After saying the first card, teach students "drop, plop, scooch."
1. Pick up your top card using both hands.
2. Drop it in the space above your stack.
3. Plop the whole stack on top of the card.
4. Scooch the stack back in place.
5. During approximately one beat of silence, get ready by making the first hand sign of the next card.
The first couple of times, as you and the students move the cards, say the words "drop, plop, scooch, rest" out loud. After that, everyone will do it together silently. Students need to focus on the rhythms rather than repeatedly hearing these four words.
Many thanks to Jessica Lackey (USA) for her brilliant contributions to the Drop Plop Scooch sequence. It adds just the right amount of humor and nicely identifies the important sequence for each child to effectively and independently move their own cards.