Maybe it is because I have a degree in Early Childhood development, or maybe because I worked in large Childcares for many years,or maybe it is because I taught preschool for 11 years, or maybe it is because I grew up with a daily routine, that
I love routines and schedules!
I even have a daily family routine and a personal routine..it makes the day go by smoothly.
Routines and schedules are great for children.They know what comes next and what to expect.
Routines are especially wonderful for children that are anxious or nervous about what might happen next or what they will be doing in preschool that day.
I send home a monthly calendar with each child at the beginning of the month.
Not only does it let the parents know what we will be learning each day but the child also knows and can be excited about coming.
No surprising here.
Daily routines in Preschool are a given for me. I wouldn't know what to do with out them.
Here is a quick walk through of my daily preschool routine...
9:00 arrival of children
9:10-9:30 Opening and circle time
( Pledge of Allegiance, Days of the week, Today's topic, letter, number,shape weather,games)
9:30-9:45 Creative Art
9:45-10:00 free play ( dramatic play, kitchen, cars, etc.)
10:00–10:15 snack
10:15-10:30 Letter/number writing
10:30 -10:50 Outdoor play / music and movement
10:50-11:10 Learning centers
11:10-11:25 Closing time ( review of day, story, songs)
11:25 - 12:00 Prepare to leave
As the children arrive one by one.. I great them. I remind them to hang up their backpacks and jackets.
The children then go into my dinning room (which was never used as a formal dining room) to do a hands on project...puzzles, matching games, books etc.
At 9:08 we clean up to go down to the preschool room where all of the magic happens.
If you take a close look at my daily schedule, you will notice and The children just never just sit and listen for a great amount of time. This is because children don't have long attention spans.
Even during Circle time the children are involved in singing songs, answering questions, holding objects and passing them around.
I rotate through all of the children until they have all done the art project. This does take more time but as you can see free play is right after art anyways. This way the children still have free play and still get the help they need with their project.
(Notice the boy in the background playing.)
If the art activity is on the harder side or something that needs a lot of teacher's help, I only have 2 or 3 children come to the art table at a time so I can give them that help. During this time the children that aren't at the table have free play.
Transition from free play to snack..
I give the kids a 2 minute warning that play time is almost over. This helps the child mentally prepare that clean up is coming soon.
I then sing the clean up song. The children sing and help clean up.
We then get ready for snack time.
Transition to snack time... I sing...Sit on the floor 1,2,3, sit on the floor by me.
All of the children sit in circle time again. I have the helpers of the day go and wash their hands first, so they can get the table ready for snack time. This consists of washing the table,putting one napkin and paper cup at each chair(one to one identification-yup math).
We sing or read a book while children go 2 at a time to wash hands for snack.
During snack time we talk about the things we have learned so far that day and about the snack we are eating.
The children clean up their own spots and I wash off the table.
We then do our little journals and practice writing.
Transition to outside
I choose a song to sing..
If your wearing
a color(Name a color) line up or
If your name
starts with a letter (Name a letter)line up
We all go outside and play.Or if the weather is yucky, we stay inside and do music and movement..to get those wiggle out.
Transition to go inside..
I give a 2 minute warning again.
Then sing If your listening line up, if your listing line up, if your listening
touch your nose
touch your head
so on.. until we are all ready to go in.
For learning centers I pair the children up with a partner and we rotate through each center until everyone has had a turn at each center.
Yes, their is always a 2 minute warning. The children clean up the last center that they are in and come to closing circle time.
Yes, we sing the clean up song!
We then talk bout what we have learned and review, letter , number, shape, color of the day.
Read a story or sing some songs.
I send the children one at a time to collected their papers and line up to go upstairs, where we put everything in backpacks, put coats on and wait for parent s to arrive.
What happens when activities don't take up the whole allotted time or children seem restless and not interested? Don't panic!
Learn to be flexible. Things aren't always going to go they way you plan them...and that's okay! Just move on to the next activity, or cut an activity short. It's alright, it won't mess everything up.As long as you keep things in order and the children know what comes next-they'll be fine. And so will you. A happy child ,equals a happy out come.
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