I started teaching pre-K for the first time this year, but not only that, I had the same pre-K class EVERY day. I would plan a lesson for each day, and most days, there was always so much time left over. I felt like I was just "filling time" in many lessons.
I tried art centers some days, but it was so KAH-RAZY those days that I didn't even consider having them everyday. Then I read this, and the way the "Little Art Teacher" used centers seemed SO much simpler, so much better. Before, I would have one table cutting and another gluing or painting, while a third did something simple. (Cutting and gluing might seem simple, but they are 4! Learning to cut paper and only use a small amount of glue are major skills.) It makes a lot more sense to have kids do more centers that they can basically do on their own. I started with the pre-K in my last school, and it was so much calmer. Now, at my new school, I have centers with my Kindergarten classes, too.
At this point, I have two centers that have not changed. We have blocks each time. I bought a lego type block on clearance. Then, the pre-k aide at my other school, told me that she had pulled a few different things out of the trash that we could use. In came another set of legos, though they don't work with my other set, a set of wooden blocks, and a bucket of plastic shapes that are generally used as math manipulatives.
Playdough is another center that we've kept each class. At this point, I've just let the students do as they wished, but I will start having them work on skills as well.
The last table is the main lesson table. This is where I teach the lesson that I would normally have tried to stretch to fit the whole time. Sometimes this means we spend more days on lessons, but, for the most part, I am much more relaxed about this class.
I have a few kinks to work out. Our transitions aren't great, but at least I don't have students finished with their drawing in 10 minutes where I am trying to get them to work on it longer or have them do a "free time" procedure for the rest of the class.
I have also started using these different blocks and playdough for my older classes to use when they finish a lesson. So far, I am happier with how that is working as well.
If you are struggling with "filling time" for your younger students, I do suggest giving art centers a try.
(And thank you for the idea!)
