Preschool daily schedule is so important for your students in the classroom. What activities should be included in the daily schedule everything that you as a teacher do with your students on a daily basis. Activities include a circle or group time, snacks and lunch, outside activities, center time, and rest.
Teachers should use a visual schedule in their classroom to help students feel secure and give them control within their environment. When we give children security in the class, they can flourish and learn new skills. Students will also have choices to make which helps them learn independence and self-confidence in a safe environment.
For some students, a visual schedule can help ease the calm in themselves for classroom success. Children can use the schedule to predict upcoming events and be able to anticipate transitions. Using a preschool daily schedule for students with special needs helps to give them the accommodation they need and can reduce some behaviors in the classroom.
Daily Routine Picture Schedule for Preschool
Real images of daily routine picture schedule for preschool are important. These real photos can be from your class showcasing each center and time of the day activities. These pictures can also be downloaded with real images. When we use real photos in our classroom we show reality which increases the meaningfulness of the photos to the students.
Children need real photos to help with their learning and to help ease anxiety. Children can also show more engagement when real photos are being used in the class. Photos can also help store information in the child’s brain longer, promoting long-term memory.
Using a visual schedule is important to provide structure for the child and the classroom. They encourage children to become more independent in their daily activities. When children boost their independence, they can work more on communication skills with their peers. Using a visual schedule can allow the teacher more time to teach the skills that the students need to learn and it encourages students to make good habits with their time for each segment of the day.
For example, when there is center time the children can pick the various centers during that time frame. A child might want to choose their top three center choices and rotate on their own to make that choice a success; whereas, another child might prefer to spend their entire time in one center and then realize when it is too late that they wanted to go somewhere else. The second child might need to learn from their mistake and make better habit choices in the future during center time to avoid disappointment later. The visual schedule supports the students with special needs and the whole class.
Visual Story Board
Using a visual story board can be a very beneficial tool for the whole class or an individual. The visual story board helps to showcase the activities that will be included in the day in smaller pieces. The smaller pieces allow children to manage their time and focus on what they are doing rather than being worried about the whole day.
Visual storyboards allow ease of use, can be portable for various environments, and allows the teacher to teach and not focus only on the needs of one individual. For those who need smaller activities on a board there is a first, next, then board. This tool allows the teacher to show the next two activities rather than the whole day.
Preschool Classroom Daily Schedule
A preschool classroom daily schedule implementation can be just as important as the tool by itself. How we add a new tool to our classroom will determine the success of that tool within the daily classroom activities.
Some tips for success in the implementation of a preschool classroom daily schedule are to start using the tool with smaller goals through demonstration of the new tool. Gradually build the visual story board to activities for the full morning. Start with three activities and each day build the number of activities shown on the visual board. Model and practice the use of the visual story board for proper use and function. Monitor the classroom effectiveness for the visual schedule and or the child’s effectiveness of the visual story board.
Story boards when used effectively can benefit the entire classroom not just those who have special needs. The placement of a story board or visual schedule needs to be in a central location where it can be seen most of the day. This helps a child’s stress to be minimal to gain more effective learning time. The story board or visual schedule will play a huge foundational piece in a classroom for the entire school year.
Daily Visual Schedule
You can make a daily visual schedule by identifying daily routines, gathering visuals, teaching the schedule consistently, and providing support once the new system is in place. If you unable to have the time to make your daily visual schedule I am here to help. Click the image below to get this resource, save time, and start teaching. Click the image to learn more about this classroom tool.
More resources:
Calm Down Corner Blog
Calm Down Strategies
Parent Resource https://challengingbehavior.org/docs/backpack/BackpackConnection_routines_visual-schedules.pdf
10 Reasons to Use a Visual Schedule
The Power of Visual Schedules
