Arrival/Greeting Time: Children enter the classroom at their own pace. Parents and Guardians are encouraged to stay until children are ready for them to leave. Children have choices about whether to spend time with books and carpet toys or interact with adults and one another. Once all children have arrived, adults share the daily announcements.
Days of the Week We have a strip posted with the days of the week and whether each day is a school day or a home day. The clip indicates which day we are on and we count how many school days we have left.
Greeting Time Song Visuals of expectations at greeting time are posted. We point to each picture as we sing the words to our greeting time song: “Eyes are watching, ears are listening, mouth is closed, hands are still. Feet are very quiet, you should really try it, at circle time, at circle time.”
Question of the Day Children answer the question of the day and then they count the yes/no answers and indicate it on the number line.
Greeting Board- Sample from Beginning of the year The greeting board is numbered. We have the picture of our small group tables with a picture of each teacher. We discuss and show a picture of each child in the small group they will be in. We talk about which area table each small group will meet at.
Greeting Board- Sample from the middle of the year The greeting board is numbered. As you see in the picture, we may mix up the numbers. School days and home days are written and discussed. We may talk about how many school days there are and how many home days there are. We discuss which one has more. We introduce new items into different areas of the classroom. We put the area symbol and name on the board. As you see, the picture, the name and symbol don't match. We discuss this.
Greeting Board-End of the Year Sample The greeting board is numbered. School days and home days are written and discussed. We may talk about how many school days there are and how many home days there are. We discuss how many days are left in the week. If a problem arises in the classroom, we may put it on the greeting board to discuss and come up with solutions. We introduce new items into different areas of the classroom. We put the area symbol and name on the board. As you see, the picture, the first letter of house is an M. We discuss and change the letter to what it needs to be.
Arrival Time Children may use this to express how they would like to be greeted when coming in the classroom.