Kindergarten curriculum’s are run in different ways and learning takes place in various ways.

Traditional preschool teachers who believe that education is the imparting of knowledge to their students separate play from real learning. There is play time and then there is learning time. Learning can take place during circle time or by sitting at the tables using workbooks.

An integrated preschool or kindergarten curriculum believes that learning should take place mostly during play time or as what we call it in Bank Street School of Education “Work period”

Firstly the setup of a kindergarten classroom has to be such that it encourages moving from center to center as opposed to all sitting at table in the middle of the classroom

You can actually see a diagram of a kindergarten classroom setup which shows how the classroom is broken up into different corners or areas.

A work period usually needs to take place in a center based classroom. This means that there are various centers set up in different corners or areas of the room where the teacher will make materials available for the children to work with.

When a curriculum is decided the conscientious teacher will tie in all of the areas in the various centers to reflect what they are learning in the classroom.

I am going to talk about 3 of the most common centers in an early childhood classroom and what should be going on in each of them:

Block Area-Should consist of a complete  set of unit blocks with an assortment of wood people and trucks. You can often add signs and other things that pertain to what the kids are studying in class.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children explains in greater detail more of the benefits of block play.

In a nutshell, blocks are extremely helpful for helping the children with beginning math concepts and recreating their world in the concrete. In future post I will be offering suggestions on how to get the most out f the block area.

Housekeeping area- Should be set up with a children’s table and chairs, and lots of housekeeping paraphernalia. After the children have taken visits or trips somewhere you can change over the housekeeping area or the dramatic play area to be that place like a fire station or a fruit market.

Art area- An extremely important place where the children can do all of their preschool crafts for holidays plus all of their creative non process art.

These are only 3 of the many centers you can have. There can be a science table, a math table, a manipulatives center, a computer area, a cooking area etc.

Depending on the space you have and how much you are willing to invest in  learning how to give kids educational activities during their work period will determine how successful your work period can be.

All areas no matter which you choose  should be clearly defined and all items in the areas should have pictures or clear labels of where they belong.

In the art areas there can be pictures or drawings of scissors and crayons, paper etc. so the children can know where the stuff can be returned.

In the block area you can outline a picture of the block size and paste it on the shelf so the kids know where those blocks go.

The fewer items you put out the better off you are. It’s better to add then to take away and too much is overstimulating. You can always take away stuff that is not being used and then bring it back a few months later there will be lots of excitement about the new items.

I will be posting many more interesting and informative things about the various centers and how to get the most out of them.