Preschool Daily Schedule Examples for Preschool & Pre-K Classrooms

a picture of 3 different daily schedules printed on colorful paper and laying flat on a table with colorful markers

Preschool Daily Schedule and Visual Schedules for Preschool and Pre-K Classrooms
Do you have to create a daily schedule for your classroom each school year? Being a preschool teacher is tough enough without having to recreate the wheel each year – am I right? Have no fear, here you’ll find everything you need to help you quickly and easily create a daily schedule for your Preschool or Pre-K classroom.

Why Use a Preschool Daily Schedule?

Your little learners will feel safe and secure when you have a predictable and consistent daily schedule in place.

When they know which activity comes next and exactly what your expectations are for each activity, you’ll have fewer behavior problems in your classroom.

When young children feel safe and secure in their classroom environment, they’ll ultimately learn more.

Preschool Picture Schedule

Preschool Daily Schedule Example

What does a typical daily schedule look like in a preschool or pre-k classroom? The answer to that questions is going to depend on the length of your day and how often you see your students.

The schedules below are those which have been used successfully in my own public Pre-K classroom, in a five day program, but you can totally use them in any early childhood program.

You can download print these free editable daily schedule templates to use for your full-day or half-day program below. You can use them as-is, or use the editable template included and just type in the times specific to your classroom and program.

Printable Preschool Daily Schedule
Of course, your daily schedule may need to be adjusted slightly for any special events such as picture day or fire drills.

I’ve taught both full and half-day schedules and I’ve included free editable templates of both types for you here.

Please keep in mind that these are the schedules that have worked best for me and my students, in my particular program. What works for you, your students, and your program may differ.

And don’t forget if you need more back to school help, be sure to check out the Back to School Bundle: Classroom Edition!

Preschool Daily Schedule Template

Preschool Half-Day Schedule Example

AM Class

  • 7:50-8:00 Arrival
  • 8:00-8:15 Morning Tubs
  • 8:15-8:25 Circle Time
  • 8:25-9:15 Centers
  • 9:15-9:40 Writing
  • 9:40-10:10 Recess
  • 10:10-40 Math + Small Group Activities
  • 10:40-10:50 Closing Circle
  • 10:50-11:00 Dismissal

PM Class

  • 12:00-12:10 Arrival
  • 12:10-12:25 Morning Tubs
  • 12:25-12:35 Circle Time
  • 12:35-1:20 Center Time/ Free Play
  • 1:20-1:45 Writing
  • 1:45-2:15 Recess/ Outdoor Time
  • 2:15-2:45 Math + Small Group Activities
  • 2:45-2:55 Closing Circle
  • 2:55-3:00 Dismissal

Editable Preschool Daily Schedule

Preschool Full-Day Schedule Exammple

  • 7:50-8:00 Arrival
  • 8:00-8:15 Morning Tubs
  • 8:15-8:25 Linear Calendar and Circle Time
  • 8:25-9:25 Centers + Small Group Activities
  • 9:30-10:00 Recess/ Outdoor Time
  • 10:10-10:50 Math + Small Group Activities
  • 11:00-11:30 Lunch
  • 11:45-12:45 Nap
  • 1:00-1:30 Writing
  • 1:30-2:00 Recess
  • 2:00-2:15 Snack Time
  • 2:15-2:45 Centers/ Free Play
  • 2:50-3:00 Closing Circle

Editable Daily Schedule Templates

Editable daily schedule for preschool. Templates for both full and half day programs are included, just type in your own times, print, and go!

Picture Schedule Cards for Preschool

Preschool Visual Schedule

Have you ever had a student who cried all day for his or her mommy? What about kids who have a super hard time transitioning from one activity to another?

Using a visual schedule in your classroom daily will help those criers because they can see exactly “how many more” things have to happen before it’s time to see Mommy (or Daddy!) Pro tip: invite the crier(s?) to turn the picture around on the chart each time an activity is complete and count with the child to show how many more steps remain.

And those kids who run around like little tornadoes whenever it’s time to clean-up, they’ll benefit big time from a visual schedule too! If you follow the methods I’ve laid out for you here, then your clean-up time should go more smoothly when you start using your schedule as a tool to help improve behavior rather than a decoration on the wall.

Preschool Picture Schedule

Why Use a Visual Schedule

Visual schedules are an important part of any early childhood classroom. They can help:

  • Prevent challenging behaviors before they occur.
  • Calm anxious children who are missing their families.
  • Understand the sequence of the daily classroom routine.
  • Facilitate a quicker clean-up time.

A visual picture schedule is pairing a picture with written words to represent a daily activity. When pictures are placed beside text to support emergent readers, this is commonly known as a visual cue. Since they can’t yet read, visual schedules allow children to easily associate each part of the day with a picture to represent the activity. For example, children can associate an image of the playground with recess time.
When a picture of a book appears after the image of the playground children will begin to make the connection that story time comes after recess. This will help your kids better understand what is happening now or will happen next. When young children understand the order of daily activities, transitioning from one activity to the next will also be much easier.

And all that “learning” that’s in your lesson plans? You’ll actually get to the teaching part when you start using a visual schedule consistently.

Don’t worry, I’ve all the work for you and created a done-for-you visual picture schedule, you can choose from the square version with times, or the rectangular version.

Manage Transitions in the Preschool Classroom

Transitions can be one of the most challenging aspects of any preschool classroom. A transition is a short period of time that occurs when moving from one activity to another as a group. Moving from Circle Time to Centers is one example of a transition. Cleaning-up after centers is another important transition that occurs daily. Having a clear plan in place for managing transitions in your classroom is a must to keep your daily routine on track.

Your daily picture schedule is key to managing transitions. It’s important that your schedule have clear pictures and a font large enough to be seen from across the room. The font used should be kid-friendly for your little learners – no loops, swirls, or squiggles to confuse developing eyes and brains. To signal a transition time, you can use audio or visual cues, or both. This cue could be any of the following:

  • Song
  • Bell
  • Wind Chimes
  • Xylophone
  • Tibetan Singing Bowl
  • Rain Stick

You can even include your students by making this the responsibility of a classroom helper.

In the schedules listed here I didn’t include things like social skills or clean-up time. Social skills are taught throughout each day as they become relevant to the children, there’s no need for a social skills block on the schedule. And you can certainly add the time it takes to clean-up into your schedule, it will help keep the schedule more realistic.

Music is integrated into all subjects as appropriate and is not included on the schedule as a separate block.

Phonemic Awareness activities are integrated into all subjects as appropriate and are not included on the schedule as an individual block.

Public Pre-Kindergarten in the state of Texas does not fall under the purview of any childcare licensing agency. Public Pre-K is administered under the authority of each individual public school district.

More Teaching Tips from Pre-K Pages

Classroom Rules
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calendar time tips
multisensory activities
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Cutting Practice Ideas for Preschool
Movement Songs for Preschoolers

3 thoughts on “Preschool Daily Schedule Examples for Preschool & Pre-K Classrooms”

  1. Pingback: Preschool Schedule for a Pre-K Classroom - Fun-A-Day!

  2. Pingback: Preschool Schedule: How to Plan for a Half Day Pre-K Classroom

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