How do your students transition into the day?
Right now, children enter the classroom starting at 8:40 am. By 9:00, most of the children have arrived. We jump right into "choice time" upon arrival, where the children choose activities around the room - writing, blocks, painting, dramatic play, looking at books, and the light table are always options.
At about 9:15, we gather to have a meeting. We look at the calendar, talk about the day, read a story, and have a conversation.
After this we go back to choice time until we have somewhere else to go, like music, gym, or library.
There is nothing wrong with this schedule, per se. It has worked just fine. But I came across a lovely idea that I think can be adapted for young children : sketchbooks in the morning. It would be a way for the children to gather their thoughts at the beginning of the day. Children could bring items from home, or found items, to put into their sketchbooks. Photographs and relevant items could be on the tables for inspiration. We could implement some of the ten activities that are suggested to get things going, and develop a bank of inspiration and activities that work for us (and share it with sketchbooks in schools!) and make connections with other groups of young children with sketchbooks.
I wonder about sharing sketchbooks. I keep a book where I write and draw, and i don't share it with others, really. Would it be too imposing to gather together once a week and share our sketchbook entries?
I may dismiss this idea as a late night rambling, or it just might stick. I love it right now...
i like this idea. i tried something similar in april, having a "journal time" first thing in the morning. i felt the kids were too distracted though, as the first part of the morning is such a social time. and i find they have a lot of energy in the morning, so sitting down and concentrating on writing/drawing pictures can be hard. but sketchbooks might be different than journal time, and allow for more socializing. try it! i think it's always great to experiment with the day's schedule - keeps things fresh and interesting for the kids and for you.
ReplyDeletealso - as for sharing - with journals i let the kids choose whether they want to share their entry during our journal meeting or "keep it private". usually they want to share, but some opt for privacy. it's nice to give them the choice and honor their privacy.
Thanks, Emily...I know what you mean about that morning energy. That is definitely a factor, and sketchbooks may not be social enough to start the day. I may have one day next week (before the end of this school year) where we start sketching in the morning -- I may give the children magazine clippings and photos from the year as inspiration. I think very young children will need it to be a changing activity that changes from time to time. Offering them new materials (paint, markers, oil pastels, stamps) would be important, too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting me know about your sharing experience as well! It is important to give children the choice to share or not.
Hi Allie!
ReplyDeleteWe start our day with journals (which is essentially sketchbooking. . .but it will look a little different come september...) and it works great. The children have a routine along the lines of. . .put jackets away, put on inside slippers, wash hands, go to journal, finish journal, go work! Next year we actually want the parents to be part of this start time - there will be directions for the parents to help start their child on, for the sketchbook, and then once the child begins work, the parent can go. . . one other school in Vancouver does the 1st 20 minutes of school with parent-child activities, and I love the opportunity for parent-child interaction (and the opportunity for the teacher to observe it...)