Managing Preschool Centers for Back to School

Note: This video audience is set for 18+ ONLY and not intended for children, but instead as an instructional resource for early childhood educators.
Start simple when planning your preschool centers time for back to school! To see previous years' back-to-school and first week classroom set-ups, check out this playlist: • Getting the Toddler an... and this blog post: teaching2and3yearolds.com/tod...
You can read more about how I plan centers here: • Setting Up Learning Ce...
Teachers: teaching2and3yearolds.com/sur...
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[@yvettemoore1913]

Love the activity table especially with play doh the rolling pins where daily you get them

[@Teaching2and3YearOlds]

You can get child-sized rolling pins on Amazon.

[@yvettemoore1913]

Thank you

[@Playing_with_a_Purpose]

I have a minimal philosophy as well. I just went back this week, it was wonderful ❤️

[@Teaching2and3YearOlds]

It really does make a difference. Glad your first week went well!

[@charitymenditto6489]

Thank you for your videos they are always so helpful. My school opens this week and we set up our classroom very similar to yours, except now we have to follow covid-19 protocol. Have you changed anything in your classroom setup to accommodate the new protocols as well? For instance, our children have to have their own individual Play-Doh.

[@Teaching2and3YearOlds]

We haven't gotten the okay to return to the classroom yet, so I haven't dealt with that yet. I will keep you all posted when the time comes. Good luck to you this week!

[@denisepleasanton2999]

This was so helpful! I will tweak my centers on Tuesday.

[@Teaching2and3YearOlds]

So happy this was helpful!

[@deborahflippin7371]

Thank you for all the great ideas on back to school. Can you please tell us the name of your clean up song? I am looking for a new one.

[@Teaching2and3YearOlds]

It's called "Clean Up" by Super Simple Songs. 😊

[@cathleenhoward5229]

Can you talk about what role your assistant plays in the classroom and online? Great video!

[@Teaching2and3YearOlds]

During virtual teaching I will not have an assistant. However, the older classes have 2 teachers and they are each assigned different roles. They have a form they fill out daily that shows who does what while online.

[@jeanshimpeno45]

My class was cut down to 8 children with no aid now. I start this week. This was very helpful. After your free choice centers time what do you do with the children?

[@Teaching2and3YearOlds]

Our schedule varies a bit year to year, but usually we transition to gym or outside. After clean up, I sing "It's time to go and look at books" and the children gather on the carpet where I have a basket of books. We do this for all of our transitions. I then might invite them to join me in a song, and then we move on to the next part of our morning.

[@jeanshimpeno45]

I work in a church so we also have centers time, circle time, craft, work sheets and out door playground or inside bike riding. Our program is 2 1/2 a day three days a week. My centers time is only 30 minutes long. Thank you for your input.

[@denisepleasanton2999]

Do u put time limits at each center or let them move around the whole time?

[@Teaching2and3YearOlds]

Denise Pleasanton - I let them decide where they want to be and for the most part I do not restrict how many can be where. The exception is when the children are having a hard time in a very crowded area. Most times they can figure out there isn’t enough space and will come back later, but sometimes they need assistance.

[@fahim1545]

What do we do when we have kids who throws all the materials away?

[@Teaching2and3YearOlds]

Explain that they aren't to be thrown away. Young children love to toss things, so this is another reason I start the year with less while I monitor carefully. As soon as you see them moving towards the garbage, redirect them back to the work area and tell them it stays there. You could even remove the trash bin for awhile so it's not so easy for things to get thrown away.

[@christineczyryca5820]

Dont like songs. Too much more noise to existting noise. I just shut off lights and say" hands on top" and teach "hands on top". They put hands on their heads and say,, " timeyo clean up" then they put their toys in theirbaskets/containers . There are picturesof each toy basket already labelled on the shelves so they can find where they belong.

[@Teaching2and3YearOlds]

I'm so glad you have found what works for you and your classroom! ❤