Circle Time

Today was my first experience with “circle time.” Going to the preschool right after C block and staying only for the lunch block before returning to class, I came in expecting to not do very much, figuring that the whole time would be recess and lunch, as it is for the toddler and transition class. Today, however, I worked with a class of older students who have a different schedule.

When I arrived, the students were independently working on a variety of activities, from counting boards to workbooks to a game of memory. Then we had circle time. We opened with singing a few short songs. There is a “Good Morning” song that they open with every day, but the children are also learning some special songs for the Mother’s Day Tea that they host each year to honor their mothers. After singing these songs, we went over what today’s date is and used counting and subtraction skills to determine how many days are left in the school year. We talked about the morning’s activities and the importance of being friendly and kind to one another.

In order to dismiss the students to lunch, the teacher would say (for example), “Emily and a friend whose name starts with “ch” may go to lunch.” Then Emily would have to find that person and they could go to lunch. This struck me as a really good way to stagger the lunch rush. Going in pairs prevented the group from running over to lunch, and the kids also had to work on their phonetics without really thinking about it.

The more I thought about it, I realized that is what a lot of the Montessori activities seem to do. They get the kids to learn so many different things without really knowing it. Just like finding a partner to go to lunch with, all the tasks are fun, but target a certain lesson or skill, whether it was motor coordination, letters, numbers, or something else.

I’ve come to find that there is a lot more thought behind all the activities than I initially thought.