Preschool Daily Schedule

2006 - 2007

• Arrival, Sign In, Snack Sign Up, Question of the Day: 

  This is the first activity of the day for preschoolers. After the students are picked up and after they have put their things away, the children will be greeted at the door of the classroom by the teacher and the classroom greeter. Greeting the children at the door each day sets a positive tone in the classroom and gives the teacher a special opportunity to make a connection with each of the students.

  After the children are greeted they will sign into the classroom at the writing center. This will give the children the opportunity to practice their name writing and name recognition skills.

  Once the children have signed themselves into the classroom they will sign up for snack. This process will also give the children the opportunity to work on their name writing and recognition skills.

  Answering the question of the day will be the children’s final task to complete before they have their free choice time. The question of the day works on the children’s pre-reading, writing, name recognition, sorting, matching, and counting skills.

• Free Choice: 

   During this period of the day the children will be allowed to independently choose which classroom activities they would like to participate in. This period is also know as the free play period because the children are allowed to direct their own activities and learning experiences while the teacher acts as a support system. Children will also spend a great deal of this period socializing with others in the classroom as they are engaged in the activities they have selected.

• Clean-up Time:

During cleanup time, children return materials and equipment to their labeled places and store their incomplete work. This process restores order to the classroom and provides opportunities for the children to use many basic cognitive skills. 

• Meeting Time: 

At this point in the day the entire class will come to the carpet for our first group meeting of the day. Our meeting begins with a greeting. The greeting activities are used to establish and reinforce a strong sense of community in our classroom. After the greeting, we will read the day’s message and daily schedule, work with the calendar, and read the job chart. This is also the time for announcements, sharing, and group songs.

• Gross Motor Activities: 

Preschool aged children need numerous opportunities to move and become familiar with controlling their bodies. Gross motor activities assist in children’s development of hand-eye coordination, locomotor skills (walking, running, hopping, skipping), nonlocomotor skills (pushing, pulling, turning, stretching, bending), and balance.

• Snack Time:     

 While it may seem like a simple thing, snack time actually plays two very important roles in our classroom. First, it gives the children the opportunity to openly socialize with each other. Second, it gives the children a boost of energy that they will need to complete the second half of our day. After the children have finished their snack and cleaned up their space, they return to the carpet for story time.

• Circle Time:  

Circle time is our second meeting of the day. During circle time a new concept or topic is introduced to the children. We discuss the information that we are learning about and often complete a short activity, or sing a song. The children are also given information about the activities that will be available to them during center time.

• Center Time: 

During center time the children are free to go to various learning centers, organized and designed to teach concepts. The children work in small groups and move between independent and teacher guided activities.

• Project Time: 

Project time provides the students with the opportunity to socialize while they work specifically on their fine motor skills. Project time is used periodically throughout the year to give the entire class the opportunity to create something related to our current theme.

• Goodbye / Recall Time: 

The day ends with a final group meeting to review the day’s activities. This meeting develops listening and attention skills, promotes oral communication, stresses that learning is important, and helps children evaluate their performance and behavior.