Well if your a new educator and looking at this --- it does not always go smooth! I promise you Little Johnny will throw himself on the floor and have a major fit right into the story time! Allow for those times and do not expect your day to be perfect... we are not perfect neither are children!
My daily Schedule:
I am open 6 am - 6 pm
from 6am- 7:15 we have quiet choice play
7:15 we have breakfast ...
during the school year this is about the time I feel a little stress - yes yes I admit it! .. I have 2 buses pulling up one at the end of the drive way that I can not see from the house and the other bus pulls to the door. So its out the door trying to get kids on the right bus without becoming over excited because the bus they get on is here!
so breakfast is from 7:15-8:15
So many people put down times for the daily routine ... I find this hard to do because I move with the flow of the children at that particular moment. I always plan an extra activity to keep aside just in case we are bored with what I offer or we need more to do.
8:30 potty break time .. time to get everyone in the bathroom washed up and at least try... cleaning up babies (I have mixed age group) and if I am lucky about 8:45 babies go down for a AM nap! If not we go about our circle time including them putting them in various exercise equipment!
circle time
Good morning - just a brief good morning to everyone .. talk about your evening everyone gets a turn
I may throw in a theme question here just to get them talking - if we are talking about cows I may ask where does chocolate milk come from or What is a calf? Opens communication and expands the vocabulary!
Whos here today - Observing names seeing and recognizing our names on a name card (I change these with the theme)
We sing the song "Sally has a red dress" but the only things is we change the name to the childs name. I allow the child once they recognize their name to stand in the middle of the circle. They may jump, dance or just act silly while its their turn.
for example we see Sally is here today and she says "thats my name" she then goes to the center of the circle and does her thing. and the kids will all sing about what Sally wants to sing about (something about her that she has on)
Sally got new shoes today so she chose to sing about her shoes.
Sally has on new shoes new shoes new shoes
Sally has on new shoes today
HURRAY!
Then we move to the next child. Everyone gets a turn ..if they dont want to go to the middle we still sing for them!
Hand Jive Time Ok this sounds silly to many. it is proven when a child crosses left to right that the brain can focus! We need to focus so we can learn and join into the group- Check out this web site for more info this lady is wonderful!
http://www.consciousdiscipline.com/
We cross arms counting in 8s - (my dd calls it our cheer leading try out calls lol because we get loud)
some brain exercises we do in counts of 8 - leg crossings, thumb crossings, arm crossings, clicking the tongue, snapping fingers, clapping on the legs crossing over... any way you can get the left and right to cross to work together!
At this time I do not do Calendar at circle time -- because my group was just too small I will introduce it this fall!
Arts and Crafts
keeping on the topic of cows for example we may make a paper bag puppet of a cow.
Story time
Lots of story's about cows and calf's and farms -- keep with the theme .. if your discussing the letter A maybe add a book about A things in.
Large motor - or time outside
They need this time to run and move! Try to find fun ideas to keep with your theme. If your talking about cows .. can we walk like a cow out the door .. can we milk the cow on the way out the door.. can we be a bucking bull in the yard! Encourage them to use their imagination!!! (I feel our children are loosing there imagination we need to get the art back)
if you read the nursery "Hey Diddle Diddle" ... you could find something to be the moon and let the children be the cow jumping over the moon.
Science and Math
Oh fun area .. we can count cows that we make with numbers printed on them.
we can use the scale to see what is heavier the cow toys or the chicken toys.
we can cook! oh my favorite kids in the kitchen! No they do not really have to go to the kitchen but you can enjoy making yummy ideas with them.
Speaking on cows- how about making some butter? .. Easy enough!
they will learn about pouring, measuring, soft and hard, shaking, cold, thick and thin... Science and math!
Writing and reading
Yes we had story time but ... we can never have too much reading its a gift! In this area is where we trace our name, lines, put together name puzzles, name the letters in our names.
Letter, numbers, colors, shapes Activity time
some ideas - color sheets with any of the ideas that your working on - such as a letter A color it or cut out pictures of letter A and glue.
Can you draw a square (giving the piece of paper)
baked clay shaped in a letter a - let the children paint it.
Drawing on a cookie sheet with corn starch or corn meal on it ..let the kids draw any of the above by using the finger and letting them try it!
Lunch / Story time
depending on how the day is ... I often make lunch and let them choose a book to look at. If they are needing something a little more I may turn tv on to a educational program. If I have an assistant here one of us cooks and the other reads. This is a good time to do a story that is calming and maybe has finger puppets or felt board.
I often send the children to the bathroom at this time as well.
Lunch - nap lol if I am lucky!
After nap time .. children go potty and have snack .. afternoon is laid back more than morning. I sometimes have a bus come so need to watch for it.
We do story times in the afternoon, an art project or craft and have free choice time or as my dck know it as area time (they started calling it this and we went with it)
For "Area Time" I put small carpet squares into an area and pull toys out and pair the children up or have them individually depending on the day and the mood they set! If we are having troubles with our hands being nice then we play individually NOT like a punishment but more of a redirection. I spread these carpet squares out and they are assigned an area or they get to pick. I will rotate the kids around ..so say in 10 minutes I say (depends how they are doing) Time to clean your area when your done stand up and put your hands on your head so I know your done.......... then I go clock wise around the room..
the next time I will say time to clean up when you are done stand up and put your hands on your knees. Its funny how fast they want to see who can put there hands on the knees first!
I hope this helps some with the day to day. I will add to it as I think of more or I find something that works better for me.
