Apple Circle Time

Circle time is one of our favorite times of the day.  It has to be short and sweet, interactive and active, and fun!  We have 3 mini circle times during the day:

1.  First thing in the morning-- After the students complete their morning work and everyone is settled, we sing a "Hello" song, say, "Good Morning" to Betsy and check our snack chart (the most important part of the day for many of my little friends!).

I have lots of different "Hello" songs in my bag of tricks.  During September, we like to use the Apple Name poem.  I write each child's name on an apple cut-out and spread them on the carpet as we say this rhyme:

After we repeat the second part-- "Ryan, Ryan look around!  Find your apple on the ground," the child picks up his apple and spells his name aloud.  

We try to limit this first circle time to 5-10 minutes.  The learning centers are always set up for the day, so it's really hard for the students to sit still with so many exciting things ready to go!

2.  Mid-Morning Circle-- After center time (1-1.5 hours), we clean up and have a small group lesson.  This is the time that I introduce new concepts, practice important Pre-K skills, teach new rhymes, etc.  I think of it as a Pre-K mini-lesson.  Because they have been active and playing for quite a while before this time, most of our mid-morning circle time meetings are 10-15 minutes.

Here are a few circle time lessons that we completed this week:

Describing Apples - I brought a basket with a variety of apples in it.  The students each chose an apple and explored it with their senses.  We tried to create a chart of describing words.  This proved to be very difficult!  We looked at the apples and I asked them to finish my sentence: "My apple looks___."  It's the beginning of the year, so we will have many other opportunities to practice describing!

Apple Graphs - Graphing is such a fun, hands-on way to teach early math skills.  During circle time on another day, we used the same basket of apples and graphed them by color.  I have vinyl graphing mats to use for this activity.  If you don't have these mats, you could make one from a white shower curtain liner or a big piece of butcher paper.

After we made the graph, I guided the students to make observations about the types of apples we had in the basket.  "We have the most red apples!"

Apple Pocket Chart - Another important Pre-K skill is developing Concept of Word (COW).  That is the main goal for emergent readers!  Concept of Word is a watershed event that describes a child's understanding that a word is made up of a group of letters surrounded by white space on both sides.  Sounds simple enough, right?  Ha!  It takes a LOT of practice!  The best way to have children develop COW is to have them practice pointing to memorized text.  During another circle time, I introduced this pocket chart.  We practiced counting the apples and then the students took turns pointing to the words with our big pointers.

After circle time, I moved it to a center in the classroom so that they could continue to practice all week.

Wiggly Worm - One of our goals with our new group of 3's is to develop their oral language.  This cute game was a big hit!  We set out colorful apples with numbers 1-8, then recited this poem.  The kiddos hid their eyes (sort of!) as we hid the wiggly worm under 1 apple.  When they opened their eyes, they took turns guessing which apple the worm was hiding under.  Older kids can guess numbers and the younger ones guess colors.  They get SOOOO excited when they find the worm!

Life Cycle of an Apple - Another mini-lesson revolved around the life cycle of an apple.  We read Apples Here! by Will Hubbell.  Then we used photographs of apples through the year and placed them in order.  While I don't expect the children to fully understand a life cycle, they are able to think about and process the question of, "What happens next?"  As they answer that question, we place the pictures in a circle shape and find out that it goes around and around!

3.  Story Time - Our final mini circle time occurs at the end of our preschool day.  After snack time and outdoor recess, we gather on the carpet for a story.  

If we break up the circle time during the day, we can get in about 20-30 minutes of group instruction in developmentally appropriate chunks.  

Circle time is definitely the hardest thing for me to capture in pictures, as I am almost always right there on the carpet involved in the fun.  I hope that these few pictures give you a quick glimpse at what happens during this part of our day!

All of these Apple Circle Time activities (and more) are included in this unit:

Have fun playing and learning with your children today!