"Circle time" has been a disaster!! HELP?

Five minutes sitting still and concentrating is quite a lot for a just barely three year old. You may be expecting too much wanting ten out of them...

I agree, moving the location is a good idea. Apart from that, I would cut the time right down to a length that they can manage, and save a particular favourite for the last couple of minutes of the session (a story with actions they can all join in with, maybe?) Then when they're used to the idea that circle time ends by you saying it's over, not by them wandering off bored, you can up the time gradually until they're concentrating for the length of time you feel is appropriate.

Do you have one of those soft calendars to stick the day / date / weather on? Children often love being selected to do that. You could make it a reward for sitting nicely.

Hi, This I believe is one of the toughest ages to keep a child focused. I myself not only have a little boy who recently turned four but am also a tss. This means I work with children with mental, emotional and behavior problems, from the ages of 2 to 18. i've been in more than a dozen different Preschools and headstart programs. First, moving you area to a less distracting area is a good start. Remember these are three year olds, their attention span at this age is minimal, tops I would say 10 minutes, so keep circle time brief. if you have to break it up into to two separate times during the day may work, or taking a small break after 5 minutes. Also try to make your cicle time a fun time, like incorporating a game into the learning time. Have the children interacting with one another during this time so they are not sitting for a period of time, listening. They will retain information better is its something they can see and do hands on. Last I would say, be firm, even though they are three they still are smart enough to see if your unsure of your self. Another thing would be to do a reward chart where they could earn stickers for the time where they have to sit. One last thing is maybe pick out a few to help you everyday during cicle time, like giving them jobs to do or being the learder and starting things off. These little guys and girls are taking in everything around them, help make this a fun time,b ut be confident in yourself as a teacher and all will turn our fine. Good luck

I taught 3 year olds for over 10 years and they are all different because some just turned 3 and some are almost 4 , so they have different attention spans. The ones that are giving you problems, separate them from the group, have a teacher's aide take them to another area for some reading , or quiet activity while you work with the ones who pay attention. Also make sure the circle area is in a quiet location , like the book area, Make sure you sing songs, that will get them to pay attention first .. even if you can't sing , they don't care they love it anyway, in corporate some music in circle time if you can. Make sure your reading a book for there age limit, Dr. Seuss is great for them. Once you lose their attention , move on to the next activity but make sure they know your the boss, not them. If you a new teacher to them , they will test until they know your in charge, have patients and have fun!!! Good Luck!!!

I think that moving your circle time to a different area will help. Until then, you could use sheets or blankets to cover the toys. Tell the children that the sheets mean the area is closed right now. Start off circle time by asking the children, questions like "what do we do with our eyes during circle?" or "what do we do with our bodies?". Until they learn these rules, keep on asking. Also, make sure to keep it short for now and have time that they can move around. Read a story, then sing a movement song like "if you're Happy and You Know It..". Good luck!!

Any Tool album is worth the money. Maynard James Keenan is the singer and writes the lyrics for both Tool and A perfect Circle. Billy Howerdell, the guitarist from A Perfect Circle now has a new project called Ashes Divide. It sounds similar to APC, but Billy is singing instead of Maynard. It's got Maynard's 11 year old son on cello, and Josh Freese (from APC) on drums. It's not bad. You could always check out Rush; a Canadian band which is sort of an old school version of APC.

i have worked at a daycare since i was fourteen vollunteering and was on the pay schedule when i was sixteen until i was eighteen from then on i have run my own daycare and am now twenty-three (so i have some experience)....the first thing you need to do before you start circle time is make sure its fun for them....i like to sing songs (especially ones where they gets to jump up and down)...find songs on the interent that help with the days of the week....also i developed a clapping game...its hard to explain typing.. they are to copy what you clapped...explain when you clap there are to stop what they are doing and copy what clapped....i never had a problem with circle time...it was our time to be alittle crazy but still listen...we would sit in the circle and discuss things and each child got their turn to speak...if your the only one speaking or they feel they aren't able to express themselves without just answering questions with only what you wanna hear then they become uninterested...so mix it up alittle...throw in questions for them but also let them express themselves....and ALWAYS have a smile on your face and be almost overly happy....do you have a rug in the room??? that helped me also so they knew where the boundries were and during circle time they were not to leave the rug unless they needed to go potty...

The children will lose interest vey quickly and that is to be expected. You will know when to end circle time by what the children are doing. At this age, circle time is just about introducing them to the concept. As they get older, they will be more interested but for now, just let them go when they want to.

Try asking the other teachers their advice..especially the prior teacher that had that age group, I'm sure they can tell your acouple of things to try.