Daily Schedule

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Arrival & Free play 

Morning meeting

Centers: Choice time & Small Groups

Snacktime

Bathroom and Prep

Roof / Gym / Playground

Circle time 

Lunchtime & Quiet reading

Rest

Story time

Choice time / Other

Specials

Circle time & Dismissal

 

9:00-9:15 Arrival & Free play

Teacher welcomes children as they come in and place their belongings in their cubbies. Children will choose between four quiet activities until clean up and morning meeting.

9:15-9:30 Morning meeting

During morning meeting, children will gather around the carpet and sing the hello song, followed by the teacher going over the daily schedule. Then children will choose their preferred center for choice time.

9:30-10:35 Centers: Choice time/ Small Groups → clean up

Choice time will start with children choosing between the different centers in the class: art, blocks, science and discovery, dramatic play, math and manipulatives. In addition, each day there will be a different activity offered such as cooking, clay, puppetry, craft etc. This will also be a time to offer small groups work (working closely with a teacher, for ten minutes at most), which children can choose to participate in if they wish. In the last 5-10min, children will help clean up, wash their hands and get their snacks.

10:35-10:50 Snack time

During this time, children will gather around the tables to have snack time. (Children who 

will be done earlier than other can start getting prepared for leaving).

10:50-11:00  Bathroom & Dressing up to leave

Once snack is over, children they will be offered to visit the bathroom. Then they will have to dress up according to the weather to prepare for leaving the classroom to go outside (unless it’s utterly freezing and then we will head to the gym space). If heading out to the playground, additional time will be required to be considered for the walk to and from the playground. A child who will have time may choose a quiet activity (puzzles, drawing, quiet reading).

11:00-12:00 Roof / Playground

During this time, children will have free rein to play outside- on the roof or at the 

playground. On days when the weather isn’t permitting, class will head into the gym space and have balls and big soft blocks to play with and a lot of space to run around, in addition to optional group games (structured and unstructured play).

12:00-12:10 Heading back to class for Circle Time

Heading back into the classroom, children will put coats etc. back in cubbies, wash hands 

and join the carpet. Teacher will sing songs with children while one child helps the teacher set up lunch.

12:10-12:45 Lunch time & quiet reading

During this time, children and teachers will sit and eat as a group. If a child is done eating earlier, they can choose a book and read quietly. 

12:45-1:15 Rest time

During this time, children will lay down on their own mats and rest. If a child doesn’t want to rest, they can continue to look at a book quietly. 

1:15-1:30 Story time 

During this time students will gather around the meeting area and have story time with one of the teachers. Once the story is read, a short discussion will follow. In addition, this will be a time when we can do literacy and math games as a group around the carpet. Then children will choose their centers. 

1:30-2:40 Choice time / Other → clean up

Children will have the opportunity to revisit their chosen center for free play. If we have 

special group projects, we can revisit it during this time. If children seem like they need 

more physical activity, and we have previously visited the roof/playground, we can split 

choice time to half and head out to the gym for some structured or unstructured play time. 

This can also be a time for us to create group collaborations with other adjunct classrooms (for special holidays or such). .At the end of this period children will clean up will be before they all gather to the rug.

2:40-2:50 Specials -music/sing along, movement/yoga, other

This time can be dedicated to playing the piano for a class sing-a-long, doing some yoga 

movements to calm our bodies, or playing a group game. 

2:50- 3:00 Closing Circle time

During this time, children will get ready to leave, putting all layers of clothing on them 

four at a time while the teacher can sing the goodbye song, and play games on the carpet 

with them as they are slowly getting ready and being picked up.

3:00 Pick up

Children are called one at a time to exit the classroom and join their parent or caregiver. 

 

 

Transitions, Procedures and Routines

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Transitions

Transitions will always have a song or a physical action required to follow to make it easier and more interesting for the kids. It can help them calm their bodies, focus, follow instructions and make the group transition from point A to point B, or different activities, easier. For example:

• When moving up to the roof, children will form a ‘train’ and sing: “engine engine number 9, riding to the roof above, listen look and hold on tight, engine engine number 9”. (or something like that- words can be adjusted to address situation.)

• When standing in the elevator, we can sing: “don’t push your neighbor in the elevator, cause if you push, you might get smushed” and then add: “like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! Like a pancake!”

• When in circle time, the teacher does different things with her arms and face, no words, and slowly kids pick up and follow. Like ‘Simon Said’ but without ‘Simon’.

• During clean up time, teacher can put a calm song that will repeat every time that they will be doing clean up. It can be an instrumental piece, not a song with words.

• We can move from point A to B like animals- tiny and quiet animals (ants, butterflies, fish).

• In any transition, singing is helpful and makes the change more enjoyable. 

• Teacher can have a musical instrument that she uses sometimes to help transitions (flute). 

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Procedures

All procedures that will need to be covered to maintain a friendly environment and smooth transitions will be introduced to the children. The main goal is to teach the kids these procedures in concrete terms, demonstrate the procedure and break it down into steps. We can practice it together, and repeat it as needed until the children learn to recognize what it entails of them. Expectations should be set for a few days to learn the routines and procedures, to be repeated and reintroduced, and that different kids will need different supports in realizing the class rules.

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Routines

Children will learn that there are some routines that we follow in the classroom for different activities and times of day. For example:

• When entering the classroom in the morning, children will go to cubbies and take off layers, place them in their cubby, take out their lunch box, snack and water bottle, and place each of them in the appropriate bin for later use. 

• When exiting the classroom, children will learn to follow the teacher as she sings along, having eyes on the teacher and being with the group, never running outside on their own.

• Children will learn to recognize the clean up song, knowing that it is their que (in addition to teacher prompting) to clean up before the next activity can take place.

• When a child finishes up an activity earlier than the rest of the group, they can choose to do a quiet activity- puzzles, books, or an activity sheet that is set in a special bin for that purpose only. 

• Before heading to the bathroom, children will learn to notify one of the teachers.

• Each day there will be a different helper for lunch and snack time. These helpers will be chosen during morning meeting time. 

• Children will be the class pet’s helper on a rotating basis, each week a different child. Children’s names will be placed on a list in the rug area to see who is in charge at what week. 

• Class parents will be set as a list for them to choose a week to volunteer and bring additional snacks for the kids. A list of healthy foods will be provided for the parents to choose from (fruits, veggies, crackers). This will be served to the children in addition to their snack from home.

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Classroom Rules

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• We are kind and friendly to other friends and teachers

• We keep hands, feet and objects to ourselves

• We raise our hand and wait for permission to speak

• We walk while in the classroom and the school building 

• We use inside voices when in class and hallways

• We keep our classroom clean

• We listen to our teachers when they speak to us

• When leaving the classroom, always follow your teacher

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Positive Behavior Plan

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In my classroom, the expectations will be that all children will be able to follow the rules that are introduced at the beginning of the year, after a period of adjustment. In the event that a child will encounter difficulty in following different rules, routines or procedures, there are several strategies that teachers will follow to encourage and support the child’s learning. With a calm voice, a teacher will remind and redirect the child’s attention to the activity that needs to be followed or avoided. She will offer support in achieving it if the child seems to have a hard time doing it by him or herself. A teacher can use a visual prompt in addition to a verbal prompt. Each teacher will have a small booklet with a few visual reminders of what actions need to be followed at different times. Sometimes a teacher can gently touch the child’s shoulder or hand to remind with voice and touch of what is expected of them.

At times when a child will exhibit great difficulty with a certain activity, he or she will be offered a break in the quiet cubby corner. If a child is asking for this quiet time, it can be at the teacher’s decision if to allow it at any given point.

A water break outside of the classroom may also be offered- walking with or without a teacher to the nearby water fountain to have a drink, a small break, and a safe and quick return to the classroom.

When a child will exhibit great difficulty in the classroom they can be offered a phone book (it is sealed with tape) to take outside of the classroom and walk around the hallway a few times while carrying it (once or twice). 

If children exhibit difficulty while sitting in their placements, teachers are encouraged to consider changing their sitting arrangements and matching a quiet child with an active one.

Positive verbal prompts (reinforcing) will always be offered to children as they go through the day and meet the challenging and various tasks, to encourage and strengthen their awareness of how wonderful they are and at what they do. Positive reinforcement also means ignoring the misbehavior when possible, and focusing on praise instead.

Sometimes children will have to change the activity that they are doing, in case the one that they are occupied with is too distracting, whether because of sensory issues or a group dynamic or other reasons. 

At circle time, when needed, the teachers may relate to certain activities that she sees that repeat and are inappropriate, so the class can have a short group conversation about how one's actions' affect the rest of the class, and what we can do to make it be different. 

The main goal is to always defer to positive use of language, and have a positive consequence to a change of activity when needed (such as offering the child to be snack helper if he helps clean up). A teacher may seek support from school counselor when all other tactics have failed, but it is best to communicate with the child and explain with an honest and open heart why an action need to be met or avoided, allowing support to achieve that, before turning to outside help.