A few years ago, at dismissal time at Four Corners Elementary School in Greenfield, Massachusetts, 229 students in grades K through 5 would leave their classrooms simultaneously and head for the school’s front door, where a bottleneck formed each day. School staff, recognizing that this situation often left children feeling anxious and frustrated as they left school, decided to re-examine the school’s dismissal routine and see what they could do to make it a smoother experience.