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DAILY SCHEDULE ACTIVITY

Daily Schedule Activity

April Navarro

CD V62: Principles & Practices in ECE

6:30 a.m.–7:15 a.m. Free-play in the toddler classroom.

7:15 a.m. –8:30 a.m. Quiet activities: puzzles, coloring, manipulative toys, etc.

8:30 a.m.–9:00 a.m. Handwashing and breakfast.

9:00 a.m. –9:30 a.m. Large group: letter of the week, calendar, explanation of the day, and
language activities.

Bathroom break and handwashing.

9:30 a.m. –10:15 a.m. Gym or outside.

10:15 a.m. –10:30 a.m. Large group: language activities.

10:30 a.m.–10:45 a.m. Handwashing and morning snack.

10:45 a.m.–11:45 a.m. Small Groups: Teachers work with children in small groups offering more
individualized attention. During this time, there will be three small groups.

Creative group: learning activities related to the theme of the day.

Discovery group: learning activities geared toward cognitive and manipulative levels of children.

Free choice group: dramatic play area, science area, blocks, sensory, language experiences,
books, manipulative, cognitive toys, etc.

11:45 a.m.– 12:00 p.m. Large group: star of the week, music, weather, and review of the day.

12:00 p.m. – 12:20 p.m. Handwashing and lunch.

12:20 p.m. – 12:45 p.m. Transition activity, bathroom break, and handwashing.

12:45 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Nap/rest time.

3:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. Bathroom, handwashing, and afternoon snack.

3:15 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Gym or outside.

4:00 p.m. – 4:20 p.m. Large group: language activity.

4:20 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Discovery time.

5:00 p.m. – 5:45 p.m. Free-play and room clean-up.

5:45 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Quiet activities in toddler classroom.

is too few, just right or too many? Why or why not?

The preschool daily schedule had at least one transitional activity labeled on the daily

schedule for preschool. There are also many other transitions that are apparent in the daily

schedule from having the preschool children end with one task to begin another. However, I had

noticed that there are good transitions such as the handwashing. During the times of

handwashing, there are other tasks listed that the preschool children could partake in such as

participating in a transition activity, taking a restroom break, or getting their snack. I can picture

this idea of the children each having an activity or task to complete, which makes transitions

easier, instead of the children waiting for it to be their turn to go next. I believe that the

transitions in the daily schedule are just right.

2. How much time are children in "instruction" time in groups throughout the day? How

would you adjust the schedule to represent the appropriateness of time children are in

large and small groups?

In this type of daily schedule for preschool ages children, they have at least one hour and

twenty minutes of instruction time in large groups throughout each day. This instruction time is

seen in the large group activities and can be counted toward activities (e.g., story time or

morning meetings). The preschool aged children also participate in small group activities for an

additional hour throughout the day. Teachers work with the children in these small groups and

separate the groups into creative, discovery, and free choice group for the children. I noticed that

the time frame for both the small and large groups were lengthy. It would be best to keep large-
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DAILY SCHEDULE ACTIVITY
group times for 15-to-20-minute segments. Small group time intervals can also be divided into

15-minute segments throughout the day as well.

3. How much time are children in play throughout the day? How would you adjust the

schedule to have more play throughout the day?

In this daily schedule, the preschool children spend at least 2 hours and 30 mins of free

play throughout each day. Forty-five minutes of free play is introduced to the children in the

beginning of the day between the hours of 6:30 a.m. to 7:15 a.m. in the preschool classroom.

There is also a total of 1 hour and 30 minutes scheduled for children to participate in outdoor

play (e.g., gym or outside play). In our lecture video, it was mentioned that preschool aged

children should spend at least 60 minutes of free choice and at least 60 minutes of outdoor time

in a preschool setting. I believe that this schedule does a great job in at least meeting those

requirements. However, perhaps 15 more minutes can be integrated into free play to meet those

full 60 minutes. As for outdoor time for play, this daily schedule does a good job in meeting the

requirements of incorporating at least 60 minutes of outdoor play whenever the preschool

program exceeds for more than eight hours.

4. Based on what you read and watched this week, is the daily schedule developmentally

appropriate? Why or why not? Use what you read/saw to back up your response.

Consider age, ability, needs of children.

This specific daily schedule is developmentally appropriate for the preschool aged

children. In the daily schedule, there are specific slot times included for free choice, outdoor

time, large group time, small group time, routines, and transitions for the children. There are
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DAILY SCHEDULE ACTIVITY
various activities seen in the daily schedule. Whether if it involves large groups, small groups, or

free choice play- they are all integrated and kept in short segments for the preschool-aged

children to follow each school day. This certain aspect ensures that the daily schedule meets the

requirements, in regards, to the child’s needs, age, and their ability to maintain attention

throughout the day.

5. With the transitions in the schedule, research a game/song that you could play to transition

children from 1 activity to the next. Describe how you would use it here.

I believe that transitional songs are fundamental in helping children stay focused and feel

more secure when switching from one activity to another. One transition song can be the “Clean

up” transition song. It goes: “Clean up. Clean up. Everybody. Everywhere. Clean up. Clean up.

Everybody, do your share!”. I also had noticed that the daily schedule mentions several

occasions about handwashing, especially right before their breakfast, morning snack, lunch, and

afternoon snack. Another transitional song that I believe would work when transitioning to these

certain activities would include singing “Wash your hands”. This song goes like “Wash, wash,

wash your hands. Scrub, bubble, scrub. Wash the germs right down the drain. Gurgle, gurgle,

glub!”. In our learning material for this week, it was mentioned that singing songs and using

hand clapping during transitions are ideal to help the children stay focused on what he or she is

doing. This certain aspect also gives the children something to do instead of patiently waiting for

their turn to go next in the task.