Lengthening Work Time

This week we continued to work on learning the routines of our classroom and building our independence. When we started just 8 short days ago, the children worked for a very few uninterrupted minutes and Teacher Meghan and myself were working feverishly to teach the children the proper ways to put out a work, carry a tray, lay out their snack, clean up from snack, etc. Now, 8 days into it, the children are starting to choose more independent work and sticking with it for longer and longer each day.

Our classroom requires that each and everyone one of us is responsible for his or her own behavior. You must keep your items stowed in your cubby, you must put one work away before getting out another, you must clean up after yourself. The children are given this responsibility and they really rise to the occasion keeping our classroom beautiful while also strengthening their own independence.

At the lunch table children are expected to set their place, set out their food, place their lunch box under their chair and sit like a lady or gentleman at the table. At the end of lunch the children clean up their space, repacking their lunch and cleaning the table and floor of crumbs. Many children discovered over the last few days, that they can get off to free choice play time quicker, if they are careful while eating and don't make a huge mess of their food. It takes a lot of time to clean cracker crumbs from the floor! This exercise of cleaning up behind oneself, builds ownership for our beautiful classroom and independence.

Infused with all of this procedural work, children have begun working on letter and sound works, number identification and even addition. Each and every child comes to our program in a different place. What makes HCMA special is that each child can work at the level that is just right for them!