Do you struggle when it comes to circle time engagement? Got little rollie pollies on the rug who don’t stay engaged for long? Yep, I did too. So, many little bodies and so much movement!
While routine and consistency is hugely important for our young learners, sometimes we get toooo routine and end up making things lackluster. Take circle time for example. I don’t know about you, but I was in the habit of doing the same thing everyday for circle time – greeting, weather, calendar, review. Everyday, over and over again.
I knew it was getting bad when even I didn’t want to come to circle… so honestly how could I expect my littles to want to be there? The routine was great for awhile, but the routine got so routine that they found their own way of occupying themselves by playing with their shoes, poking a friend, rolling around with their feet in the air and so many other random behaviors.
So it became clear – circle time needed a little facelift!
But, how do you keep the routine without making it so routine? Yep- that is literally what I asked myself….
It became clear, I needed newness inside of the existing routine. So, for example:
While we could still keep the greeting, weather and counting on the calendar – I could add newness by letting students lead those parts and change up which students lead each part everyday (by making them classroom jobs).
Then, I could add a games component – because who doesn’t love games…really!? And during that games component, change out which games we play. Which worked beautifully by the way… and led to skill-based Circle Time Games being created.
I’m happy to report that by adding newness inside the existing circle time routine was a win. Engagement is there, learning is there and we are doing it together (continuing to build our class community). So, needless to say… my circle has never been the same – and that is SO good!
How could you add a little newness into your circle time routine to supercharge it?
Leave a comment below with your amazing ideas!
