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At First
I was very lucky to be supported by two wonderful and experienced teachers in my first year as a kindergarten teacher. They were happy to give me their schedules and I modelled my schedule after theirs. Snack time would always be at 10:50. -
Snack at the carpet
Modelling myself after one of the other teachers, I had my students eat their snack at the carpet. It was a disastrous mess. -
Dead Mouse!
I found a dead mouse in our classroom. I decided snack would now take place at tables. -
School Provided Snack
The school snack program began. Our snack was delivered by an older student around 9:15. All my students with the exception of 3 signed up for the school wide snack program. -
They Are HUNGRY!
After school one day, I approached the two kindergarten teachers and declared "snack is not working! My students are so hungry right away." Both of them agreed that their classes seem hungry earlier this year too. One of the teachers indicated that she has been trying to have snack earlier, around 9:30 and it appeared to be working so far. I too moved my snack to 9:30. -
Wanting place settings
My students began brining plates and cutlery over from the house center for snack. I took the cue from their interest, and upon entry every morning, I would set the tables for snack. The students would place the plates into the sink when finished for me to wash after school. -
A trip to IKEA
I purchased more plates, cups and cutlery for the students to use at snack. I also purchased tongs and serving trays.
The difficulty with setting the tables every morning, meant that centers needed to be cleaned up each and everyday. -
Our Routine . . . for now
After circle time, students would all line up, wash their hands, sit down at one of the tables set with a plate and a cup of water. I would wait for quiet tables and serve snack. -
Dirty dishes go in a white bin
With students placing dirty dishes in the sink, it made the sink unuseable for the general washing of hands, taking a drink from the fountain and washing paint brushes. We began using a white rubbermaid wash basin to place our dirty dishes in after snack. -
Snack not coming until 9:40!
Our school wide snack program is beginning to not arrive until 9:40. Extending our circle time beyond what is age-appropriate or alternatively if allowing students to go to learning centers would interrupt their thinking and learning. -
Rethinking Snack Again
As many of my candidates in Kindergarten Part 1 started to rethink some of their routines - I began to rethink about snack time again. Because of the group sitting down all together, some students would take 40 minutes to eat snack and as a result would have only 10 or 15 minutes of learning center time. -
New Snack Center
I changed our snack routine again. After circle time students would be invited to learn and think at centers. When snack arrived, I would set out the food and inform students that snack was ready. Some students would eat right away, some would wait. I always give students a ten minute warning to enjoy snack before our next transition. It is working well. -
Final Reflections
Since April, there have been many other changes in my classroom. However, I wanted to mention to semantic changes. Circle time is now being called community time and Learning Centers is now being called thinking and learning time.
