Leslie,
First, examine your circle time and what it is like for the children you are teaching. It should not be more than 20 minutes at the most. It can be closer to 10 minutes. Don't fill it with things that are not important, such as don't do calendar time, weather, or show-and-tell. These are hard traditions to break since everyone assumes you have to do these. Read this article on calendar time and why you can retire it or change how you do it (not during circle time):
Calendar Time. Only check the weather just prior to going outside. It can be a class job. One person goes outside and "checks" the weather as the kids are getting on their shoes, etc. Then that child comes back in and gives the weather report as the others listen. Checking the weather just prior to going outside is much more meaningful. Also, be sure not to do a "show-and-tell" time because that puts unrealistic expectations on the other kids to sit and listen. Plus, it becomes a bring-and-brag tradition with kids feeling left out that they don't have that toy at home. If you want kids to bring something to show the others, have them show it at arrival time when they are most excited to talk about it, and the other kids are most interested in knowing about it. You can assign an alphabet letter to each child and have them bring something that begins with that letter or you can give out paper bags with a word written on them, such as "cat" or "ball" and the child needs to bring something the next day that rhymes with the word on their sack. Then they can show it to the kids as they arrive and talk about it then during arrival time.
Circle time should be filled with things that can only be done with a group, such as talking about the curriculum topic you are studying. For example, we are learning about trees. On Thursday we used some manipulatives to measure some tree parts. We measured the diameter of a tree cookie (a slice of a tree trunk) and also measured the circumference. The kids enjoyed learning these words and using the manipulatives and choosing a tree part to measure. Their choices were things like pine cones, pieces of bark, seed pods, etc. Make sure circle time is hands-on, interactive, and fun. Sing a welcome song that mentions each child's name. We did the name cheer yesterday where each child has a turn to be the "teacher" to help us learn their name. They say, "Give me an S" and the kids call out "S". Then the kid says "Give me an A" and the kids call out "A" and then "Give me an M". The kids call out "M". Then the kid says, "What does it spell?" And the kids call out "Sam!". Then another kid volunteers to do it with their name. By doing that activity, the kids are learning the letters in their own name and are also learning letters in another kid's name because they point to the letter as they say it. It might be good to divide up the group so the older kids can do things that are more appropriate for their last year before Kindergarten, but there are also benefits of having a mixed age group.
I hope you got at least one idea from these suggestions.
DeAnn
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DeAnn Jones
Co-Facilitator for the Family Child Care Interest Forum
Discovery Place Preschool, LLC
Stanwood, WA 98292
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-07-2022 09:00 AM
From: Leslie Troogstad
Subject: Changes to Circle Time
Hello Community: I teach in a 3/4 y.o. classroom, and I'm hoping to introduce some changes to circle time. It is just not working for this group of young learners. Has anyone either given up circle time or split up the group and have two circle times? I was thinking if we split up circle time and had 1 group for younger children and 1 group for the older children. We are a team of 3 teachers, so this could work. Any thoughts? And or experiences? Thank you in advance for any insight.
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Leslie T.
Preschool Teacher
Illinois
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