Large group time should last between 5 and 25 minutes. During this time, you can lead your class in songs or fingerplays, play group games, check the weather, review rules, review the schedule, discuss the day’s activities, check the calendar or see what day it is and more. If you have your preschoolers for the entire day, plan one large group time at the beginning of their day, and one at the end. Meeting at the beginning of the day will help your preschoolers prepare for the day. The end of the day is a good time to talk about what happened during the day. Having a large group meeting at the end of the day is also a good way to pull everyone back together before it’s time to go home.
Large Group Activities
The simple schedule below is a useful guideline for your large group activities. You may want to rearrange the days, or create different regular activities. It’s a good idea to start these activities after you’ve finished with the daily large group business, such as taking attendance, checking the weather, marking the day of the week on the class calendar, making announcements, and assigning chores.
Mondays: Provide a music and movement activity using music from a CD or the internet. Choose music and movement activities that relate to your classroom theme.
Tuesdays: Read a picture book about your classroom theme. Try to find “big” books to read to the children so that all of your children can see the words and pictures. Point to the words as you read, and ask your preschoolers what they think will happen next. Encourage them to look at the pictures for clues. Tell your students who wrote the book and who drew the pictures. Leave the book out for the children during their free-play time. Read the same books many times to boost your preschoolers’ literacy skills and give them a greater appreciation for the stories.
Wednesdays: Sing an interactive song, or perform a fingerplay. Check out song and fingerplay ideas from the library or the internet. Find songs and fingerplays that relate to your classroom them, or adapt a favorite song to match your theme.
Thursdays: Take a short field trip. Your field trip can be a walk around the block to look for squirrels, or a car ride to a local dairy farm.
Fridays: Call the day “Exploration Friday,” and choose from a variety of different activity ideas. For example, you can create a graph that shows your classroom’s eye colors, play “Simon Says,” invite a guest speaker form your community, ask the children to make shapes on the floor with their bodies, or have a “crab walk” party.
Change Things Up!
Mix, match, and repeat these activities to suit your children. Your children will enjoy songs, fingerplays, reading books, and movement activities every day! You may choose to highlight special songs, books, and more, at different times in your week, as suggested above. Books can be read during free-play time, before rest time, or even during snack time. Music and movement can be offered during free-play time and outdoor time. Songs and finger plays can be included at any time of the day, and are especially helpful during transition times.