Circle time (also known as Morning Routine) has always been my favorite time of the day in the Kindergarten Classroom. Here you will find a step by step review of circle time activities in my Kindergarten Classroom, circle time songs and learning activities for each curriculum area.
Starting the Day with a Song
I enjoy the socialization that happens by the end of the school year when during circle time, Kindergarteners-Almost-First-Graders, who were at once apprehensive to sing or shake hands with the strange child seated next to them are now sorry to sing their last circle time songs and shake hands with their Kindergarten friends hands for the last time. This is just one of the reasons that I love circle time and also the reason that I think it is still important for Kindergarteners to sing and participate in song.
When I was a new teacher, I was more controlling over the management of circle time, I chose who did what and when. As I matured in my understanding of building independence and responsibility I began to have a more of a directive role and chose a circle time helper for the week to manage the activities. I model circle time for at least a month before the helper job begins. It is the circle time helper's job to manage circle time in the same order that I do. I oversee circle time, make corrections and inquiries, add a learning point, or introduce a new concept. It is amazing to see how the students respond to responsibility. They really take it seriously, and I never once had to sit the helper down for misbehavior. I use circle time (morning routine) to teach all content areas of the curriculum in which I will use the rest of this article to summarize. In the beginning of the year this is a time consuming task, but later in the year becomes faster and even more activities are added.
Morning Song is a Shared Reading Text
I start every morning with this song (to the tune of Skip to My Lou):
Hello, how are you? (Repeat twice)
How are you today?
I'm fine, I hope you are too. (Repeat twice)
I hope you are fine today.
Turn to your neighbor and shake their hand. (Repeat twice)
Shake their hand today.
Starting circle time activities with our "morning song" or "hello song", is a great routine to start the day. I use the written words of the song on a chart as a shared reading text. You can learn more about starting the year off with shared reading here. I model the use of a "pointer stick" to track print from left to right, return sweep, find punctuation marks and spacing. Later in the year, as students become more proficient in reading skills, we find and circle sight words in the song and count the number of times we can find the word hello, I, are, you, today, etc. We also learn that questions precede an answer from this song. One year I even had a class inquire what "I'm" meant and we started a whole beginner unit on contractions (first grade curriculum).
Months of the Year
Next we sing the months of the year song. There are many versions of the song. I use the tune of Ten Little Indians:
January, February
March and April
May and June
July and August
Then comes the month of September
October, November and don't forget December.
Each month is listed on a store bought poster. We learn the order of the months, that there are twelve months in the year, what month was last and what month is next, how many days are generally in a month and when we get to 30 or 31, that the month is over, the season the month is in, that months always begin with a capital letter, that many months end in the letter "y", that there are two months that start with the letter "J" and two that start with the letter "M". Writing the month becomes easier with time, especially when we know where to find it in the classroom.
Days of the Week
Next we learn the days of the week. Again, we sing a song from a store bought poster, follow the helper track print with the pointer stick and hold up our fingers as we count the number of days in a week:
There are seven days, there are seven days,
There are seven days in the week.
There are seven days, there are seven days,
There are seven days in the week.
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday
We learn that there are seven days in a week and that they too have an order. Again we practice spelling, capitalization, and what today, tomorrow and yesterday means. I teach them an example of what we did yesterday, what we will do today and what we will do tomorrow. After awhile of practicing, students will give you examples based on specials, or events. Learning the word, "day" becomes very easy and students are on their way to finding word chunks.
