Today’s Tuesday Teaching Tip comes to us from Dr. Debbie Keeler, Director of Early Childhood in Capistrano Unified School district, and former CKA Board Member.
Circle time Tip: Gather tools and materials for the children to physically touch and manipulate during circle time. Make circle time a hands-on-and-do experience rather than just a hands-in-your-lap experience.
A Movement Experience
Throughout my circle time experiences, I make sure to integrate time for physical movement as well as time for sitting. To get the children moving, I tend to rely on lots of music and movement which means I have spent a lot of time learning songs and action rhymes that I can whip out anytime I need them. Some of the music and movement actions may fit along with a book I am reading or a theme we are exploring and some of them may just be something the children love. Don’t get stuck on the idea that every music and movement activity has to be related to a letter of the week or some kind of theme. The better you and your students know the movements to a familiar song or action rhyme, the more confident you will be and the more engaged your students will be…
Learning Foundations Standard:
Strand: Music
Sub Strand: 1.0 Notice, Respond, and Engage
1.4 Use body movement freely to respond loosely to beat–loud versus quiet
(dynamics)–and tempo. (48 MO)
1.4 Use body movement freely and more accurately to respond to beat, dynamics,
and tempo of music. (60 MO)
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