Sitting back and watching...

[Dreamalittledream]

Circle or group time is my favorite part of the day but I do not even plan that in the traditional sense anymore ... I do reflect on what to put in my circle box every month in way of books that support the current interests of the group and seasonal felt board songs or stories and 'games' that might promote a skill I think someone needs and change it up accordingly along with some staples that are always there but each child gets to take a turn choosing something out of the box ... so basically they 'lead' the circle and I am just there as a support to help hold up finger puppets or books and so forth.

I would love to hear some example of what you put in a circle box!

[Inspired by Reggio]

I would love to hear some example of what you put in a circle box!

Similar to Playfelt only mine is a large basket. I have a board that is a magnetic wipe off on one side and I added a felt board on the other ... I use the wipe off board for when we sing our greeting song of 'X morning the banjo was playing on the Radio I like the Radio and I like R, R is for Reggio beautiful beautiful Reggio all the children adore her and blow her a kiss good day' as we sing it I pass it around and each child who can than 'prints their letter or their name' when we get to them or scribbles on it depending on their age. I also use it sometimes to 'tell a story' game so I start and draw a tree and say 'Once upon a time there was a Tree, and on that tree was a?' and a child will fill it in and either draw it themselves of I do it if they want and the next child can add something and we make up a story and 'document' it together.

Than I have regular story books some that are staple favorites all year long like a few Robert Munsch and other fav Authors than others that I rotate and add variety too on average about 10 books to choose from, I have staple of finger puppets that are always in there (elephants, monkeys, ducks, farm animals) and than a collection of 'seasonal' that rotate in and out ( insects, snowman, elf's, Halloween characters, butterflies, bunnies, kids with valentines, leprechauns, etc), staple of felt board songs / finger plays as well as seasonal ones and than I have 'file folder' games that promote different skills from working as a team to tell a story and some just matching / sorting and reinforcing math / shape or other cognitive concepts. Also have a collection of small musical instruments.