Classroom Centers
Organising Centers
"Young children actively explore their environment and the world around them through a process of learning-based play. Play is a vehicle for learning. It provides opportunities for learning in a context in which children are at their most receptive. Play and work are not distinct categories for young children, and learning and doing are also inextricably linked for them"
Centres are an ideal way for children in the Kindergarten program to direct their own inquiry but also for teachers to set up environments in ways that encourage success for curriculum expectations.
My Personal Centre Schedule (2010-2011)
I had to do a lot of trial and error to get the centres how I wanted them based on my schedule and space, as well as certain expectations of the school in regards to Specialist classes. Here is what I settled on and it seems to have worked for me this year. My students became very astute self-learners! My only regret is that I had so many of them and just could not get to each of them each day to see what they were learning!
I have 2 centre times throughout the day - Learning Centres and Free Centres. From 9:45-10:45 we have Learning Centres. The students are put in groups of about 3, and I make the groups (change them each week). They have a specific rotation to move through and get through about 4 centres in the time each day. I have a doorbell I ring that indicates its time to tidy and change. (They have the rotation down pat by July). My assistant has certain students she 'targets' and interacts with during centre time. I am always at Table 1 doing Guided Reading, Guided Writing or other specific curriculum targets. They are changed EVERY week. We usually get through the centres in 4 days, and so Thursday is our Art Extravaganza day - when we do very elaborate art or maybe I do some Music and Movement supplement.
From 2:10- 3:00 we have Free Centres. The students tell me what they want out and they can move as they wish - they do not have to rotate and can stay or move to any centre they want, and stay as long as they want as long as there are no more than 4 students at each (which I don't love but need to have this rule due to space constraints).
I have included examples of my own learning centres paired with the rationales found in the Full Day Kindergarten Program Guide, which I have found to be the most succinct in justifications for each centre, and other early years literature.
Centres are an ideal way for children in the Kindergarten program to direct their own inquiry but also for teachers to set up environments in ways that encourage success for curriculum expectations.
My Personal Centre Schedule (2010-2011)
I had to do a lot of trial and error to get the centres how I wanted them based on my schedule and space, as well as certain expectations of the school in regards to Specialist classes. Here is what I settled on and it seems to have worked for me this year. My students became very astute self-learners! My only regret is that I had so many of them and just could not get to each of them each day to see what they were learning!
I have 2 centre times throughout the day - Learning Centres and Free Centres. From 9:45-10:45 we have Learning Centres. The students are put in groups of about 3, and I make the groups (change them each week). They have a specific rotation to move through and get through about 4 centres in the time each day. I have a doorbell I ring that indicates its time to tidy and change. (They have the rotation down pat by July). My assistant has certain students she 'targets' and interacts with during centre time. I am always at Table 1 doing Guided Reading, Guided Writing or other specific curriculum targets. They are changed EVERY week. We usually get through the centres in 4 days, and so Thursday is our Art Extravaganza day - when we do very elaborate art or maybe I do some Music and Movement supplement.
From 2:10- 3:00 we have Free Centres. The students tell me what they want out and they can move as they wish - they do not have to rotate and can stay or move to any centre they want, and stay as long as they want as long as there are no more than 4 students at each (which I don't love but need to have this rule due to space constraints).
I have included examples of my own learning centres paired with the rationales found in the Full Day Kindergarten Program Guide, which I have found to be the most succinct in justifications for each centre, and other early years literature.
Library Centre
"Recent studies on literacy confirm what educators have known for years: the more contact children have with books, the better readers they become. Teachers can promote better reading performance by reading to children daily and by having them interact with books through the extensive use of classroom libraries" (http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/paperbacks/downloads/library.pdf).
A variety of books and different reading materials (like magazines, menus, etc) need to be offered in the library that reflect different topics and themes. They should be switched out frequently and reflect different reading levels and abilities.
Another thing I do in the classroom library is have a binder filled with different samples of children's writing. They love to look at their own writing, as well as that of their peers, and need this in order to see themselves as authors.
Imagination Station
"Play, including imaginative play, is the child's work. Play prepares the child for adulthood, play teaches them their place in the world, and play teaches them how to interact with the world. It is play that, in the child’s early years, lays a strong foundation for the physical, academic, social and emotional well being that will last a lifetime"
(http://www.childrennatureandyou.org/Imaginative%20Play%20in%20Early%20Childhood.pdf).
There are many different types of creative play in the Kindergarten classroom. Managing a small space, my 'Imagination Station; as I dubbed it, held not only large building blocks but dress-up clothes, plastic animals, a Marble Run and other toys that I thought fit in with our current learning.
Maths Centre
Numeracy develops when children are given opportunities to engage with early numeracy concepts such as classification, magnitude, enumeration, dynamics, pattern,shape, measurement, and spatial relations. Found materials such as buttons, beads, and small stones are useful for counting and sorting. Open-ended materials such as wooden blocks, tangram puzzles, measuring tools (cups, measuring tapes, scales), can be provided in a math centre, along with board games, card games to meet Mathematics Prescribed
Learning Outcomes with a play based approach. Situating the math centre near the dramatic play centre encourages children to use math manipulative in their play."
(Full Day Kindergarten Program Guide, 2006, pp. 33)
It is important to offer many open ended materials, accessible at all times for the children. They will learn different ways to manipulate the materials and make their own conclusions about Math concepts. I consider this a 'hands off' centre. I do not step in in this centre except to do observations or take photographs.
Writing Centre
Sharon Taylor , a Kindergarten teachers, sums up the Writing Centre quite elegantly:
"My classroom writing centre is a place where my students can develop a positive attitude toward writing. It is a place where students are allowed to write in a variety of forms, which include letters to friends and family, short stories, mini-books, cards, posters, and signs. These activities help me to see how each of my students is using left to right, return sweep, capitals and punctuation, letter sounds, sight words, and more"
(http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/classroom-solutions/2011/12/kindergarten-writing-center-action).
My writing centre operates completely in tandem to what is written above. This hands off approach to writing has shown me what my students are capable of as much, if not more, than directed writing assignments have.
To encourage hesitant writers, I add and change different vocabulary cards to the walls to entice writing ideas. These can include seasonal themes, animals, popular toys and tv/movie programs.
"Recent studies on literacy confirm what educators have known for years: the more contact children have with books, the better readers they become. Teachers can promote better reading performance by reading to children daily and by having them interact with books through the extensive use of classroom libraries" (http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/paperbacks/downloads/library.pdf).
A variety of books and different reading materials (like magazines, menus, etc) need to be offered in the library that reflect different topics and themes. They should be switched out frequently and reflect different reading levels and abilities.
Another thing I do in the classroom library is have a binder filled with different samples of children's writing. They love to look at their own writing, as well as that of their peers, and need this in order to see themselves as authors.
Imagination Station
"Play, including imaginative play, is the child's work. Play prepares the child for adulthood, play teaches them their place in the world, and play teaches them how to interact with the world. It is play that, in the child’s early years, lays a strong foundation for the physical, academic, social and emotional well being that will last a lifetime"
(http://www.childrennatureandyou.org/Imaginative%20Play%20in%20Early%20Childhood.pdf).
There are many different types of creative play in the Kindergarten classroom. Managing a small space, my 'Imagination Station; as I dubbed it, held not only large building blocks but dress-up clothes, plastic animals, a Marble Run and other toys that I thought fit in with our current learning.
Maths Centre
Numeracy develops when children are given opportunities to engage with early numeracy concepts such as classification, magnitude, enumeration, dynamics, pattern,shape, measurement, and spatial relations. Found materials such as buttons, beads, and small stones are useful for counting and sorting. Open-ended materials such as wooden blocks, tangram puzzles, measuring tools (cups, measuring tapes, scales), can be provided in a math centre, along with board games, card games to meet Mathematics Prescribed
Learning Outcomes with a play based approach. Situating the math centre near the dramatic play centre encourages children to use math manipulative in their play."
(Full Day Kindergarten Program Guide, 2006, pp. 33)
It is important to offer many open ended materials, accessible at all times for the children. They will learn different ways to manipulate the materials and make their own conclusions about Math concepts. I consider this a 'hands off' centre. I do not step in in this centre except to do observations or take photographs.
Writing Centre
Sharon Taylor , a Kindergarten teachers, sums up the Writing Centre quite elegantly:
"My classroom writing centre is a place where my students can develop a positive attitude toward writing. It is a place where students are allowed to write in a variety of forms, which include letters to friends and family, short stories, mini-books, cards, posters, and signs. These activities help me to see how each of my students is using left to right, return sweep, capitals and punctuation, letter sounds, sight words, and more"
(http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/classroom-solutions/2011/12/kindergarten-writing-center-action).
My writing centre operates completely in tandem to what is written above. This hands off approach to writing has shown me what my students are capable of as much, if not more, than directed writing assignments have.
To encourage hesitant writers, I add and change different vocabulary cards to the walls to entice writing ideas. These can include seasonal themes, animals, popular toys and tv/movie programs.