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Hello Kassy,
My first student teaching experience was in a kindergarten classroom (by choice!) with a veteran teacher who made it all look so easy. She worked hard to create an environment in which the students had structure and she had rules on how the class would run. One of the biggest was settling class down and having her instructions heard. So, at the beginning of an activity she had the students all sit down and she waited until they were all quiet (sometimes with prompts). She never handed out anything (complete distractions) until she had finished her instructions. Students couldn't jump up to start until she said, 'OK now, Go!' One thing you need to avoid is 'talking over' the class - yelling above the noise some instructions you forgot. Settle the class down again, have them put everything down and wait for quiet before giving the new instructions. I used this technique for my entire career - mostly teaching high school. Even grade 12s had to sit and put everything down: 'That's not down' was a broken record until I would give the new instructions.
The biggest key to transitions is to plan, plan, plan. Always have something prepared for the students who finish early (and there will always be some, all grades). The transition could be pulling out a journal, colouring or adorning the cutouts, printing their names on the back, or something completely different. Ask the student what they want to do. Watch out for students who have not finished but want to jump to the filler activity. Nicely tell them that they need to finish the main activity but they will be able to do the filler afterward. Soon, this will be a standard operating procedure which the students will get used to. You'll also get to know your students - who will finish fast and what they like doing to fill time.
Hope this helps!
Gabe
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