ircle ime

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 It is important to have visuals in any early childhood classroom as a reminder.  I made this chart using clip art and posterboard.  It is posted on the wall in our circle area so we can refer to it often.  The rules include: helping hands, listening ears, quiet voices, and looking eyes, and walking feet. 

*See the resources section at the bottom of this page for free printable classroom rules with pictures.

Good Morning:

Saying "good morning" is an important part of creating a school family;  it starts the day off on a positive note that young children need.  We sing "Welcome to School" (Dr. Jean All Day Long CD) each morning for the first few months of school.  In the picture above you can see our "School Bear" that I use as a prop to hold during the song, he is dressed in the school uniform with a backpack and he is ready to say "good morning" and start his day!  After a few months I allow the class leader to choose between several different good morning songs.  We especially like Dr. Jean's "Kiss Your Brain" from the Kiss Your Brain CD,  another Dr. Jean song, "Hello" from Silly Songs, or Jo Eklof's "So Many Ways to Say Good Morning" song (www.missjo.com). 

Rule Cards:

1. Eyes on Mrs. Levin
2. Ears Listening
3. Mouth Quiet
4. Hands in your lap

The above are our rules for circle time.  It is important to have pictures of the rules when working with ESL learners.  Each card has a picture of the mentioned body part to help the students understand.  Before beginning any activity in large group we review the circle time rules using the cards.  

Days of the Week

There are many wonderful days of the week songs out there. 

The one I use in the beginning of the year is to the tune of "Oh, My Darling"

	There are seven days,
	There are seven days,
	There are seven days in a week,
	Sunday, Monday,
	Tuesday, Wednesday,
	Thursday, Friday,
	Saturday!

I like to use Dr. Jean's "Days of the Week" song from Sing to Learn starting about mid-way through the year.

The days of the week train is located under the calendar and comes from our Everyday in Pre-K Counts math kit, by Great Source.  Each day of the week is a different color, it is very colorful and  looks like the train from Donald Crews' Fright Train.

Birthday Bags

This space saving idea is from the T.net Kinder chatboard :)  Each bag is labeled with a different month and a die-cut shape.   Each student's name and birthday is printed on a colorful tongue depressor, then the sticks are placed in the appropriate bags.  At the beginning of each month we take a bag down to see what birthdays are coming soon, then we place the birthday stick in the calendar pocket chart on the appropriate day so we won't forget the important birthdays.

Picture Schedule

Our daily activities are displayed  sequentially in a pocket chart and a clip is moved down to indicate what we are doing.  This schedule was made using Microsoft clipart printed on cardstock.  Credit goes to Angie Bonthuis for this wonderful idea! 

*See the resources section at the bottom of this page for free printable picture schedule.