A general overview of the flow of our day in the classroom
I always find it interesting to learn about a typical classroom day from others. I suppose you could say that our daily preschool is fairly typical but perhaps it is typical to me because it is what I have always implemented. I wanted to share it with you but I hope you will share your schedule with me, too, so I can compare what we do with how others approach a typical day in preschool…
First, it is important to note that my students come two to three days a week and three hours on each day. We have two classrooms that we use throughout the school year which includes an outdoor and an indoor classroom. The outdoor classroom is closed during the really cold months of winter because it has no heat or windows to help protect the kids from the really cold days of winter. When our outdoor classroom is back up and running our daily schedule will be modified just a bit to allow us time for the outdoor classroom…
This is a general overview of our daily schedule just to give you an idea of how our days are structured. I won’t go into every detail because this would be a very long blog post if I did but I will link up to some parts of our day that I have written about in detail as I go along.
Beginning Our Day
We start our day by coming into the classroom, putting coats and back packs in our cubbies, then signing in on our sign-in sheet…
Morning Routines
Then we head over to begin our morning circle time. My students now tell me it is called “square time” because we are sitting on a square rug and not on a circle. Our morning circle time includes our helper and weather routine and then highlighting any concept we may be focusing on like a letter, shape, color, or number…
And then we dive into our morning story, music, and whatever else is going to be the central focus of our circletime experience.
After circle time (or square time), we spend a few minutes talking about any thing we have prepared for the children to explore at our tables and then the children are free to choose what they would like to do in all of our centers. We call this our morning center time – I will show you a few of our everyday indoor centers in action here…
Art Exploration
We set out different materials and tools everyday for creative art experiences. We also have a creative art shelf with markers and paint and glue and paper and scissors and yarn and so on for the children to use in their own way as they wish.
Block Center
We change the kinds of blocks and materials throughout the year but always have it set up next to our largest carpeted area on the floor for play.
Water Play or Sensory Play Tub
Our large water and sand play areas are out in our outdoor classroom so we set out a tub in the indoor classroom for this kind of play during the cold days of winter time.
Writing Center
We have a variety materials available all the times to promote writing in the classroom including clip boards, paper, pencils, crayons, stamps, stickers, envelopes and so on. We rotate the materials by listening to what the children would like us to add or observing what they seem to have lost interest in.
Other Centers
We can’t possibly fit everything into our small classroom environment at once, so we rotate this shelf from being a light table center to a music center to a puzzle center throughout the year and you will notice that our books are kept easily accessible just above this shelf.
We rotate other materials throughout the classroom centers as we go along. When the materials are not in use, I keep them in my storage room or garage.
After Center Time
After our morning center time (which lasts as long as the children seem to be staying interested in things) then we clean up, wash hands and sit down for snack time.
After snack time, the children clear their own table then pick out a book to read or look through while the others finish up.
Outdoor Play
And then we get on coats, hats, mittens, scarves and head outdoors for play. We may stay outside for five minutes or 45 minutes depending on the weather and what the children have going on outside. Often times, if a few children are ready to head inside before the others, then they can come back inside with me and help set up for the last part of our day and Mr. Hayden will bring the rest in shortly after…
You will notice that I didn’t put any times down for our daily schedule for you. This is because we have a general idea of the flow of our day, but we genuinely try to keep the schedule open for change at the same.
Finishing Our Day
By the time we head back inside, we usually have about 30 to 40 minutes left to finish up our day. This last part of our day changes almost daily. So we might use it for large group math bag time…
Or for our Scholastic Magazines…
Or a special science or sensory play activity…
Or journals…
But almost always, the last part of the day includes some kind of large group experience…
Or the children come up with some new experiment they want to try like making pyramids…
And then the children head off to gather their things, put on coats and gloves, and it is time to head home…
Does your schedule look anything like ours? Totally different? I would love to learn about it, so please share in the comments below!
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Very nice to hear about your day/schedule, thank you! I work with daycare in Sweden an our day looks a bit different. The day starts at 7am when the first child comes to my house . I have prepaired breakfast with yoghurt and cerials or oatmeal(homemade), milk to drink and sandwich with cheese or kaviar (hihi not Russian, bur a childfriendly sandwish spread). We eat when more chilren arrived at 7.30. Then we play indoors until 8.30-9 when we go outside to play. Usually we have a fruitsnack at 9. Depending on the weather we stay outside for a while,… Read more »
Thanks for sharing your schedule. I have such a problem with late comers so we have open choice with the learning centers first. The kids love that part of the day. Our favorites are dress up, building a train track with our Thomas the Train set and playing games on the iPad or reading books. Right now we are also working on making “curtains” for our room by placing cut out scrap paper on the sticky side of packing tape. (An activity I saw here!). But we’ve had so many cancellations due to cold and snow we’re all home today… Read more »
I love the unstructured centers. I was very structured when we started preschool (this is our first year open) but the last two weeks I’ve done unstructured thing and my children seem to love it. Some of them focus in just one of the centers while others always try to do all of them. Mind you I only have two or three set up that they can go to. I have a small class of 10. I have to say we have “square time” to as we use painted children’s pews to sit on rather than the floor. My kids… Read more »
I have taught pre-school for 15 years and we begin our day a little bit different with “free play” for 15-20 minutes. At that time the children play with toys that are beneficial for fine motor skill developement. We then “ring the bell” ,all put toys back on the shelf and we do Journal Writing for 15 min. We then go to cirle for attendance,calendar ,weather, a story and recall. Next we discuss their “Jobs” for the day( Napkin, cup passer,line leader,etc) and off for bathroom break/wash hands for snack time! Following snack time the children return to circle and… Read more »
I have half-day PreK, 3-5 yr olds… I teach 2 sessions a day, each 2 1/2 hours. We’re public school, so we have the same schedule as the K-12 kids as far as days off,etc… but except for crazy weather/holidays, are in 5 days. Some of our kids have IEPs, others are “at risk” for various reasons. I’ve had to adjust our schedule a bit due to the weather (it has been TOO OLD to go outside and we only have the gym for the first 30 minutes of the day when there isn’t something set up for the older… Read more »
We have a similar schedule our biggest difference is that we start and end our day on the playground: Outside exploration/ early snack ~yes outside 🙂 Morning meeting/ language ~ we are a first nations on reserve preschool open snack/ center time, math center, literacy, light and shadow, blocks, loose parts, take apart( electronics we take apart), house corner, books and art area. Small group learning~ depends upon the day and some we do in 6 week blocks, math, literacy, yoga, and art( we have a central art room that we share as well as our own) Outside exploration~ And… Read more »
Late comers were an issue at our school too so we start our day with indoor or outdoor free play (we are a large co-op with assigned teachers and parents inside and out), then circle time, followed by drop in snack and indoor free play/stations. Outside opens up, snack continues and the children again have free choice indoors or outdoors. A second circle ends our day.
Thank you for posting. This is my first year teaching preschool and I have been on the computer A LOT looking for ideas on activities, schedules, and classroom set ups. I have a 2 day a week program that runs the full length of the school day. I need to get some center areas set up. Right now I have a kitchen area, a block area, a book area, and our work area. I cannot seem to find a good way to set the room up with the space we have. Our schedule starts with children arriving from 8 to… Read more »
I am always so excited to read your posts. We operate our preschools in the same manner. It’s nice to see someone that has the same views that I do on teaching. I am lucky to have a whole downstairs level of a home to operate in. I teach at our church preschool. I have been in this position for 2 years and now we have a new President of our Parrish board of Education that wants to micro-manage my every move. My students that I have taught in the past for a few years are above and beyond what… Read more »
I absolutely agree!! LOVE!
dear Deborah,
keep on doing the improvements to be able to cater each generation, every new kid of the same age will have slightly different understanding and more criticall to what their favorites and needs, love,
melati
Love this Melati!
I have a 3 day -9:00 to 3:00 class of 4 & 5 year olds, at a UMC church preschool. We gather all together for greeting then each class goes to the classroom. Attendance person takes attendance, Messenger delivers all mail and attendance to Director’s office. All group activity – Math game, Silly game, or whatever skill I might be working on. Center Free Choice, or Music/Chapel Specials. Followed by Snack and Recess. Weather Person fills out our monthly Weather Graph, song, weather word. Center Free Choice. Lunch. M&M time. Which is Morning Meeting style, story, central focus activity. M&M… Read more »
I love that you are fairly unstructured. I have a small space and 10 kiddos, and we have a schedule of how we put our day together, but not set in time. So if circle time get longer because the kids wanted to share more we can flex that in. I always shoot for at least an hour of free play, sometimes longer. I like the sign in you have, love the journals too. Might have to incorporate those!
Thanks for the great ideas!
Cindy
Illinois
Deborah, Enjoyed seeing how your day flows. Operating an in-home child care that runs 7am to 5:30pm our day certainly has a different flow and yet a similarity. My day will definitely change if the infant and school-age are present. The following is a general schedule knowing there are times that we need to be totally flexible. Minimum of 60 minutes of active play outdoors if weather permits. Indoor space also allows for active play throughout the day. Infants rest and eat as required/individual needs. 7:00 AM ~ Doors Open arriving and free inside play 9:00 AM ~ Snack (most… Read more »
I am a uk childminder. We have freeplay before heading out on scooters to a Playgroup, library or park where we play until 11.30 then scoot home for lunch. We eat lunch together and then have story time and anyone who sleeps during the day has a nap. In the afternoon we go outside to play before doing a planned activity like baking or sensory play before story time and then home time.
I am a Portuguese preschool teatcher. I like so much see your experiences.
As I sow in your pictures, i think my work is smilar as yours.
I wish know more about the way you work. It is possible?
Change experiences will be good!
Thank you
Regards
Anabela Frias
It’s always neat to hear about how others manage their time and fit everything into the day. Thanks for sharing. Our preschool is a large center with multiple classes at each age level. Our students come for 3 hours and have the opportunity to utilize before and after school care as well. We have a gym and playground for large motor play, we share these spaces with all the other classrooms so we have to stay on a schedule to keep everything running smoothly. My class comes 5 days a week. We also have 25 minutes of Music Class with… Read more »
I also love hearing how others schedule their preschool days! I have taught for 9 years and am always finding great ideas on your website. We have both a 2 day class (3 yr olds) and a 3 day class (4 – 5 yr olds). Each class is 2-1/2 hours and we have 15 – 16 children per class. We start our day with a sign in, but it is a name recognition — love your idea of signing their own names. Then we have 30 – 40 minutes of free play/centers. The children have a block area, kitchen &… Read more »
What a beautiful classroom you have! I really enjoyed reading your post about your schedule and those of all the people who have commented. I have a small Montessori preschool in my home with children aged 3-6, so it includes kindergarten. The preschoolers have a 4 day a week half day and the kindergartners have a 4 day a week all day program. The classroom is generally divided into four avenues of learning: Practical Life/Language/Math/Sensorial. Included in the Language area, we have cultural subjects like geography also. And I always have a shelf with art and/or science lessons in the… Read more »
great ideas! thank for sharing! where can I download the grid for attendance sheets!
hugs & kisses!
MIRIAM
I am in a catholic prek through 8th grade school. I have all day, 5 days a week program. 10 students are in my class, however 2 go home at lunch time (11:40am). We start our day at 8:00 with arrival activities such as fine motor toys, puzzles, drawing, etc. 8:30 we gather for circle time to do our morning meeting/calendar and a short math or religion group activity. 8:55 Snack 9:10 my class goes to a special class such as art, music, PE, Spanish 10:00 recess 10:20 Circle Time – Reading 10:45 Center time – free choice Construction center,… Read more »
Hello Deborah As a big fan of your blog, books music etc I feel that I must share what works for us. Our preschool runs four mornings per week for 3 hours each day. Our students range in age from 3-5 years. This year our classes are quite large ranging from15-20 students each day. With this many we are a bit more structured , to help with “crowd control!! 8:30-8:45 arrival find picture on table and put it in who’s here today chart Go to tables and find name,where a manipulative type activitity is already set out. These vary each… Read more »
My schedule is fairly similar during the curriculum part of the day (we have full-day preschool and childcare, but do main curriculum 9-1 including food) We start off with circle time, where I pick a line leader/helper for that day who helps lead morning prayer. I then do “planning” time where the class and I will discuss lessons/art activities for that day, followed by “daily review”, which includes the alphabet, shapes, calendar, numbers, etc. Lastly, children do attendance (which is sentence strips on the wall with numbers, they turn their number over to reveal their name) Next is free play… Read more »
I have two sessions of 3 1/2 hours each, public pre k. We are off her e in west Virginia, too, today. We take care of belongings, sign in, wash hands, table toys for about 15 minutes, breakfast, center time for an hour consisting of blocks, dramatic play, sand and water, art, computer, writing, etc., then circle time with calendar, morning message, story, then 14 kids are split into two groups and do thematic literacy, math, art, or science activity, then go outside, weather permitting, or indoor gross motor, eat lunch and go home. Afternoon is the same except they… Read more »
For the last 16 years I and some friends volunteering in working with young children (age 3-6 years), and to date we also have programs for them who still loves being with us and our program (age 7-17 years). For each age group we do have the routines, they meet twice a week for 3 hours, they come from the less fortunate families, so the children from this community realy enjoying and appreciate the routines and ofcourse the field trips which currently only twice a year due to our non profit activities. Thank you for sharing and I am certain… Read more »
Wow my day is so much Like Mrs. V it is unreal, we start with 40 min of free play I ring a tambourine and we gather at circle time, flag salutes, calendar and bible time, then off to the bathrooms getting ready for snack, they pour their own drinks after snack they read a book, do a puzzle or color while waiting for the others to finish, then out to recess for 30 min, gather again at circle time to do a center activities, some on floor with activities I have laid out others at the tables with me… Read more »
I love the tambourine ringing! What a fun way to grab attention!
Hi! I have a small, private preschool very near you in Kokomo. We have a mixed-age grouping of 3.5 to 5 yrs. Our day looks like this: 9:30 – arrival, morning routine (hang up belongings, find name tag & place in pocket chart, place home-school communication folder in basket), workboxes (each student has a box each day containing fine motor activities, etc. that are tailored for their unique needs) 9:40 – Morning Meeting (student jobs: calendar, weather reporter, flag holder, mail carrier) Students will write that day’s number on the calendar, choose clothing for our weather friend (bear in fall,… Read more »
I love how you have a plan but still remain flexible and that doing something on another day is always an option! Awesome! And hello neighbor!
Thank you for the compliment – I am so honored you responded! Perhaps some day our paths will cross. 🙂
Thank you for this post! This is my first year teaching Pre-K so I am very interested in what others do as I tweak my schedule for next year. I enjoyed hearing about your day and reading the comments. I teach a morning and afternoon Pre-K class which meets four days a week. Our class is 2.5 hours long. These are general times for the morning as a reference for others. The afternoon follows the same schedule, just later. 8:30-9 Circle time–Includes hello song, name recognition with simple math using name cards, calendar, weather, show and tell and stretching. I… Read more »
It sounds like you have a great handle on keeping a schedule! I don’t do yoga but would love to learn more too!
I just have to say I love your blog and ideas. I don’t think there is a better site so full of information. I run my daily schedule a little different, but similar. We start off the day with centers. I put out materials in our science center And put other material to manipulate out on our tables. I love making The classroom different every week, this way when we go to circle time the kids have warmed up to each other, got wiggles and social hour out of their systems and those running behind dong miss out at circle… Read more »
I agree! If the children can have some sense of what will be next, then they are much more likely to not be stressed. Love your schedule but especially the way you wrote it! Too fun!
Thank you for sharing your schedule.I have a small Montessori preschool in Ireland with 10 children ages 2 and a half to 5 years old. Our day officially starts at 9.30 am but some children arrive at 9.00. We begin our day with free play and the children like to dress up or play with the sand tray or with the trains or toy cars. At about 10.00 we do P.E., nothing fancy, just running on the spot, jumping jacks that sort of thing. We then shake ourselves out to get rid of the wiggles!!!. It is then time for… Read more »
Hello again, Deborah 🙂 I have been reading and watching you a lot over the last week and I just feel so grateful. I have a really challenging year right now, and I am struggling over whether I can/should be in the classroom past this year- just getting through this year has been a huge mountain and I am counting down the last 3.5 months. But in my heart I want to be excited and I am an enthusiastic, energetic teacher- I just don’t know how to get it all done. I have no planning whatsoever and a handful of… Read more »
Oh Kimberly – my heart goes out to you. I understand exactly how you feel and if you were in my home town, I would be right over to jump in and get you all excited again. Hang in there. Take a step back and focus on loving over meeting goals if you can. I hope your new teacher really makes things better for you. And you are never really behind if you are loving your students. That is what they need most from you!
Our schedule is very similar to most of the ones shared here, but last year we moved gross motor playtime to first thing in the morning. I have loved this new routine! The children get their bodies warmed up and moving, and they return to classroom time more relaxed and focused. I changed our schedule out of necessity since I share space with other teachers, but I now hope I will never have to give up our morning exercise! My sister works at a school in China where it has long been the tradition to do school-wide “calisthenics” to get… Read more »
Such a great idea to move gross motor play time to earlier in your day. We are always tweaking our schedule to see what will work best for the children in our care!
Hello Deborah,
What do you kids do between the time they sign in and the time you begin circle time?
Thank you!
Natasha
Hi Natasha,
The children sign in then answer our question of the day then they join me on the floor for discussion about our question while we wait for the others to arrive. Sometimes, the children will also spend time writing in their journals, exploring the light table and magnet center, and reading a book. It all depends on the day but mostly keeping the morning light so we don’t have to interrupt a big process for circletime.
Hi Deborah,
When you disperse the children to your invitation to play centers, how do you deal with crowd control? Do you let the children decide how many kids can go to each center and hope that they’ll be enough materials for all to play with? Do the children respond well to that or does it set the stage for potential fighting? Or do you use a completely different method?
Hi! thanks for sharing your schedule! I find it very helpful. I am new to teaching preschool and the school just opened up this semester. We are renting the building at a church so the supplies and materials don’t stay out over the weekend. I noticed on some of your posts that you use a theme or concept or have an agenda for the kids. Do you have resources you could direct me to that I could use to help me concerning daily concepts for the kids? I love all of your ideas and will use a lot of them… Read more »
Mandy,
If you peruse my blog, you will see many different themes I have covered over the years and you may also wish to check out my Pinterest boards over at http://www.pinterest.com/teachpreschool.
Hi! thanks for sharing your schedule! I am new to teaching preschool and love your ideas on your website! I was wondering if you have a resource where you can direct me toward concerning units. I noticed you mentioned units that you work on and concepts you want your kids to get. I was wondering if you use a book for that or a specific resource. thanks!
Hi Mandy – At this time, I do not have any books I can refer to you. I would like to put some together in the near future though!
thank you Deborah!!
[…] Teach Preschool’s daily schedule […]
Our preschool day runs from 9AM-2PM. I noticed your day ends at Noon. Can you recommend ways to fit your daily schedule into a longer preschool day?
I don’t think you need to change it much. You can just give yourself a little more time in each area for play and perhaps add an enrichment time at the end of each day.
i like your post …i want to open my own preeschool.but i have no idea ..so please kindly help me how to manage preeschool schedule