Hello Kirsten! I love your blog! It is so inspirational and you are so creative. I was just wondering how do you organize your days in integrating math, science, and literacy? I just recently started teaching 3 year olds and I'm really trying to configure a daily schedule and lesson planning.
Thank you, Monique! My lesson plans are not very rigid, since we tend to repeat activities throughout the week to reenforce them, and I don't worry about doing every single subject every single day. Right now, I'm teaching toddlers so we generally have a scheduled morning and afternoon activity, with lots of other time for free play throughout our centers.
When I taught preschool, we had a morning center time, during which I would prepare 3 centers for the day for 6-8 kids to rotate among, having about 15 minutes for each activity. (With more kids you would need more centers and more time.) The centers would change every day, sometimes focusing on literacy, some days on math, some days on science, usually art was one... but never underestimate the power of free play!
What I can never find enough time for is making sure things are rotated in and out of my centers so that during free play the children have new things available that go along with what the focus is. Maybe they require a little group instruction at the beginning, or maybe you do a group activity to introduce something new, but then letting them play in the centers is awesome! I would say just let your lesson plans correspond with what you are rotating in and out of your centers. Anyway, hope that helped!
Hello Kirsten! I love your blog! It is so inspirational and you are so creative. I was just wondering how do you organize your days in integrating math, science, and literacy? I just recently started teaching 3 year olds and I'm really trying to configure a daily schedule and lesson planning.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Monique! My lesson plans are not very rigid, since we tend to repeat activities throughout the week to reenforce them, and I don't worry about doing every single subject every single day. Right now, I'm teaching toddlers so we generally have a scheduled morning and afternoon activity, with lots of other time for free play throughout our centers.
DeleteWhen I taught preschool, we had a morning center time, during which I would prepare 3 centers for the day for 6-8 kids to rotate among, having about 15 minutes for each activity. (With more kids you would need more centers and more time.) The centers would change every day, sometimes focusing on literacy, some days on math, some days on science, usually art was one... but never underestimate the power of free play!
What I can never find enough time for is making sure things are rotated in and out of my centers so that during free play the children have new things available that go along with what the focus is. Maybe they require a little group instruction at the beginning, or maybe you do a group activity to introduce something new, but then letting them play in the centers is awesome! I would say just let your lesson plans correspond with what you are rotating in and out of your centers. Anyway, hope that helped!