Transitions

So in math, I have been having trouble getting the students to transition quickly. They move from one class to another, and then they take a while to get settled in. By the time I get them transitioned to the carpet, ten minutes have gone by, taking time from the lesson. So, to give me some ideas to combat this, I took notes on how other teachers transitioned.
In the science classroom, some of the things that the teacher did to transition the kids was say thank you to those who ready. This positive reinforcement worked, and got several other students to quickly get ready. Then, after the students were ready, she told the students what they would do. As she was discussing the goals, she was also passing out papers, killing to birds with one stone. At the end of the lesson, she got out the timer, and timed the students lining up. This worked well, too. The kids were in line in seven seconds. I think this worked because they were challenged.
In math, the instructions were given before the students entered the class. They were told to bring their bodies to the carpet. This worked well, too. The students knew the expectation before they got into the room.
The math teacher also told the students that she was waiting for silence, and counted back for attention. These routines helped the students to get on task quickly. When they were finished with the lesson, they were timed to get back into line again.
Overall, I think that these ideas are really good ones. I have tried timing the students before, but they do not line up as quickly for me. I think that perhaps having an actual timer so I can give them their exact time might help them to challenge them. I had been using the class clock, but it is more difficult to get exact seconds using that. I have not tried giving the students the expectations before they go into the next class, though. I think that this would be very helpful. I want to try it out on Monday and see how it works.
So my goal for the students is to get them to transition in less that two minutes. Hopefully, I can motivate them to accomplish this goal.