5.8: Temporal Environments
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One feature of a well-organized classroom is the use of a schedule and established routines. Schedules and established routines are important because they influence a child’s social and emotional development. While referred to as the daily schedule, it is important to recognize that the flow, or the predictable order of the day, should be the focus (rather than abiding by rigid timelines for the different parts of the day). While there may be parts of the day that at are at fixed times (for example meals or using a shared outdoor space), teachers should use flexibility to make the schedule meet the needs of the children. If an activity seems to be coming to a natural conclusion earlier, consider transitioning to the next part of the day. If children are really engaged in an activity, consider giving them additional time to wrap up their exploration. Flexibility also comes in handy when there are changes that affect the schedule that are beyond your control, such as bad weather preventing outdoor play. [1]
Schedules are important because they
Several factors influence child engagement.
The first component is “blocks of time,” the big chunks of time set aside for classroom activities. Preschool schedules typically include:
The next component is the sequence. Sequencing the blocks of time requires taking into consideration multiple factors including:
Schedules include some of the daily routines such as meal times, but may not include others such as bathroom breaks or clean up routines.
When planning the schedule you want to provide balance. This includes:
The daily schedule balances child-initiated play and teacher-guided activities. The latter involves teachers planning, introducing, and guiding specific activities to enhance children’s learning during small- and large-group times. In contrast, child-initiated play refers to children’s responses to ideas and materials introduced by teachers that the children are free to explore without teacher guidance. Child-initiated play also includes those times when children create, organize, and engage in activities completely on their own.
A daily schedule that ensures ample time for children to initiate their own play in well-developed interest areas is critical to the teaching and learning. Young children need ample time to engage in play, in the company of peers, in order to build their ideas, to pose problems, to try out solutions, and to negotiate and exchange ideas. When children initiate, organize, and develop their own play in the interest areas, it is called child-initiated learning. At times, children choose to play alone, but frequently, child-initiated play takes place in small groups of their own choosing.
In a schedule with ample time for children to initiate play in well-stocked interest areas, there are times when teachers organize and guide specific activities for children. Such teacher-guided curriculum activities are clearly distinct from child-initiated curriculum activities. Teacher-guided activities occur in two contexts—small groups and large groups. A small group would consist of one teacher working with a group of four to eight children. A large group is typically a gathering of all the children in an early childhood setting. Each context serves a different purpose and requires different preparation and different teaching strategies.
For some aspects of the curriculum, teachers may choose to organize an activity with a small group of children. Although initiated and guided by the teacher, an effective small-group encounter of this nature should still be rich in possibilities for children to contribute and negotiate ideas with each other. Teacher-guided activities in small groups work best in quiet spaces away from distractions of the full group and provide a manageable context for children to discuss and explore ideas and experiences. The teacher listens to children’s ideas, helps orchestrate the give-and-take of ideas among children, and poses ideas or problems for children to wonder about, explore together, or even solve. Away from the distractions of a large group, teachers can easily observe, listen, and converse with children in a small group, as well as note how individual children think, express ideas, relate with others, and use their emerging skills.
Such teacher-guided conversations can enrich children’s learning in all domains, particularly the children’s language and vocabulary development. In addition, teachers can intentionally guide the development of specific skills by planning small-group activities (e.g., songs, games, shared reading) for short periods of time that playfully engage children in using specific emerging skills.
Small-group activities have several advantages over large-group activities. With small groups of children, teachers can readily observe, listen, and document children’s developmental progress. Teachers can also individualize the curriculum and use questions or prompts to scaffold each child’s thinking in more complex ways.
Whether the activities are child-initiated or teacher-guided, children’s use of materials in interest areas provide teachers with excellent opportunities to observe how they build concepts and skills and how they negotiate ideas with others. Moments of observed play and interactions also provide teachers with ideas on how to extend children’s exploration and learning through future encounters with related materials that add novelty, challenge, and complexity in each domain.
Large groups provide another context for teacher-guided activities. The large group—typically a gathering of the entire class—works well for singing, acting out songs and stories, playing games, sharing experiences with each other, telling stories, building a sense of community, and organizing the daily schedule and activities. Storytelling is one of the more popular large-group experiences, one that has rich potential for adding to children’s understanding about the world around them. Storytelling allows teachers, children, family members, as well as storytellers from the community to tap into and build children’s knowledge and experiences in meaningful ways. Large-group time is also when teachers let the whole group of children know what new experiences will be available in the interest areas or what will happen in small groups that day. Large-group gatherings that occur at the end of the day provide opportunities to review noteworthy happenings and to anticipate what will be available the next day. [6]
Here are some examples of daily schedules for preschool classrooms.
|
Time of Day |
Routine/Activity |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
8:00 |
Arrival/Greetings |
Wash Hands, Sign-in, Get Name tags |
|
8:05-8:20 |
Group Time |
Welcome, Songs, Stories, Discussions |
|
8:20-9:30 |
Open Choice Time Outdoors |
Explore classroom areas |
|
9:30 |
Clean-up |
Wash Hands, transition to indoors |
|
9:35-10:45 |
Snack/Open Choice Indoors |
|
|
10:45 |
Clean-up |
|
|
10:50-11 |
Closing Circle |
|
Time of Day |
Routine/Activity |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
8:00 |
Arrival/Greetings |
Wash Hands, Sign-in, Get Name tags |
|
8:05-8:20 |
Group Time |
Welcome, Songs, Stories, Discussions |
|
8:20-9:30 |
Open Choice Time Outdoors |
Explore classroom areas |
|
9:30 |
Clean-up |
Wash Hands, transition to indoors |
|
9:35-11:00 |
Snack/Open Choice Indoors |
|
|
11:00 |
Clean-up |
|
|
11:10-11:25 |
Story Time |
Transition to wash hands for lunch |
|
11:30-11:50 |
Lunch |
|
|
11:50 |
Explore books on rest Mats |
|
|
12:10-2:00 |
Rest Time |
|
|
2:00-3:15 |
Indoor Choice Time/Snack |
|
|
3:15 |
Clean-up |
|
|
3:20 |
Large Group Circle |
Games, Songs, Stories |
|
3:40 |
Explore Outdoors |
|
|
5:00 |
Clean-up |
|
|
5:05 |
Indoor Small Group/Choice Centers |
Fewer areas open |
Schedules define the whole day, whereas routines are more specific sets of regularly occurring behaviors. Routines provide some security and a sense of what comes next; children are able to anticipate what will happen, and thus feel more secure.
Daily routines and rituals also provide a second context for curriculum. They offer possibilities for children to use their emerging skills and to apply emerging concepts and ideas. Early childhood daily routines include arrivals and departures, mealtimes, naptimes, diapering, toileting, dressing, handwashing, tooth-brushing, and transitions between one place and another. They also include rituals such as sign-in sheets, health checks, waiting lists, attendance counts, dictated stories, reminder notes, or voting.
Children sit down for a meal, wash their hands, and put jackets and shoes on hundreds of times in order to provide excellent opportunities for children to use and build emerging skills and concepts. In group care, the care routines during arrivals, departures, meals, naps, diapering, toileting, and dressing provide excellent opportunities for children to use and challenge their emerging skills and concepts. When an infant whose diaper is about to be changed hears her teacher describe what it is she is about to do, the infant experiences a flood of words, which eventually become an anticipated phrase that gives meaning to a familiar experience. When this same infant hears a request to put his arm into the sleeve of a shirt, he is invited to demonstrate that he has understood this phrase and experiences the joy that comes with sharing meaning with the teacher. When a preschool child looks in anticipation each morning at the helper chart to see what job she gets to do that day, they are invited not only to cooperate in the care of the classroom, but also to build their emerging skills in understanding the meaning of print that accompanies the photo or drawing. Care routines are natural opportunities for children to engage in learning. Therefore, teachers plan the routines of care and the daily rituals that pepper the day in ways that invite children to be active participants and to use and build their emerging skills and concepts in meaningful situations. [8]
A vignette featuring toddlers shows the kind of learning that occurs in another routine:
Four toddlers are seated at a low table for lunch. Their primary care teacher sits with them at the table. To his right, on a low bench, the primary care teacher has a bin that holds everything he needs for the meal. He pulls out bibs for each toddler and helps each toddler put one on. Each toddler finds a cube chair to sit in. The teacher puts an empty bowl in front of the toddler on his left. He offers this toddler a pair of small plastic tongs, holds a plate of small sandwiches, and asks, “Would you like to take a sandwich?” The toddler grabs the tongs and, after a few trials, manages to pick up one of the sandwiches and drop it onto his plate. Later, after each toddler has taken a sandwich, the teacher pulls from the bin a clear plastic measuring cup, on which a red line is drawn at the one-cup mark. He fills the measuring cup to the red line. He places an empty glass in front of a toddler and, offering the toddler the measuring cup, says, “Would you like to pour?” The toddler wraps his hand around the handle and tips the cup over his glass. He spills a bit at first, but adjusts his hand and manages to empty the measuring cup. He looks up at the teacher and smiles. The teacher smiles in response, saying, “You poured your milk, Stephan! You know how to do it!” The toddler seated next to Stephan reaches for the empty measuring cup. The teacher says, “And now you can pour milk into your glass, Alexi. I’ll put the milk in the measuring cup first.” [9]
It is important to focus on creating and managing smooth transitions between activities in the classroom. Reasons to address transitions between activities in early childhood classrooms include:
There are numerous strategies that can be used to ensure well-organized transitions between activities. These include strategies you use before the transition, during the transition, and following the transition.
You can also work to promote independence during transitions by
The following vignette offers an opportunity to watch and listen for the learning that occurs during a transition routine and to reflect on the planning that had to occur in order for this experience to play out as it did.
Ms. Cone had used the children’s name tags in transition activities for quite some time, at first pointing out and naming the first letter in each name as she called children to go wash hands or to get their jackets before going outside. Somewhat later, she held up each of the nametags and pointed to the first letter as she asked the child to name it. Today, she is using the first sounds in names to send a few children at a time from the circle time area to wash hands for lunch: “If your name starts with /k/, you may go wash your hands. Yes, Connie and Carolina, you may go to the sink. Both of your names start with the /k/ sound.” Cindy sees Connie and Carolina stand up, and she stands up too. Ms. Cone explains that Cindy begins with the /s/, not /k/ sound, and that she’ll get a turn soon. Cindy says, “I’m a C too!” Ms. Cone says, “Oh, you are right. Your name begins with the letter c like Connie and Carolina, but it starts with a different sound. We hear /k/ at the beginning of Connie and Carolina—/k/ Connie, /k/ Carolina. We hear /s/ at the beginning of your name—/s/—Cindy. I’m going to say that sound next: ‘If your name starts with /s/, you may go wash your hands.’” Sabrina stood up, joined hands with Cindy, and they walked to the sink together. [12]
Built into this large-group gathering is a dismissal ritual that takes full advantage of young children’s interest in their names and the names of their friends. As part of this dismissal ritual, the teacher invites children to use their emerging skills in distinguishing the distinct sounds of language, described in the language and literacy foundations as phonological awareness. She embeds this learning in the context of a game, one that inspires children to listen carefully to the sounds spoken in instructions for inviting small groups of children to wash hands. The transition from large group to the sink area goes much more smoothly as a result, and in the process, children get to use an important emerging skill.
[1] Guide to Managing the Classrooms: Schedules and Routines by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is in the public domain;
Content by Jennifer Paris is licensed under CC BY 4.0
[2] Guide to Managing the Classrooms: Schedules and Routines by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is in the public domain
[3] Image by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is in the public domain
[4] Image by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is in the public domain
[5] Guide to Managing the Classrooms: Schedules and Routines by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is in the public domain
[6] California Preschool Curriculum Framework, Volume 3 by the California Department of Education is used with permission
[7] Based on the College of the Canyons Early Childhood Education Sample schedule
[8] Guide to Managing the Classrooms: Schedules and Routines by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is in the public domain;
The Integrated Nature of Learning by the California Department of Education is used with permission (pg. 29-32)
[9] The Integrated Nature of Learning by the California Department of Education is used with permission
[10] Tips for Teachers by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is in the public domain
[11] Guide to Presenting Managing the Classroom: Classroom Transitions by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is in the public domain
[12] The Integrated Nature of Learning by the California Department of Education is used with permission