Miss Cullen feels everyone’s preschool day should start with Circle Time because it establishes a wonderful routine! Learning about the four different parts of circle time and how to lead each part offline is an absolute must for any teacher helper-to-be!
During Circle Time, children work on a variety of skills to help prepare them for kindergarten and life. These skills include: cognitive, social, emotional, physical, language, and math & counting. Movements are used throughout circle time to keep the children engaged and work on large motor skills. As a reminder it is highly recommended that you start with the thorough KRE to understand where your child is developmentally.
Circle Time Overview
Understand what is Circle Time, why it’s constant routine is important and the four parts of Circle time. Miss Cullen’s shares how she interactively turns the class over to the teacher helper to confidently lead an activity offline.
Click here to see and printout lyrics to the songs Miss Cullen sings in Circle Time
Part 1 – Special Helper
Learn what the Special Helper is and the different ways you can prepare for the Special Helper part of Circle Time. Understand the numerous jobs the Special Helper can do during the day and how you can creatively work on different skills during this part of Circle Time.
Part 2 – Calendar Activity
Learn different ways you can make a calendar to use in your classroom. Find out how the teacher helper can lead Calendar Time and the skill that can be developed.
Part 3 – Today’s Weather Time
Learn different ways to make a weather dial with your child before starting your preschool. Miss Cullen gives guidance on how to talk about the weather with your child and use the weather dial during Circle Time. Learn how to sing the Weather Song by using your local weather and day of the week in the song!
Part 4 – Theme Discussion
Learn how to incorporate the daily theme into all lessons throughout the day. This video is to guide you through leading the starter theme activities: Animals, Bugs, Space & Weather. For the four starter themes, you, the teacher helper, can get used to leading all of the themes by incorporating more live examples and insert the discussion points throughout the day during other activities.
Please note: Once you have completed the four starter themes you will be the leader of the theme discussion during Circle Time. Themes, other than Starter Themes, do not feature an interactive theme discussion video with Miss Cullen. Instead, in the lesson plan Miss Cullen provides discussion tips (and a possible ‘extra content’ video) for you to use with your child or class.
