(Each day is divided into Routine Elements – the experiences of simply moving through the day with the children; Curricular Elements – those experiences planned by teachers to develop  specific Strength Expectations; and an element I call SARA which means opportunities for Selection, Action, Reflection, and Application). Center Time is the second Curricular Element.

What it Is – Center Time (CT) is the portion of the day devoted to participation by children AND teachers  in work/purposeful play experiences that have been staged by the teacher and chosen by the children.

Center Time might be called the most structured unstructured time of the day.  It is the core of the formal learning process.  It is teacher-staged, but child-chosen.  It must be available for one-third of the day.  In a four hour program, that is 80 minutes, or one hour and twenty minutes.  It may be broken into 20 to 45 minute divisions, but this one-third of the day formula is the length of  time the children must be given for this type of learning based on purposeful play.

Center Time MUST include Selection, Action, and Application (3 of the 4 elements of SARA).  All play must be purposeful and the stage is set with purposeful activities most often related to the current unit, and always related to the program’s strength expectations.

What It Ain’t – Although there is freedom of choice and children may be working without direct adult interaction at times during CT, it is not the same thing as “Free Play”.  Free Play IS a time of learning, and Free Play can and should take place during the day (as recess, as a relaxing break during a stressful morning, during a ‘down’ moment between other activities, or during Extended Day hours) but Center Time is the meat in the sandwich of your day.

CT is not paperwork and coffee time.  Teachers must be active participants. The teacher’s responsibilities during Center Time are to allow each child to make work/play decisions and to respect those decisions; to actively interact, moving from child to child, offering language and facts; to ask both closed and open questions; to encourage scaffolding (applying learned skills to new skills); to assist the child in strengthening his learning by writing words he says or encouraging him to write them; to help a child “research” more information in the books in each Learning Center; and to informally and formally (by observing and taking notes) assess progress and need. 

You Gotta’ do the Hokey-Pokey – Teachers have to learn when to put their whole self in and interact and when to put their whole self out and merely observe and let the learning happen. Both observation and documentation by quick note, photograph, or remembering and documenting later, help the teacher assess strength and need. Knowing when to interact and when to step back encourages independence and builds self-esteem in children.

Giving each child the opportunity make choices creates ownership of the learning.  Respecting those choices increases self-esteem.  Active, warm participation by teachers with each child increases the quality of both the learning and the sense of community.  Offering language and facts is necessary fundamental ‘teaching’.  Writing his words down and showing him how to use books increases language and literacy skills.  Asking open-ended questions increases intelligence skills.  Asking closed questions is a method of assessment. Encouraging scaffolding of new learning on old and seeing it happen is your mission accomplished!

All play in Center Time must be child-chosen and meaningful.  Teachers must move from center to center to facilitate each child’s chosen play and to create “lessons” or build strengths from that play, rather than only taking part in teacher-led activities designed to build academic strengths.  Both teacher-led and child-chosen experiences happen during Center Time.

Next Blog: Center Time 2 – Organized Chaos vs. Chaotic Organization