Our Daily Schedule

Caregivers sign their children in using the Bright Wheel App. Children are met by educators with hugs or happy hellos to help them transition and develop their own ways of saying goodbye to parents; some children desire more time during this transition than others. The room is open for quiet play. 

This morning block is dedicated to play and student-lead, teacher-guided exploration. In warmer months, we spend this time outside discovering new imaginative games and working on our social and interpersonal skills. In colder months, we will spend this time indoors exploring our many play-based learning centers. Students will make choices about which games and activities they want to explore, and teachers will ask questions and participate with observation and encouragement. They may choose to do a puzzle, play a make-believe game, draw a picture, read a book, build a structure, help clean up or re-organize, or sit and have a conversation with a friend. 

Most children are fairly independent at this age and they may use the toilet as needed. However, for some children that still need more guidance, teachers will invite them to use the toilet every hour or as needed. Teachers will support development with skills such as hand washing and dressing.

 This meeting is the point in our day when we meet as a whole group for targeted discussion about our weekly theme and focus topics. We will learn patience, listening, stamina, and turn-taking during morning circle. We will discuss calendar skills and practice learning songs about the alphabet, shapes, days of the week, months of the year, and informal greetings. We also learn about sign language and Spanish skills during this time. This is also a constructive space to do what kids love to do most – share. 

This period is dedicated to learning centers. Teachers work with small groups on targeted learning activities, differentiated for interest and age. Students can explore early literacy skills, writing skills, and mathematical skills through hands-on activities and play. We utilize song, movement, building, sensory play and inquisition in our exploration of these early academic areas.

We all come together for a family-style lunch. Children eat at one large table alongside their peers and teachers, or outside at our picnic table. We start lunch with a traditional Waldorf-style meal blessing to give thanks to the Earth and all who were responsible for sourcing and creating our meal. Children are full participants in this experience, helping to set the tables, creating center pieces, engaged in full conversations about the day, and sharing in the responsibilities of cleaning up. We encourage healthy choices and intuitive eating methods during lunch time.  

We take a short break to have a snack and a drink of water once mid-morning and once towards the end of the day. We replenish our systems to tackle the rest of our amazing adventures! We start every meal with a meal blessing. 

While our little ones have ample time to move and play throughout the day, this is our time to take a structured movement break, and also participate in music. Our movement exercises include yoga flows, shake outs, dance breaks, gross motor skill games, and many others. For music, we often practice songs for our traditional celebrations, sing songs together, practice rhythm and tempo exercises, or play music games. We often blend music with movement during this time! 

After play, the children take care of their bodies by washing their hands and faces and using the restroom. We sit and listen to a story, and then we get ready for rest. We may do more yoga, have quiet time exploring books, or listening to quiet music. Many children are initially resistant to naps, so we emphasize quiet rest time rather than mandatory sleep. We do a guided meditation together, and then soothing music is played in the classroom as our students rest. As older children and children who don’t require nap time start to become wiggly, we move those kiddos into the cozy room to continue their rest time looking quietly at books. 

 During our afternoon adventures, we will participate in other projects and activities that inspire us. We encourage students to take some time to explore their interests and passions!During this time, you may find us baking bread, making simple machines or silly monsters with craft materials, tending to a garden, practicing foreign languages, investigating creatures outside, playing dress-up and exploring theater, singing together with musical instruments, or walking around our community. We may do a themed science activity, an art project, or practice our week’s learning objectives. This is a free exploration and learning period, where we spend time following our interests and passions liberally.

During this short block we focus on a group game to come back together after rest and play. This can be a motor skills game, a music game, a collaborative  problem solving game, or another activity lead by our teachers to help build social and cooperative skills. 

At the end of the day, we work with our students to take responsibility for their own clean-up process. We re-organize our tools and resources, we clean tables and sweep the floors. Then, we meet once more as a class to sing a goodbye song and check in with our feelings about the day. Caregivers sign their children out using the BrightWheel App. 

After school care will involve supervised free play, including one snack. Students will have access to the classroom and all of its materials, and will be expected to care for the space as they do during school hours.