Getting them to engage in activities

[Inspired by Reggio]

I am back ... I follow an 'emergent' curriculum and well 'circle time' is more of a theme based practice and not something you would necessarily see in a Reggio classroom however it is something I LOVED as a theme based teacher for so many years and well it was hard to give that up so this is my compromise to being able to still do it .... I make it as emergent as possible by allowing the children to 'lead' the activities that come out on any given day!

So yes we do a group time / circle daily as well and that too can last 45 plus minutes ... I think the key to my success at this is two fold .... first I have a 'circle box' that has an array of finger puppets, flannel board stories, co-opertative games with props and books in it and that I change up based on seasons, interests of the kids and well to add a 'surprise or two' to explore as a group... at circle time we have our standard 'greeting' and whatever I want to 'share' developmentally wise to work on I get to take my turn first and than each child gets a turn picking something out of the box and therefore are 'invested' in paying attention and staying with the group until their 'turn' and the ones who get a turn first stay attuned because they want to see what their peers will 'pick' and secondly I have no SHAME ... I sing loud and often off key but put my heart into it, I read a story very similar to Robert Munsch with silly voices for characters, I will substitute their names in their favorite books to make it more personal to them and most of all I have FUN and at group time and as a result the kids want to be there with me 'engaged' in this special time together.

IME the key to success with getting children to 'engage' in anything is to truly be engaged ourselves ... they feed off our enjoyment and energy and will mimic that and on the flip-side well they are empathetic ... they can tell if we are uncomfortable with 'mess' and will not get messy to avoid making us uncomfortable or they can tell if we are not comfortable singing and will not sing and so forth ... and by 'we' not necessarily talking about the provider but the 'primary adults' in their life ... if mess is frowned on at home a child will be reluctant to get messy in daycare even if it is 'allowed' there and so forth.