Brilliant ideas for circle time with young children.

Part of our goal for circle time is to help the younger two begin to sit in one spot for longer periods of time. It also gives us an official “start” to lesson time and gets everyone into one place. Circle time for us is usually 5 to 10 minutes (Emy is two, we don’t expect much yet) and then a story afterward that Christopher reads to the kids. We are working with Bennett to hold still through the story (so about 10 minutes for him.) Then the older two start their language & math lessons. The circle time is to give us a routine and official start time for our school day. It brings us all together for our songs, a show & tell every once in awhile, chance for the kids to do their recitation for a group, practice things we’re all memorizing, have fun doing the ABCs and counting with the little kids, etc. I usually hold or nurse Joseph during it (or he’s napping) and we expect everyone to stay put for the first bit. Then we let Emy loose and keep Bennett a bit longer. Then we let Bennett off the hook and the older two get to work. I can start C on his stuff and work one-on-one with Mo, then go back to help C and Mo’s done with her work and can go play.

We usually include our welcome song, days of the week, months of the year, planets, and two primary songs – Moira uses those lately for her memorization work. We do some of the Articles of Faith and C recites his memorization work, whatever scripture he’s working on that week. We sometime do Show & Tell. We try to keep it short and sweet and then start lessons.

While the older ones are working the younger ones get to play with the busy box or a toy bin I bring in – I try to grab different ones for variation. Blocks, toy trains, Little People doll house or barn, crayons and paper, playdough, etc. If it’s a nice day then the younger ones play in the yard while I watch from the sunroom with the older ones. If Joseph is awake then we can all head into the yard (but I don’t want to go out there if he’s asleep, can’t hear monitor.)

Changes we’ll be making in circle time –

– Get the wiggles out first. We usually have the kids play in the yard in the morning before we do circle time, but we will now make sure we do that or else do some wiggle songs before we have them sit down.

– Give them a designated space to sit, something with boundaries. For younger ones, tactile boundaries are good. Beanbag, carpet square, etc. We’ll probably do what the co-op is doing and have them put their names on a felt square. Sometimes we have the younger two practice sitting on a chair (child size) during circle time, but obviously they all prefer the floor. I like the idea of a visual reminder of their space.

– Fidget toys. Some of our kids are very much movers, and giving them something to hold and fidget with could help focus them. I’m the same way, so is Kit. So a toy or bracelet or even a stuffed animal to squeeze while we do circle time. Maybe a shaker for while we sing? This will also help with them doing the poking and draping and pushing into each other’s space thing. 🙂

I’m excited to try this!

Another tip from Laura: seat easily distracted kids right across the teacher and kids with speech issues between two very verbal kids for the example… at home this is less of an issue but at co-op I will mention this to Moira’s teacher. I’ll be in class with Bennett and I’m wondering if it’s better to sit him right across from the teacher or next to the teacher because of the vision. Will he be able to focus better across the circle? Hmm, pondering seating arrangements. But remember to seat Bennett and Mo probably by older children (since he’s 3 and in the 2/3 year old class and she’s 5 in the 4/5 class – so we want them to be next to the older kids for the language modeling.)