 2006

Routines and Procedures

Multiple tips submitted by real teachers to AtoZ Teacher Stuff.

An awesome classroom procedure form from the school district of Colombia, MO.

I love this article by Dr. Fred Jones at Education World. This guy is no-nonsense!

Pro-Teacher has a superb collection of resources for classroom routines.

Blog Posts About Routines and Management

Tattling, Telling, Bossing, and Helping
How to Fill a Prize Box for Free
Tables vs. Desks
Who’s In Control of Your Classroom? (If students think it’s THEM, you might be doing something right.)
Embarrassing Stories: Classroom Management Lessons I Learned the Hard Way
Works-For-Me-Wednesday: Using Portable Dividers to Separate Students’ Desks
Picture Mail I Dream of Sending (to the parents of kids who drive me nuts)

Now What?

Visit the main Routines and Procedures page
Learn how to set up predictable daily routines on the Bathroom, Hall, and Water Fountain page
Discover how to routinely build a sense of community on the Class Meetings page
Create an efficient system for managing paper procedures on the Passing Out/Collecting Papers page