Schedule Guidance in Kindergarten

A daily schedule should be displayed at the child’s eye level and contain words and pictures/icons for identification. The daily schedule should be referenced throughout the school day and consistently followed, although adaptations should be made based on student/school needs.

A daily schedule should include ample time for transitions and self-help procedures such as toileting, handwashing, and gathering personal belongings.
Daily group activities should include cross-content learning experiences throughout the school day.
The order of the schedule may be adapted based on the needs of the program (e.g., morning vs. afternoon, breakfast snack vs. afternoon snack).
Daily schedules may consider guidance from the use of high-quality instructional materials.

Activity Guidance for Kindergarten Classrooms

Suggestions of activities and settings in which they may take place include the following:

Whole/large group: Teachers gather the entire class in a large open area to provide information and build community. By the end of the year, large-group sessions should occur 2-3 times per day and last no more than 15‒20 minutes. During this time, the teacher may engage in the following activities:
- Read-aloud, music and movement, morning message, daily schedule review, attendance/helper chart, learning center/theme review, experiments, inquiry-based discussions, show and tell
- Partnering/partner activities, partnering can occur during a whole group activity when students are seated next to a partner. Partner activities can also have pairs of students engage in a task while spread throughout the classroom or other physical location.
Small group: The teacher provides a balance of deeper understanding through intentional instruction of concepts, differentiated instruction, and child-led, hands-on experiences for a short period of time (10‒15 minutes). The activities should be engaging and include open-ended conversations, with children taking on an active role using manipulatives, books, and pictures as opposed to worksheets or flashcards. Small group activities might include; content review, collaborative learning (e.g., pair-share, partner activities), art and writing experiences, or hands-on projects
Learning centers: Children make choices and take responsibility for their learning experiences throughout the centers in the classroom and include activities based on a variety of materials available to support concepts and developmental skills, teacher facilitation of language, and social skill opportunities across peers.
Learning stations: Children may choose their learning experiences throughout the stations in the classroom. The teacher chooses the standard, skill, or outcome of each learning station and provides variety of materials to support kindergarten skills, content, themes, and concepts that are age-appropriate and accessible regardless of ability and primary language and scaffolds, as necessary.

Note that this is not an exhaustive list. Adopted instructional materials should be referenced for daily schedule/activity guidance.

References

Klibanoff, R., S. Levine, J. Huttenlocher, M. Vasilyeva, and L. Hedges. 2006. Preschool Children’s Mathematical Knowledge: The Effect of Teacher ‘Math Talk.’ Developmental Psychology 42 (1): 59–69.

Bustamante, A., A. Hindman, C. Champagne, and B. Wasik. 2018. Circle Time Revisited: How Do Preschool Classrooms Use This Part of the Day? The Elementary School Journal 118 (4): 610–31.

Stipek, D. n.d. Making Circle Time Count. Development and Research in Early Mathematics Education. Accessed May 3, 2023.