Scheduling  Considerations  – Factors to use when creating schedules are age/developmental level, and attention span of the children; number of hours/days of  children’s attendance; and the timing of the elements of the day (Routine, Curricular, and SARA – see last few blogs).

Developmental Levels – Common sense and research tells us that above all else, we must create schedules that match the needs of the children, and modify the schedule to continue meeting those needs as they change. This is necessary in BOTH part-day preschool and full-day childcare programs.  (Personal Note: Having taught in and directed both types of programs, I assure you there is no difference in the nature and needs of the children who attend either).

Attention Span – Most children under the age of eight have average attention spans equal to one minute of attention and focus per year of age.  One year olds = one minute, two year olds = two minutes, etc.  This means that the length of time a child is asked to pay focused attention without being physically active is very short. 

(Another Personal Note: This does NOT mean that a young child cannot watch a video or movie for a much longer period of time.  That type of attention is not focused active learning! It also does not mean a child cannot work at building a block creation or pretend to be a fairy queen for a long time – so long sometimes that he doesn’t want to eat, pee pee or go to the playground when it’s time to go. That is focus leaning toward obsession – another situation entirely).

To be appropriately involved in the learning process, the child must be actively involved with the experience, the media and materials must be real, and there must be a warm loving adult to provide language and encourage the brain to work.

Young children must not be asked to remain idle for long periods of time waiting for experiences to be set up or for events to take place.  Experiences must be offered in short time spans.  Infant and Baby schedules must be dependent on the needs of the children and must change as the infants and babies change.  Schedules for Toddlers, Twos, Threes, Fours, and Fives can be designed to stretch the attention span by increments from five to twenty-five minutes providing the experiences involve a variety of physical and sensory actions.

Attendance  – Thinking developmentally, and appreciating the vulnerability of young children, it is ideal for children under the  age of six to attend a program that limits days and hours of attendance to developmentally  appropriate numbers, but this is not realistic in every instance. Some children in private preschool programs and most children in day care must be in attendance all five days from morning to mid/late afternoon, no matter what their age. 

Teachers MUST create schedules that make allowances for fatigue, illness, boredom, and unattractive behaviors as these are the symptoms of over attendance in number of days per week and number of hours per day. No matter how many days or hours a child attends, the MANDATORY key to scheduling is developmental appropriateness.

Elements of the Day – So, you take each of the elements of your day, both routine and curricular, and create a schedule that allows for all of them. Not an easy task. Here are the elements needing to be scheduled and approximate developmentally appropriate amounts of time needed for each. On Your Mark, Get Set, GO!

Scheduling Elements

Next Blog: Experiences 1 – Child-Centeredness

 

Time is On Your Side – A carefully designed, but flexible schedule for each community of learners is extremely helpful for each child’s learning processes, for teacher organization, for parent information, and for administrator and licensing monitor supervision.    

• For the children in every age group, a repetitive routine carried out in a calm manner, creates smoother brain wave patterns and encourages the building of skills in all learning areas – Body, Mind, and Spirit.  An organized schedule helps the children feel more at ease and decreases the chances for inappropriate behaviors to occur.                                                                                                                                                                                                    
• For teachers, creating and consistently using a well-planned schedule simply makes the day run more smoothly, and since it reduces inappropriate behaviors caused by boredom, frustration, fatigue, or overstimulation, having a good schedule is a win-win situation.                                                                                                                                             
• For parents, a posted schedule gives them an idea of what experiences their children are involved in at a given time during the day and allows them to relax about the separation from their children and stay informed so they can participate in the learning process.                                                                                                                                           
• For administrators and licensing monitors, a posted schedule allows them to check for compliance with regulations and standards.  

Bend and Stretch – When you are working with young children in an atmosphere of wonder, action, and very short attention spans, it is often hard to follow a schedule with perfection – and there is no need to panic over it.  It is best to have a good overall schedule (for the reasons stated above) but it is not always possible to adhere to one. 

Some Hints from Experience:

• When learning is happening, try to let it keep happening. 
• When attention spans are increasing during an interesting and relevant experience, keep stretching! 
• Don’t fill your day with so many “appointments” that you stop the learning process to rush the children to the next experience. 
• A good staff communicates and works together on program-wide schedules that meet the needs of the majority of the community. 
• Swap playground or enrichment times with other classes if your children are really involved in an activity. 
• If you must stop learning to go to an appointment that cannot be missed, then let the children leave their materials where they are so they can continue the work when they come back. 
• Skip planned activities if unplanned learning is happening. 
• Use mistakes in scheduling as useful information for planning differently next time.

Next Blog: Scheduling 2 – Considerations to Keep in Mind

Application means assuring that children have opportunities to use what they have learned in the same way repeatedly (practice) or in new ways.  They need to be allowed and encouraged to use their new skills over and over until they are completely comfortable with them, they need to find new ways to use the learned skills, and then they need to scaffold, or build new skills on those learned skills. 

Application comes when teachers repeat valuable experiences, change them to match both individual and whole group growth, and then introduce challenges to encourage further growth.

Application is the continuous process of repeating learning and then using it in a new way – it is the Voila!; the AHA!; the Helen Keller connects sign to speech moment!  Teachers need to notice and recognize the Application moments, realize their importance in the learning process, celebrate and document them.

SARA Through the Day – Creating opportunities for Selection, Action, Reflection, and Application throughout the day is the essence of using Developmentally Appropriate Practice. Each of the Routine Elements of the day and each of the Curricular Elements of the day include some form of the SARA System.  SARA is not always something formally documented on a weekly lesson plan, but a system teachers need to keep in mind as they go through the day so that the mood of the environment, the teaching techniques, and the schedule all encourage and allow for SARA opportunities.

The Routine Elements of the day include the SARA components naturally, but are sometimes overlooked. Attention should be called to them so teachers realize their importance and make sure to recognize and make use of them in the busy routine of the day. Allowing children more freedom to select or make choices about food, hygiene, and transitions; being patient and observant while they participate (act); using routine elements (walking to the playground, chatting while waiting for the bus) for times of reflection; and NOTICING when children apply their learning in new ways during routine moments are the ways SARA is emphasized.

The Curricular Elements should include SARA on purpose. Selection may be a part of Circle or Center Time; Action is a part of all the child does; moments and activities for Reflection should be planned; and Application must be encouraged, noticed, named, and honored as real learning.

In a developmentally appropriate classroom, the components of SARA will and should happen continuously throughout the day. 

Next Blog: Minute by Minute – Devising Daily Schedules

Reflection refers to the experience of review.  At some point during the day there must be a time for each child to recall his work.  It can be a formal whole group or an individual experience.  It can be done through simple conversation or by asking each child to draw, write, or describe what he did during the day. It may seem inconsequential, but reflection is very important to the learning process as it reinforces and organizes the learning. 

Reflection is done by teachers for Infants, Babies and nonverbal Toddlers and Twos.  It can be done during or immediately following any experience or activity.  Teachers simply verbalize what is happening or has happened.  “Oh, look, Infant.  You smiled at me!” or “Bye-bye, Baby.  We had a good day.  You pulled up in your crib today!” or “Remember when you worked in the sandbox today, Toddler?” or “Wow, Two, you used the potty today!”  There is no overt praise or judgment made in these statements, just a factual statement helping the child to recall his work. 

Non-verbal Reflection – for children in the beginning stages of verbal expression, or for those who may not feel completely comfortable verbally, a teacher can request a gesture or sign of .  “Can you point to where you played today?”

Verbal Reflection – for children who can express themselves with words teachers might ask,  “What did you work with today?’ or “Who did you play with today?” or “Tell me what you did/made/sang/said today.”

Representational Reflection – for a child capable of drawing a representational picture, yu could say, “Can you draw a picture of what you did/made today?”

Dictational Reflection –  works well with verbal children:  “Tell me where you worked today and I will write the words for you to post on the wall (or take home to family).”

Journaling/Written Reflection –  for a child who can express his thoughts in written word:  “Please write a word or some letters of a word about what you did today.”

Active Reflection – I like the use of Home Connection assignments in which parents and child take part in an  activity that reinforces unit concepts and encourages parents to take part in active experiences that help the child recall, reflect, and reinforce learning.

Reflection helps the child by practicing recall and brain organization, and helps the teacher with further assessment of child need and of the value of the experiences offered. 

Never skip any opportunity to let your children review, recall, and reflect on their learning.

THIS IS BIG, TEACHERS – VERY BIG!

Next Blog: Application and SARA Summary

The first two pieces of the SARA system are Selection and Action.

Selection is decision-making and is one of the most foundational and crucial elements of intelligence.  It is the act of using discernment, personal preference, comparison, logic, and self-expression. The teacher sets the stage with only appropriate experiences from which to choose and then gives the responsibility to the child for making a selection from them.  Each child’s choices must be accepted and respected. 

Selection is the Infant reaching for the rattle, the Baby crawling toward the big blue ball, the Toddler deciding between the shovel and the spade in the sandbox, the Two or Three picking the green crayon for her art, and the Four or Five deciding which block will make the best base for his tower.

Selection does not just happen at the end of Circle Time when the children choose their plan for Center Time. Planning, decision-making, and choosing are important skills of intelligence that occur over and over during the day in all Routine and Curricular elements of the day. 

Selection builds skills children will rely on for years to come as they make decisions based first on personal preference, and then on logic and reasoning. Giving each child the opportunity to choose creates ownership of the learning.  Respecting those choices increases self-esteem. 

A day without Selection is a day without Learning.

Action includes everything a child does, from arrival to dismissal.  High Scope and I stress Action as a vital part of the system to remind teachers that all the best learning in young children comes from the combination of physical and sensory action with language in an atmosphere of warmth, humor, and respect.  This ‘marriage’ of action and language is one of the key components of the philosophies of all of the most noted and sensible learning theorists of the past and continues to be rediscovered and reinforced by modern brain and learning research today. 

Children under the age of eight learn best – and with the highest quality – when they are actively involved in appropriate and physical learning experiences.

Next Blog: Reflection

Remember – 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. The final Element is SARA.

OK, I Admit, I Stole Part of This – I adapted this element based on the High Scope Curriculum’s “Plan, Do, and Review”, developed by David Weikart at the University of Michigan. I love High Scope, but feel strongly that planning, doing, and reviewing is not quite enough to make a child’s learning both as complete and as measurable as it needs to be. I think there is a step following the review stage and that is the application of the learning to repeated or new or personally original use. To me (and to Lev Vygotsky) the addition of Application makes the learning REAL and makes it easier to assess.

SARA is the process of allowing children, by using their strengths of Body, Mind, and Spirit, to make decisions about where and how they will work; to act, using the Learning Methods of Movement, Sensory Exploration, Manipulation of Materials, Construction, Role Play, and Expression (and assuring them enough time, materials and equipment to do so); to reflect on the work after it is completed to encourage the development of memory, organization of thought, and reinforcement of the learning; and then to apply, or find ways to put their learning to use.

In the simplest of terms SARA means: 

• Selection         CHOOSE IT                                                
• Action              DO IT                                                                                     
• Reflection       TALK, DRAW, READ, WRITE, SING, and DANCE ABOUT IT       
• Application    USE IT AGAIN and USE IT NEW

Offering opportunities for SARA helps teachers organize the day, assures that the environment is child-centered, and makes assessment of child progress and need more efficient.  If a child can complete each step in the process, teachers have proof of his having acquired a skill or comprehended a concept without the use of a formal testing situation being created.

Assuring SARA means assuring optimal learning rather than mere memorization. If a child is free to make choices about his learning, take an active role in his learning, reflect on his learning through the many means of expression available (what Loris Malaguzzi called “the 100 languages of children), and then apply those learned skills and knowledge to new use, optimal learning has occurred.

Next Blog: Selection and Action

The final Curricular Element I suggest is the Home Connection.

There’s No Place Like Home – There is little more important in education than the partnership between school and home. Parents must be made to feel comfortable and respected. This partnership makes the learning better, and although it may be difficult on occasion, when it is done well, it makes the teacher’s job easier. A good Early Education program begins with the philosophy that parents cherish their children and that children learn more from parents and family (positively and negatively) than from the school experience.

Mutual esteem for each chid’s parents and family (with complete acceptance and total respect for the ethnicity, culture, faith, gender, or makeup of each child’s family) and parent involvement at every level from Board membership to volunteering to bring paper plates to the class picnic are the key to success with this partnership. Teachers need to make the most of this partnership and ‘assigning’ ACTIVE enjoyable Home Connections on a weekly basis is an easy way to assure the partnership takes place.

Home Sweet Home Connections – The Home Connection is a weekly activity designed for parent and child to do together as a family.  It should be purposeful to the unit of study being presented, it must be developmentally appropriate, it should be enjoyable, and it should be simple. 

Home Connection experiences should not include “homework” assignments that require ditto, worksheet, or academic readiness skill building. Homework will be assigned in ‘big school’. 

Home Connections are activities like going outside at night with a flashlight, taking a walk with Grandma, gathering up things at home that start with the same letter a child’s name starts with, going to Mommy’s office, visiting the local library with Daddy and bringing some books to school.

I urge all teachers to make these connections on an ongoing basis to create a partnership with parents and to continuously and rigorously reinforce key concepts and strengths being gained in your learning community.

Next Blog: SARA

 

 

Small Group Time – There should be opportunities for Small Group work experiences, Individual work experiences, and what I call Strength Time, during which a teacher works directly with an individual child or a group of two or three children on a specific skill building exercise needed to encourage the building of a particular task. These may be moments for assessment of progress and need or moments of opportunity for one-on-one teaching (helping a child who hasn’t yet gained an important strength or skill) or they may simply be more convenient and practical ways to work with a small group on an art, math, cooking, or science project that the whole class will take part in ‘shifts’.

Pre-K and VPK teachers often use Strength Time opportunities during Center Time to assist individual children to work on pre-academic skills, but I hope most of this is done WITHOUT DITTOS AND WORKSHEETS, or is done with age appropriate worksheets that call for ACTIVE, SENSORY, MANIPULATIVE, HANDS-ON LEARNING TECHNIQUES USING ACTUAL REAL 3-DIMENSIONAL OBJECTS – NOT JUST PAPER AND PENCIL!!!!!

Children need opportunities for working with smaller groups of classmates or with just one other child for purposes of building skills of communication, cooperation, and partnership. Teacher-led experiences offered to half of the community or a small group of children at a time are usually arranged this way because of space limitations.

During Center Time, Babies and some Toddlers and Twos prefer ‘parallel play’ rather than group play, but older children most often naturally play in small groups or partnerships. Some children simply prefer working alone.

Individual Play – Some children prefer to play by themselves because of discomfort with the over stimulation of group play, a delay in social skills, or simply a personal preference for concentrating on the work of play without distraction. 

Unless there is a strong overt or physical reaction from a child, a complete ‘meltdown’ when asked to take part in cooperative play, or other signs of delay in social skills, or difference (diagnosed or not) in sensory assimilation with symptoms such as aggression, there is no need to force this issue. Cooperative play is an important skill, but personal preferences should be honored unless they interfere with development.

Next Blog: Home Connection

The children’s day should consist of Whole Group, Small Group, and Individual experiences.

Everybody Goes when the Whistle Blows! – Whole Group is the time when the entire Learning Community participates in a common activity.  This can be at Circle Time or for Music, Movement, Art, work on a special project, Meal and Snack Times, or gathering for reading.  Enrichment activities are usually Whole Group activities as well as whole class outdoor games, walks, or field trips.

Whole Group experiences increase skills of community, cooperation, interest and eagerness to participate as well as practicing direction following and listening skills.   

When doing an indoor Whole Group activity, teachers must pay attention to space and safety assuring that all community members can fit comfortably, move comfortably, sit comfortably, and can see and hear with ease.  If a Whole Group activity is happening outside the classroom, safety is the biggest issue with careful supervision being the ultimate concern. 

Developmentally Speaking (of course) – Toddlers and Twos can handle only fairly short periods of Whole Group, (5 – 10 minutes is just fine) and Threes, Fours, and Fives generally enjoy it if the experience is interesting and right for them. Just like Circle Time, watch your audience for signs that interest has waned. Like a good preacher, find the right stopping place. Amen!

When doing an indoor Whole Group activity, teachers need to pay attention to space and safety assuring that all community members can fit comfortably, move comfortably, sit comfortably, and can see and hear with ease.  If a Whole Group activity is happening outside, safety is the biggest issue with careful supervision being the ultimate concern. 

Teachers provide the learning experiences and must also participate in them.  On the playground or in the Enrichment class, teachers should be active participants whenever possible. Teachers should also encourage, but not force participation from reluctant children.

I Don’t Want to Play! – Some children do not feel comfortable with whole group activities. Do NOT label nonparticipants “Shy” or “Stubborn”.  Labeling of this sort is unprofessional, often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy – and it’s mean! Don’t make a big deal of a child’s reluctance to join in.  Instead of saying, “look at your friends – they’re all playing” try “maybe you’ll join us tomorrow”, and then concentrate on the experience for the rest of the group.

Next Blog: Small Group and Individual Work Times

 

Sing Out, Teachers! – Even if you’re not ready for American Idol or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, I STRONGLY urge you to use your own human voice during Music as well as singing along with recorded music.  The philosophy here – YOU singing and dancing WITH the children is the essence of the Human Factor – a VITAL, NECESSARY, and MANDATORY element in creating the highest quality of learning in young children.

Might Be Just Me, But – Seeing teachers offer Music and Movement experiences using only recorded media is one of my pet peeves! It not only omits the Human Factor, it puts a barrier between teacher and learner. It almost degrades the value and quality of the experience by giving an impression of, “I think Music and Dance is silly and I don’t want to be seen doing something ‘childlike’, but please, children, go right ahead.” It’s like reading a book to your children without using the right dramatic emphasis or rolling your eyes and shrugging your shoulders while watching them repeatedly build and tear down a block creation or sitting on the bench and merely observing them at Playground Time.

There are thousands of professionally sung/played pre-recorded children’s songs, chants, rhythms, and rhymes readily available to teachers, (see the NAEYC list of favorites at http://families.naeyc.org/songs) but some of the best songs are ones that teachers have written by themselves using familiar tunes called “Piggyback Songs”. The best I’ve found are by Jean Warren. A creative teacher can make up songs and chants suited specifically to the needs of her learning community. There is specialness to using your children’s’ names in songs and chants that brings humor and relevance and self -esteem into the learning process.

Children learn to spell their names much more quickly by repeating the letters in a personalized song or chant. “T-H-O-M-A-S. Thomas, Thomas, YES, YES, YES!” Or “With an M and an A and an L I K! Good morning to our friend Malik. How are you today?” I have been known to get a little carried away with using silly songs, but children like them and they make transitions easier. I had a great song for Twos to use the potty. We’d sing/chant “pee pee in the potty” as we danced in a conga line toward the bathroom.

Stuff Other Than Music: Art, Dance, Yoga, Tumbling, Soccer, Second Language – Many programs offer Enrichment classes that are separate from the traditional curriculum. Enrichment refers to any additional specialized classes a program might offer like music, movement, gymnastics, sports, art, language, faith-based experiences, or technology.  These classes may be offered by a teacher within the program who has specific talent or ability in the areas mentioned, by specialized teachers on permanent staff, or by outside “vendors”. 

In any instance, Enrichment classes must be offered with the same conditions as regular classes in terms of developmental appropriateness and regular teachers should accompany the children and participate with them in the activities offered. In Enrichment there may be fewer opportunities for children to make choices about their work, but Enrichment teachers must make every effort to be knowledgeable about child development levels with special attention to attention spans, abilities to listen and follow directions, and outside ‘vendors’ must be carefully vetted to assure their teaching techniques match the developmental levels of your children.

Next Blog: Curricular Elements – Group Times