One plan that my other teacher and I have about redesigning our room is making the activities that we put out on some of the tables more geared towards building self-reliance and independence. This week's video was helpful in realizing that intentionality is super important when constructing our space, and we have already been revamping the locations of dramatic play and the library so that they are more separated and encourage different modes of learning. It was easy for the high energy of some of the spaces to carry over into zones that required a little more focus or had a calmer energy, and we are actively finding new ways to channel all the excitement that the kids have into activities that support and challenge their development!

I often find that halfway through our morning circle time the kids are losing focus and getting the wiggles. We have started incorporating a movement break in the middle of that time so that the kids are staying engaged! I want to incorporate some more meaningful chants or songs into that time too, ones that are relevant to what we are learning or activities we are doing that day. I’m very musically inclined so I already use that to ask the kids what they are eating for snack/lunch at mealtimes and to help with line-up time as well!

A transition that has proven difficult is lining up when we move from outside time at the park to going back to the school. I really like the idea of adding a game or a song that includes all of the friends who are following the line-up protocol. I find that a lot of transitions throughout the day definitely eat up time, and I also love the idea of giving better heads up and visually preparing the kids for these transitions to make them easier!

The concept from this week’s video I am excited to try is songifying our schedule in the morning! My class already has a different helper aide in going through the schedule each day, but I think adding a song will only further drive active engagement from all the kids and not just the schedule helper. I also think referring to the schedule throughout the day would be helpful for some of the awkward transitions that occasionally come up.

The visual schedule we have on the wall at our early learning center is attached by Velcro for easy rearranging and contains pictures of the kids doing the different activities! I will say one change that we for sure can make is that the schedule starts a little taller than some of the kids are, making the first couple pictures difficult to see. However we do have a separate schedule that we go through with the kids each morning at circle time.