One of our regular activities is our group meeting(s). Most commonly, we break into two groups. Kelly usually works with the younger children, while I have the older. The two age groupings allow for the attention span differences. The older group will be together a half hour and often quite a bit longer.

I will discuss with the children our current projects and use the group time to focus on the activities. On many occasions we have a theme like our upcoming trip to the Wildlife Museum (see below). This time is also used to reinforce the use of materials that are out and available.

Occasionally, our group time is actually done in a circle. Other times, as you can see in the above pictures, we may use the couch or work at the table.

Circle Time is also a good time to reinforce some of the positive ways to communicate and stress cooperation. We will discuss any issues, conflicts or problems that may be going on and try to find some possible resolutions.

So often parents want to know what their child does during the day. The childÔs report usually is at best sketchy or many times theyÕll report the thing that was done at the end of the day. Sometimes itÕs: ÒI playedÓ or ÒI donÕt remember.Ó

There are times that I will video tape the activities. The pictures in the left column offer an example of the many things we do in a short period of time. In talking about our upcoming trip to the wildlife museum, we read a number of books, I reintroduced our wild animal nesting cups and we played animal dominos. Using a video camera allows me to pick a few frames that capture the different children in a ÒbetterÓ pose and then make a composite of scene.