Organized Chaos vs. Chaotic Organization – When ‘uninitiated’ visitors come into your classroom in the middle of Center Time, they are sometimes stunned by the spectacle of ten or fifteen (or 20!) active little people engaged in so many different activities so actively! It seems to them as if no learning could possibly happen in the middle of this busyness.

Educate them. Especially educate them if they are current parents, prospective parents, or administrative persons who do not understand that action through Movement, Sensory Exploration, Manipulation of Materials, Construction (and sometimes Destruction), Role Play, and (often messy and loud) Artistic Expression is the way young children learn best.

Developmentally Speaking – For Infants and Babies, Center Time is generally Floor Time during which both teachers and students interact with the toys and materials together (with teacher offering language, conversation, alternatives to play, assistance when needed, and observation when not needed to intervene, react, or act).

For all older children, Center Time may be more structured with each child choosing an area of play and both teachers involved and participating by moving around the room to interact verbally or nonverbally; asking the right kinds of questions to encourage learning; observing and noting aspects of assessment (on paper or otherwise); and overseeing for safety.

Moving Through Centers – Creating an organized but active Center Time is important for teachers and children. There must be time and space limitations so nobody gets hurt and everyone gets to use their learning methods in each learning center if they wish.  There are many ways to move children through the Learning Centers and to limit the numbers of children in each Center.  As the children mature, the organization can become more structured.

Some teachers leave it to the children to determine when they are ready to move to another Center, some gently encourage moving on so others may have the experience they are enjoying, some use a system based strictly on time factors, and others like a more structured system using clothes pins or name tags to “assign” spots according to interest and space available. In some pre-k classes, there is a combination of these practices. What works best for your space, your time, and your children (sometimes in that order) is what will determine your choice.

Here is how Nancy Lanfersiek, a teacher/director I very much admire, handled Center Time:

The children went on a journey each day, beginning at morning Circle Time where they talked about the theme of the day and the teacher issued a challenge, posed a question, or assigned a problem for them to solve.  After a discussion, each child quickly choose what Center he would go to first, and then they were like trains stopping at depots where there were theme-related places to visit, jobs to do, and people to work with as they traveled. They went to the Physical Education Station (Playground); the Exploration Station (Science); the Manipulation Station (Math); the Construction Station (Blocks); the Imagination Station (Role Play); and the Creation Station (Expression). 

During the day they met at snack, lunch, or in general conversations to talk about their journey, draw pictures, sing songs, write in their journals or otherwise recall and reinforce the learning they gained on their trip.

To this system I would add a 2 – 5 minute afternoon Circle Time to reflect and receive a Home Connection assignment for the children to do with their families (NOT HOMEWORK – NOT A WORKSHEET, but an active enjoyable experience reinforcing the theme, like taking a family walk to the park for Fall or going out at night to look at the stars for Space).

Over the next few days, the children at Nancy’s school would continue their travel, repeating some of the experiences and participating in new ones, using and reusing, or reinforcing and applying what they learned on their journey. That was REAL LEARNING. All Aboard!Next Blog: Literacy Events