The Importance of Routines to Young Children - Essay Example

The Importance of Routines to Young Children When young children go to school for the very first time, they encounter various challenges to their self-confidence and independence. It can be unnerving to be in the company of a roomful of other children with a few adults….every one of them, strangers! Not to mention, a lot of stimuli that besiege their senses… toys galore… storybooks….child-sized furniture….and a whole lot of things to do!!! It can be a lot to take in for a little child of 4 or 5 years! The adult in charge, usually the teacher, needs to strategize in order to prevent the children from going into uncontrollable behaviors, as caused by overstimulation. One is by setting routines. Crosser (1992) claims that “thoughtfully established routines are the vaccination against classroom chaos. Too much waiting begets wiggle, giggle, squirm and poke.” (p. 187). These routines are set periods that come one after the other that children learn to expect as they go about their day. “Routines are the backbone of classroom life. They facilitate teaching and learning” (Shalaway, 1997, p. 25). It structures the activities and help students know what to expect and how to behave during transitions. Scheduling routines is not just listing the activities one after the other just to fill the school day. It requires careful planning and consideration of the children’s developmental needs, attention span, the variety and balance of activities and even the time of day. Planning should include transition activities from one routine to another, as it is in transition times when children may slip into rowdy behavior if they are not managed well enough. The following routines observed in a class of 4-5 year olds shall be carefully analyzed and critiqued: 9.00 – 9.45 school opens /registration / assembly 9.45 –10.30 taught lesson 10.30 –10.45 playtime 10.45 –12.00 taught lesson 12.00 –1.00 lunch 1.00 – 2.30 taught lesson 2.30 – 3.00 story time 3.00 home time At first glance, the routines seem to serve only the teacher’s understanding of what happens in her day, with knowledge of what goes on in each routine. The time blocks for “taught lesson” give the impression that it is much too long for the attention span of four and five year old children, because the lesson periods are assumed to be passive, “sit-down” time for children while they listened to the teacher deliver the lessons. The time allotted for playtime, which is only for fifteen minutes reflect that this class does not value play as much as lesson time. The routine at hand does not give enough information on what the children do the whole time. It is important for a schedule of routines to be more specific in its information, and cutting down the time to budget all planned activities that goes in each routine. For example, in the first part of the day, the first forty-five minutes may include more information on what goes on during the Assembly time. Are the children allowed to play with the materials in the classroom? Or do they work on planned activities? Do they assemble to the group area for some songs? Is there a greeting and attendance event that goes on here? “Taught lesson” is not clearly understood as a routine. What transpires in this time block? Developmentally-appropriate curriculum includes a variety of ways to teach lessons and not merely limited to teacher lecturing and students taking it all in. This is not developmentally-appropriate for the age level in focus. Four and five year olds need to move around the classroom some of the time and not be expected to just sit and be taught the lessons (Brewer, 2001). A large chunk of time may be allotted for a wide variety of activities children can select, a story time, a group time or snack time. Teachers must take into account the attention spans of the children they teach. Younger children have shorter attention spans, hence activities should be shorter in duration. There was no snack time scheduled, as this is a full-day schedule, and the meal scheduled is lunch instead of snacks. Four and Five year olds may not feel hungry if they kept busy, but their small bodies need to eat more frequently. Planning routines help children become more organized, knowing what to expect each day. Another purpose is to provide balance in their activities, like relatively passive activities such as Story time, Snack Time and Rest Time should not be scheduled one after the other that children have to sit quietly for long periods of time. This will be unnatural to them since they have a strong urge to move all the time (Brewer, 2001). These passive activities may be interspersed within more active periods such as work time, outdoor play and music and movement periods. The school routines which are common in early childhood settings are as follows: An Indoor Play Period/ Free (Guided Play): During this period, children may be busy, alone or with a group at some activity they have chosen. It may be building with blocks, painting, molding with clay, playing in the housekeeping area, looking at a book, experimenting with items in the science center or hammering at the workbench. Teachers acknowledge the tremendous value of play and encourage greater complexity and depth in play throughout the early childhood years. During play, “children demonstrate improved verbal communications, high levels of social and interaction skills, creative use of play materials, imaginative and divergent thinking skills and problem-solving capabilities” (Wood, 2004, p. 21). Free exploration is considered Heuristic play by Holland (2003). It is encouraged without adult intervention. Adults simply provide simple materials and allow the child to just be and let his imagination take off . “The child learns from observing directly what these objects will ‘do’ or ‘not do’, in sharp contrast to much of the ‘educational’ equipment which has a result predetermined by the design which has been devised by the adult maker (Holland, 2003, p. 142). Heuristic play will not only stimulate a child’s thinking, but it also develops his creativity as he will see in his mind endless possibilities in imaginatively transforming ordinary objects into various things with various functions A Sharing Time/ Meeting Time/ Circle Time: Children congregate with their teacher to talk about exciting happenings at home or school, to help plan their day, to prepare for a special event, to discuss what they have completed, to ponder a special problem or to share interesting things that have been brought to school. Teachers recognize that language development is dependent upon a rich environment that supports free-flowing speech. This may also be the time when the teacher introduces or reviews lessons with the children as a group. A Story Time: Children come together to listen to stories in many forms, presented in many ways. Children’s involvement with stories is nearly instantaneous and completely absorbing. The potential of good stories for young children is unlimited. Storytelling activates children’s imaginations while they learn about so many things just by sitting on their places and listening to their teacher read the story. Children’s literature offers a treasure trove of knowledge and skills, ready for the taking. Immersing children in literature and ensuring their enjoyment in involving their creative and critical thinking skills may be a challenge for teachers. As Calkins (1997) states, “Reading is about creating worlds with words. The only way to read with fluency and expressiveness is to read closely hooked into the unfolding meaning of the text. It is very important, therefore, that we do everything possible to support the mind work of reading.” (p. 159). A Time for Music and Movement: Children have a natural delight for rhythm, sound and music. They sing spontaneously or join in short, simple songs. They have a natural urge to move to the rhythm of the music they experience. Music and body movement have a key relationship throughout the program. Teachers value music and movement as important avenues of self-expression. A Time for Outdoor Play: Children need fresh air and exercise during the day. They need to spend generous amounts of time playing ball, climbing playground equipment, hopping, balancing, lifting, pulling, swinging, sliding, running and doing other enjoyable physical activity that contributes to many kinds of learning. Teachers understand that vigorous outdoor activity is essential to all areas of development, especially sound physical development and good health. A Rest Time/ Quiet Time: Children need a period of time to stretch out on a cot or mat, in a darkened room and relax or nap a little. Teachers provide rest or quiet times so that children will not become overtired from the day’s challenges. A Snack Period: Children sit together in groups at a table to enjoy juice, milk, crackers, cookies, pretzels or other nutritious snacks. Teachers plan these times for their social as well as their nutritional benefits. Self-Help/ Grooming Time: Children learn to care for themselves as they are encouraged to brush their teeth, wash their hands and faces, change their soiled clothes or comb their hair. Teachers stress the importance of good hygiene to health. A Time For Intellectual Stimulation: Children are not taught traditional school subjects, but they are offered games, trips an other group experiences designed to deepen and enrich the development of key concepts and skills. Teachers know that children will learn if the learning activities are matched to their background and interests. Teachers come up with several strategies in capturing their students’ attention, and courses are offered in helping educators become more efficient in imparting knowledge and skills to their pupils. No longer do they limit their teaching strategies to boring lectures, dizzying written and oral examinations and students’ delivery of memorized answers to expected questions. Teaching aids have likewise expanded from using flashcards, blackboard demonstrations and textbooks to more concrete materials like actual 3-dimensional objects, dioramas and multimedia materials. Activities are likewise evolving to be more learner-centered, as teachers are coming to terms that their students have a hand in directing their own learning. This is not to say that teachers are slowly losing their hold on the learning of their students. In fact, they are important figures in stimulating and encouraging their students’ pursuit of knowledge. Proposed Routines for 4-5 year old class: The presented routines involved a full-day kindergarten schedule for four and five year old children. As mentioned earlier, it did not reveal much about what really goes on in the child’s school day, as the blocks of time were under headings that were very general. The following schedule, taken from Brewer (2001, p. 132) is a more appropriate schedule for this developmental level: 9:00 – 9:15 Opening, singing, planning for the day 9:15 – 10:15 Activity Time (Free Choice or Teacher- Prepared) 10:15 – 10:45 Snack 10:45 – 11:15 Outdoor Play (gross motor play indoors in bad weather) 11:15 - 11:45 Story time, literature study 11:45 – 12:30 Lunch and recess 12:30 – 1:30 Rest Period 1:30 – 1:40 Group time (discussions, planning for afternoon) 1:40 – 2:15 Activity Time 2:15 – 2:45 Library, music, art or Physical Education 2:45 – 3:00 Evaluations of activities, dismissal Children should be given enough time every day to adjust when they arrive in school. Early in the morning, their moods may be unpredictable, so the routine of putting their bags in their cubbies and maybe signing up on the attendance sheet can signal the start of their school day even before they join the class for singing with a big group. The activity time may be spent in free-choice activities as children go around the classroom to select what they want to do, with the choices, usually based on the theme of the lessons. Teachers must prepare the environment in such a way that children’s learning flows from the lessons to the environment and back. That means, that there are materials available that must be somewhat related to what they have been discussing. For example, when learning about animals, the classroom should have books on animals, puzzles with an animal theme, toy animals on the shelves and maybe some low-maintenance pet such as a fish or a hamster. A specially prepared activity may likewise be done by the class, either in groups or individually. Activities must vary – arts and crafts, cooking, working on task sheets, etc. The routine may also include serving morning snacks so children can take a break from their activities to eat nutritious food with their peers. Transitions Experienced teachers are aware that they need to include transition activities in between the routines scheduled. Transition times may be challenging for teachers since it is most likely the times when behavior problems or disruptions occur (Brewer, 2001). For instance, when children move from one group activity to the next, it can be chaotic if the group times are uninteresting, too long, too confining and uncomfortable. This is when the children become restless and go into unpleasant behaviors (Alger, 1984). Another example is when the children are so engaged in their activity and then the teacher calls for them to pack away their materials before they are even ready to stop what they are doing. Even adults need time to wind up an activity before they transition to another. To prevent that, many strategies may be employed by the teacher. Five minutes before the next routine, the teacher may already give warnings to the children that they have five minutes left, then another call out at 3 minutes, then at 1 minute. When time is up, then the children can help each other pack away everything before congregating on the specific area agreed upon to meet as a group. The teacher may sing songs or fingerplays with the children as a transition activity. If the next activity would have children in turns, she may use the transition period as a learning activity by calling out initial letters of names of children or colors of their shirts or some descriptive words to signal their turn. It is important for children to know what to expect as well as what is expected of them. The teacher should be able to communicate to them the scenario such as what is to happen when they reach a venue, if there is an activity awaiting them there. She may say, “Upon reaching the gymnasium, you have to pair up and go to the tables and work on the activity waiting for you there after you put on your aprons.” Then she asks questions to review them if they understood her directions (Alger, 1984). Routines are important in training children to be more orderly and organized. Knowing what will happen give children a sense of security. The view that letting children just do what they want may work in only a few cases when they need to release their excess energies. However, to have that as a rule instead of the exception will teach children that planning and organization is not that important. It will only work with adult supervision, ensuring that they are productive in the choices of activities they do so that they develop the skills and learn the concepts they need to know. Rudulf Dreikurs in his work, Children the Challenge says “Routine is to a child what walls are to a house”. It serves as a good foundation where learning thrives. Routines not only makes it convenient for children to go through their day knowing what will happen, but very helpful for the teacher to organize her day. Having routines makes the class run a lot more smoothly. References Alger, H.A. (1984) Transitions: Alternatives to Manipulative Management Techniques. National Association for the Education of Young Children. Brewer, J. (2001) Introduction to Early Childhood Education. Allyn and Bacon. Calkins, L. (1997) Raising Lifelong Learners, A Parents’ Guide. MA: Perseus Books. Crosser, S. (1992) Managing the Early Childhood Classroom, Young Children, Vol. 47, No.2, pp. 23-29. Holland, R.(2003) ‘‘‘What’s it all about?’’–how introducing heuristic play has affected provision for the under-threes in one day nursery ’in Devereux,J. and Miller,L.(eds) Working with Children in the Early Years, London, David Fulton in association with The Open University Shalaway, L. (1997) Learning to Teach…not just for Beginners. Scholastic Professional Books. Wood, E. (2004) ‘Developing a pedagogy of play’ in Anning, A., Cullen, J. and Fleer, M. (eds) Early Childhood Education, London, Sage Publications. Read More