How to Plan Circle Time Activities

By eHow Education Editor

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Circle time provides children an opportunity during the school day to gather as a group. It is a way to teach them to share, express themselves and respect others. If you have enough children to form a circle, you can hold your own circle time in a homeschool environment. Planning your circle time activities ahead of time makes it easier to hold a successful circle time.

Things You'll Need:

Books or printed items

Chairs or cushions

Rug

Step1

Set a schedule based on the age and attention spans of the children. For toddlers, 15 to 20 minutes may be long enough. Keep the time predictable. Do the same type of activities in the same order each day.

Step2

Prepare for circle time the night before. Read through activities and practice songs or rhymes. Gather the books that you will read. Write down instructions for activities.

Step3

Alternate quiet and active activities. Include games, music, movement, stories, and puppets or finger plays. Activities can correspond to the time of the year, holidays, or topics that you are teaching. Watch the children's reactions and if it seems that they are bored, wrap it up and move on to the next activity.

Step4

Set up an area for circle time ahead of time. Use an open circle of chairs or seat them on floor cushions or a large rug.

Step5

Plan a round robin exercise. Go around the room and give each child a chance to speak. Have an item they can hold when it is their turn. Use themes like what they like and dislike, favorite things like colors and food, and feelings. Let the children lead the discussion occasionally.

Step6

Visit websites and read books to get ideas for circle time activities. It is not expensive to get started, since you can download lesson plans or purchase used books.

How to Conduct a Circle Time

By Vohnny

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Circle time can get a bit chaotic sometimes. No matter what age group you're dealing with, you want your circle time to organized and fun at the same time. Before starting, you should be sure that you have all the material needed with you at circle time. To be certain that you are well prepared, you should also have a written outline or schedule of your circle time. Read on to learn how.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You'll Need:

Opening song

Funny, interesting and enthusiastic voice

Closing song

Storybook

Questions to ask children about the story you've read

Step1

Start out with your opening song. Try to get children involved in the song.

Step2

Transition into story time by letting children know that it's time to read a story and introducing the story to them.

Step3

Read the story using an interesting and enthusiastic voice. Allow children to discuss what is happening in the pictures.

Step4

Ask the questions about the story you have prepared. This should lead to a group conversation. This part of circle time helps to enhance the communication skills of children.

Step5

End with the closing song that you have chosen.

How to Arrange a Preschool Classroom

By Jennifer Gregory

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Creating an inviting and comfortable space for a preschool classroom is very important. With some planning and preparation, you can easily arrange your classroom that works for you and your children. Creating a center-based preschool classroom is a popular way to organize the classroom. This allows the children to use a variety of materials and to rotate through different areas of the classroom. You can also rotate the materials available in the centers to provide different educational experiences for the children throughout the school year.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You'll Need:

Classroom

Items for centers

Books

Cabinets

Art supplies

Step1

Set up an area for each child to store their belongings, such as coats, lunches and backpacks. It helps each child feel like they belong in the class if they have their own space. Put this space near the door to allow the children to easily put up their belongs when they arrive.

Step2

Decorate the walls with interesting posters and educational bulletin boards. Be sure to include numbers, alphabets and color posters on the wall. Plan to rotate the decorations throughout the year based on the seasons and what the class is studying. Leave space to hang up artwork created by the children.

Step3

Create an area for circle time. This area should be on a carpet surface and should have enough room for the entire class to sit comfortably. Sit upons or carpet squares are often good additions for a circle time area because they help the child stay seated.

Step4

Set up an arts and crafts area. This area should have a floor that is easy to clean up and have tables to work at. There should also be adequate storage area for supplies and a space for artwork to dry, such as a drying rack or additional table. It is helpful to have a sink in this area for easy cleanup.

Step5

Make a reading corner. Provide a bookshelf that is low enough for children to access all shelves and stock them with favorite preschool books. Be sure to have pillows or comfy chairs.

Step6

Set up several centers throughout the room. Provide enough space and materials at each center so two to three children can work at a center. Some common centers are music, dramatic play, science, math/manipulative, building and housekeeping. Music centers can contain headphones and CD's for children to listen to music. Provide dress up clothes and accessories at the dramatic play center. Legos, building blocks, and Kapla blocks are popular choices for a building center. A housekeeping center can include a play kitchen, shopping carts and pretend cleaning supplies. The science center can include magnifying glasses to look at items such as rocks, leaves and other collectibles. Put items to count, number cards, linking cubes and pattern blocks in the math center. Be sure to provide storage containers and hooks so that the children can help clean up the centers.

How to Avoid Getting Scared by Horror Films

By martygit

"The Exorcist" was particularly frightening

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Some folks don't believe horror movies are worth watching. Though they might enjoy the experience, they don't want to be scared, especially if that fright lasts for years to come. The thought of scary films do tend to creep into one's mind in the dead of night or even the light of day. Here's how to minimize the fear factor.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You'll Need:

Lighthearted frame of mind

Friends for accompaniment to the theater

Step1

Buy plenty of candy, popcorn and pop at the theater. Such sweets will make the experience more enjoyable and help promote a lighthearted approach to movie-watching.

Step2

Adjust your attitude. Convince yourself to not take the movie seriously. It is, after all, fiction.

Step3

"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" can frighten the bejeebers out of you! Whisper jokes to your friends about the most frightening parts of the movie. Encourage them to do the same. Even if they get mad because they are taking the movie too seriously, it will help minimize your own fear.

Step4

Go somewhere fun following the movie. Don't allow the scary moments of the film to seep into your subconscious. The night out after the movie should prove more memorable than the movie itself.

Step5

Read a book or watch TV upon returning home. Think about anything but the movie. Provide as much time as possible between the watching of the movie and any deep thought about it.