Classroom Management Tip - Transition Songs for Lining Up

Easy Classroom Management Tip for making transitions seamless -Use line up songs! 

Having a repertoire of fun songs to sing when getting your students to line up is a great classroom management tool. Starting a song is an easy way to remind students that they are transitioning to line up behavior - and as they start to sing along, they naturally stop talking! Transition songs can remind students of the expectations, without you having to repeat yourself 20x!

Students can become bored with just one or two songs though, so its a good idea to have a bunch of songs at your fingertips to rotate through so none of them get stale.

I have mine laminated and hanging on a ring by my classroom door. This way I never have to struggle to remember lyrics or the tune. Sometimes I let a student choose which song we're going to sing - this is a great treat that students strive to earn!

The most important thing about using songs during line up is that your expectations are clear. When teaching procedures, I always make sure that students know exactly how I expect them to stand in line - facing forward, hands in a hug or behind their backs and lips closed. I don't require a bubble because holding one makes your cheeks very tired after just a short while and I don't want to require them to do something that they can't comfortably do because that sets us all up for failure! This is also why I allow them to choose whether to put their hands in a hug or behind their backs. It can feel very unnatural to not allow your arms to swing by your sides so I allow my students to switch it up.

When we get to the end of the line up song, all students should be in procedure and we should be ready to leave the room. If not, then everyone sits back down and we start totally over at the beginning. In the first few weeks of school I always add a little bit of time to our transitions so that we can practice lining up several times if necessary without being late for lunch or specials. I never leave the room without a quiet line, even if we have to sit down and line up 5 times. It is so important for students to learn to line up quietly - especially when we get to things like fire drills, tornado drills or intruder alarms!

I've compiled 14 easy to sing & easy to remember songs for lining up. Just click on any of the pictures in this post to download them for free in my TPT store! This version has bright chevron backgrounds, but I also have them in zebra stripes and owls!