Where we choose to allocate time does show where our values lie.
If I truly understand the role that sensory issues play in transitions and self regulation, then my schedule will reflect that. If I truly value play based learning and the social skills needed to build the skills outlined in the BC core competencies curriculum, my schedule will also account for that. It will also accommodate the developmental levels of my students. Let me explain:
If I truly understand the role that sensory issues play in transitions and self regulation, then my schedule will reflect that. If I truly value play based learning and the social skills needed to build the skills outlined in the BC core competencies curriculum, my schedule will also account for that. It will also accommodate the developmental levels of my students. Let me explain:
Why I start with an hour of play a day
Students on the spectrum often need to explore a space in a tactile manner to gain proprioceptor input. In fact, many of us need to ground ourselves in a space before we begin to work in it. A predictable routine is also important. So are "morning meetings" - places where students can share important events in their lives with others and check in with how they are feeling.
THEREFORE I begin each day with "play". We play for an hour, from 9-10. Students can engage with each other, ground themselves, and work on tasks or "provocations" with me or others. At the beginning of kg, this play time allows me to introduce students to each other and to model language around sharing and group work.
THEREFORE I begin each day with "play". We play for an hour, from 9-10. Students can engage with each other, ground themselves, and work on tasks or "provocations" with me or others. At the beginning of kg, this play time allows me to introduce students to each other and to model language around sharing and group work.
The role of play in self regulation
Students are motivated to do well in play and they are motivated to plan, both of which take an incredible amount of executive functioning. I find that it is best to do this in the morning. By the afternoon, my students are tired of being agents of their own learning and of regulating their emotions while interacting with others. Afternoons are a great time for a break where all they have to do is follow directions, so this is where worksheets and lit centers work well. Students are not required to make as many choices.
Why an hour? The stages of play
Kindergartens will spend the first 10 minutes exploring a space, the next 10 minutes ripping it apart, and the next 10 being REALLY loud as they plan and negotiate. It is the last 30 min where deep play happens and where, as a teacher, I can guide the best learning. (In fact when teaching a split, I will do literacy instruction with my grade 1's during the first 30 min as they settle faster and the KG crew needs me less, then, my grade 1's will get a "play break" with the now settled kindergarteners.)
What happens after play time?
After an hour, I have been able to check in and share with everyone, which means that I can dive right into 30 minutes of literacy instruction before recess - no need for sharing or other daily routines, then, we go outside for recess. To calm them again, we eat snack and chat together after recess. In an ideal schedule with no interruptions (which hasn't happened since prep time was increased by 10 min a week...) I will now do "calendar", read-aloud, and math.
Really, this is my hour long math block. My calendar is less about routine, and more about exploring numbers and what we know about those numbers. The story will usually feed into a math problem that students work together to solve in small groups (see: Thinking Classrooms by Peter Liljedahal).
Really, this is my hour long math block. My calendar is less about routine, and more about exploring numbers and what we know about those numbers. The story will usually feed into a math problem that students work together to solve in small groups (see: Thinking Classrooms by Peter Liljedahal).
Literacy instruction & Universal Design For Learning
After eating lunch, we get together for shared reading (this is where you read the same book every day for a week with a different skill goal each day). Then there is some related work, and then we do what I call "tent time", because one year I had a student who was supposed to have quiet time in a "tent" under my desk every day to help them cope. Turns out they wouldn't use it unless everyone did SO, in typical UDL style, I chose to follow Richard Alligton's work on raising readers - 10 minutes read to self, 10 minutes read to a partner, and 10 minutes of writing for every child every day. Are you seeing how read to self and 10 minutes of self regulation/meditation work are linking together? My students LOVE it.
At the end of that, we do whatever else we have missed.
At the end of that, we do whatever else we have missed.
Going Outside
I go outside 2 days a week, and we start getting ready just after snack, so I still have my morning routine. We skip read to self and a partner, but we keep the writing and shared reading until it is too cold to write. At this point we switch to dramatic story retelling. I do all my science, PE, and personal planning on my outdoor days, which go from 10:30 - 2:30.
Prep will interrupt this schedule, but we do what we can to keep things in a routine.
Last year I was lucky enough to get an afternoon prep, and I set my room up for some fantastic art projects while the students were out. It was awesome! Usually though it interrupts something and that is just life.
In A Nutshell:
3 days a week:
free play with teacher guidance
circle time
recess
snack
calendar/story/math
outside
lunch
shared reading/singing/"seat work"
read to self-partner-write
anything else
2 days a week:
play, circle, snack, forest school, clean up & snack, home
free play with teacher guidance
circle time
recess
snack
calendar/story/math
outside
lunch
shared reading/singing/"seat work"
read to self-partner-write
anything else
2 days a week:
play, circle, snack, forest school, clean up & snack, home