Times are not exact. Morning class times are listed first and afternoon times are in parentheses.
9:30 am (1:00 pm)
The teacher greets families as parents drop children off in the car line or walk children into school.
9:35 am (1:05 pm)
The day begins with Circle Time when the teacher gathers all the children with a song; welcomes all children by name; and helps the Special Friend of the Day add the day to the calendar, count the days of the month, give a weather report, and pick the next Special Friend of the Day from the Cookie Jar. Circle time also includes show and tell; birthday announcements; and introductions of assist parents with brief descriptions of the snack, art project, and gross motor activity offered during free play time.
10:00 am (1:30 pm)
During Free Play Time, children may choose to play independently with any number of toys, including blocks, puzzles, dress-up clothes, playdough, Legos, and trucks. There is also a kitchen area, sand table, indoor tree house, puppet theater, easel for painting, and train table. The three assist parents help children with an art project, a gross motor activity, and a snack if the children choose to participate in these activities. Art projects include working with the more traditional paint, glue, and scissors, as well as more creative media such as corn cobs, apples, pine cones, shaving cream, leaves, or snow. The gross motor activities may use basketballs, balance beams, jumping games, giant puzzles, obstacle courses, and rope ladder climbing. For older children, the gross motor activities are often combined with counting and letter recognition. One assist parent provides a healthy snack that includes two food groups and water. The parents and teacher review the contents of each snack for any allergy risks to the children.
11:00 am (2:30 pm)
Singing and Dancing Time begins with the clean up song and the teacher leads the children in some new songs and old favorites. Each song has dance or hand movements and some use bell, tambourine, shaker, or tapping stick instruments.
11:20 am (2:50 pm)
The teacher reads to all the children during Story Time and, for older children, also reads a short story dictated by the Special Friend of the Day. Birthdays may be celebrated and birthday treats may be shared during story time.
11:30 am (3:00 pm)
Outside Play Time encourages exercise on swings, slides, and climbing and riding toys. The snow hill is a winter-time favorite.
11:40 am (3:10 pm)
Children line up to be picked up from the car line or parents may walk children from school.