The other day I did a training on circle time for one of the centers. There was a need for me to do this because, although they had all the components to circle there, the children were not interested at all. There may have been 4 to 5 children joining circle each day.
The thing is, that these teachers had EVERYTHING that SHOULD have had the children running over. They had awesome fun songs. They choose amazingly engaging books. They even have some fun activities to be included like taste tests, group games, and one even had the group draw a picture of a body with each child choosing a different part of the body.
The problem? They all were racing through circle time. It was almost like they were racing to see who could get through circle the fastest. A circle that should have taken 15 to 20 minutes given all the activities that were involved, was taking less than 10. I’m not even exaggerating.
Children weren’t joining circle because it wasn’t inviting to them. For some, it was over stimulating at the pace it went. For others, it wasn’t personable enough. Those who stayed at circle were those children that just kind of go with the flow of the teachers every day.
The problem was that the children wouldn’t sit for long so the teachers tried to get in as much as they could while the children were sitting. The children got less interested because of the pace. Do you see the problem? It’s an endless cycle. I think if I hadn’t come in to help those teachers may have tried to squeeze 20 minutes of activity into less than 5 minutes.
Not to worry, Jenni to the recue! Circle time is at a much more reasonable pace and the children are enjoying it so much better!
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