CIRCLE TIME

What is Circle Time?

Circle Time is a popular activity that’s used to help develop positive relationships between children. It aims to give them tools to engage with and listen to each other.

•    It’s often used as an opportunity to solve problems that are affecting the class, for example too much talking during lessons, or someone being picked on.

•    The whole class takes part in Circle Time at the same time,  usually led by their teacher, who sits in the circle with their pupils.

•    The circle encourages unity, respect, turn-taking and working  together towards a shared vision.

•    It also helps children work on five key skills, without which Circle Time doesn’t work: thinking, listening, looking, speaking and concentrating.

When is it used?

•  Ideally, it should take place every day, morning or last   between 15 and 20 minutes, depending on the children’s ages   and ability to concentrate because they tend to become   restless.

•  It’s usually led by a teacher, although sometimes older   children can be trained to run Circle Time for younger   children. That way they also learn to be responsible and   learn to become considerate towards others.

What happens during Circle Time?

•    Circle Time should not just be a time to chat; it needs a specific designed program to ensure all children have the opportunity to get involved in it.

•    There are rules for the circle time, and children are often involved in deciding what those rules should be.

 Common rules 

•  Putting hands up to speak, and not interrupting in between.
•  Taking turns to put your word.

•  Allowing children to ‘pass’ if they don’t want to speak.

•  Respecting all input from other children and 

     not letting anyone down.

•  Teachers will often put a Do Not Disturb  sign on the door 

     so their Circle Time isn’t interrupted.

•      During Circle Time, children should sit in a circle, either 

     on the floor or on chairs.

•      Their teacher is part of the circle, too, and while they will   direct the activities, they  should  aim to keep a low   profile, so children have a chance to speak up.

•  It can be any object like a large shell, a ball, a rubber, an   egg, a teddy, or anything interesting will be passed around   the circle.

•    When a child is holding the object, it’s their turn to speak.

•    Teachers will choose from a range of activities, such as co-   operative games, rounds, musical games, drama activities,   talking and listening exercises, story time, puppets and   masks.

    NOTE: Sometimes, an issue that’s affecting the class, school or a pupil is tackled;  

                     on other  occasions, there may be more general discussions around thoughts and                           feelings in the CIRCLE TIME.

   A typical Circle Time might follow the following format:

            Children are reminded of Circle Time rules. 

                                                              
Activity 1: Simon Says



This helps children start to listen, look and concentrate

           Activity 2: A musical game 

     The teacher might beat a drum or similar instrument, and             children march on the spot, imitating the beat:  

     Loud, soft, fast, slow etc. When the instrument stops, the           children stop too.

  Activity 3: Talking Teddy

     The teacher tells the class a short story about a boy who has       started at a new school and is having trouble making friends.       He feels lonely and sad. The children then pass the Talking         Ted   (or other object) around the circle, and say what makes       them feel sad. They can have their turn at the end of the           round if they want. This encourages them to talk about               their feelings and empathise with others.

        Activity 4: An imagination game

     The teacher has a magic wand, waves it, and says,

    ‘You are all elephants/dogs/tigers’ etc.

     The children do the sounds and actions in the circle. 

     The wand is then passed from child to child to try.

  Final activity: A calming down game

     The teacher tells the children to freeze on the spot, like 

     statues. The statues then slowly melt to the ground.

NOTE: Circle Time should be fun and light-hearted, and                          always ends on a positive note with an activity that 

    calms children down and gets them back into learning mode.

What are the benefits?

         Circle Time has many benefits for children as individuals and 

         their school.

         These are:

•   Improved speaking and listening skills
•   Increased self-esteem
•   A sense of community
•   An understanding of how their behaviour affects others
•   Improved emotional intelligence
•   Improved problem-solving skills
•   A sense of responsibility
•   Improved relationships between children, and between children and their teacher

    These benefits are neatly summed up by an extract from             one  primary school’s OFSTED report:

  'The Circle Time for each class enables children of all ages, to reflect on aspects of their         lives, to discuss moral and social issues, to express with confidence, their understanding of     right and wrong and their sense of justice.  Children learn to listen to others, to be                 tolerant of others viewpoints and to respect fellow children.'

STEAM ACTIVITY

STEAM stands for Science Technology Engineering Arts Mathematics

Young children are avid STEAM investigators, eager to explore and invent.They are also the earliest adopters of technology. Grabbing for cameras, smart phones and other tools as soon they are able to.

 STEAM proficient students are logical thinkers, effective communicators and are technologically, scientifically, and mathematically literate.Supporting and guiding this natural desire to explore STEAM ideas and phenomena can have lasting benefits. 

           I     IMAGINE   DESIGN    PLAN      CREATE      TEST     

         IMPROVE   and  COMMUNICATE   

In my Kindergarten I had to incorporate 'STEAM' and the theme of the month was 'Transport'.

I wanted my kindergartners to use their innovation and creative thinking skills, hence picked up a topic which was a little different. I decided to read them the story of 'The Three Billy Goats and Gruff'.' Now I am sure you will think, Where on earth it is related to transport? It has nothing to do with the theme? Well, it is! So just be patient and see how my kindergartners could think out of the box and share their ideas.

 Day 1 

 The day began with the circle time. After doing their daily routine, I read the story to my kindergartners from the big book with attractive and colorful illustrations. Children were thrilled with the story and enjoyed every bit of it. Then the challenge started and I said, ”Children let’s bring some twist in the story and make it a little challenging and innovative”. They accepted the challenge and after five minutes, I was totally taken aback at the way they started sharing their out of the box ideas one by one. The experience was very enriching, that we now had almost ten new stories and i must say all of them were simply so very unique. One of them is here.

I IMAGINE

Ananth one of my high achievers had this story to tell. He said, “The bridge is broken and the three Billy goats want to go to the other side of the river to eat fresh green grass in the meadow.”  I asked all of them, if the bridge was broken, how can the Billy goats go to the other side of the river to eat grass? 

I was amazed by the replies. One of them said, Billy goats will go by a paper boat, the other said by a leaf boat, bicycle boat, burger boat, feather boat and so on.

Now, isn't that innovation and Creative thinking?

Yes it is, I must say. Kids have much more to our expectations. They just need the proper guidance and right challenges!

Making the innovative design of boat

Day 2        I DESIGN

My kindergartners were ready to start. The blue print, of the types of water transport suggested by them for the Billy Goats to cross the river was already in their minds. We made them sit in groups and they drew their ideas for water transport and colored them beautifully. They also gave a brief description about them.

Day 3     I PLAN and CREATE

My little challengers wanted to create their planned water transport. We provided the recycle material to them, as what other better way we could find to make them understand the 3 R's - REDUCE REUSE  RECYCLE.  The children helped each other. Hence a wonderful example of team work ! To my surprise, they were able to create such amazing boats. We were astonished by the way they were engaged into their projects. It was a happy and fulfilling environment. This helped them in doing collaborative work followed by the discussion.

                       

         

ART brings colors alive & kindergartners love it!

Art activities and art education in Kindergarten and beyond are more than important. Art is an expression of human experience and kindergartners enjoy expressing themselves through art projects. Art plays an important role in the development of the fine motor skills, personal development, Creative imagination and social development of the children.

 Day 4     I TEST and ESTIMATE

It was the most exciting of all the days. Kids wanted to test and do the estimation of their beautifully designed boats, whether their boats could float and carry the weight of the three Billy goats on them?

 It was a wonderful activity indeed. We arranged for a big tub, filled in with water. Excitement was at its high! Each and every child took turns and did the experiment. All the other kids stood very patiently waiting for their turns and observing the activity!  

The children enjoyed and learnt about estimation by their own practical experience. It was great fun along with  learning.

We did not stop here!!

QR CODES

"Creativity is intelligence having fun." - Albert Einstein

As it is rightly said by Albert Einstein "You do not really understand something unless... you scan."  We made their video clips while doing all the activities from the day 1 and created QR Codes (Quick Response Codes) from them. The print out of the codes was attached to their learning journeys. I believe, Parents have all the right to know, how the  learning and development is happening n my kindergarten.

          
                     

 Day 5 

Discussion plays an important role

 It was the day of discussion. How to improve their projects? Each child had a different opinion. It sparked a wonderful discussion among them and led to creative thinking!

Hence, the objective of the lesson was wonderfully fulfilled. It was a great experience for me as well as my kindergartners.

We decorated our class display board with our STEAM activities in a systematic way as they were done. 

IMAGINATION

PLANNING 

DESIGNING & CREATING

TESTING & IMPROVING

KINDERGARTEN 2  DISPLAY BOARD

Kindergarten students love hands-on and interactive STEAM activities. Kids have a natural interest and curiosity in exploring how things work. The kids easily jump into the activities, work together, and share ideas with one another. Kindergarten students express joy in doing the activities. They find them fun!

I hope you liked this activity ! Don't forget to drop a line.