This manual presents instructional strategies developed by Project SLIDE (Skills for Learning Independence in Developmentally Appropriate Environments), a project that identified skills that general education kindergarten teachers found to be critical for students' success in their classrooms. After training in Project SLIDE strategies, students were found to be less likely to need special education services when they reached first grade, had higher social ratings from their teachers, and achieved higher developmental assessment scores. The cornerstone of SLIDE are four intervention strategies that have proven successful at improving children's transitions to their next environment. They target skills critical to children's independence in early educational settings. The strategies target four areas: (1) fostering smoother within-classroom transitions; (2) providing opportunities for practicing independent work; (3) facilitating active engagement during group instruction; and (4) teaching children how to self-assess. This manual devotes an entire chapter to each of these four classroom intervention strategies. Each chapter provides activities, implementation considerations, and a means to evaluate the impact of each component. In addition, the chapter on "Planning for Future Transitions" at the end of the manual discusses parental involvement strategies and assessment information. An appendix includes reproducible masters of key information. (CR)