I was wondering if anyone out there has any great tips for transitioning to circle time.  We use things like Jim Gill songs "The Silly Dance Song" and  "The Marching Song," however, we are always looking for new ways to change things up.  Does anyone have a great transitions to circle they would like to share?

This is one of my favorite pictures.  A child made this for me after we studied birds.  Our play area had a wren build her nest where the children watched on a weekly bases as she laid her eggs,the babies hatched, and then fledged the nest. 

One story that comes to mind when I think back to all the children I have cared for in my years of teaching, is about a young man in the first grade.  In 1998 I had worked my way up the ladder at Children's World Learning Center, and became the center director.  I found myself driving the van for our before and after school age program. Everyday I would drop off and  pick up one of the sons of the teacher who taught in the three year old classroom.  He was a quiet young man who had started 1st grade and was in the advanced classes at his school.  We would have deep conversations about what he was doing in school and what he wanted to be when he grew up.  Many times as the year went on he would get sick.  He would throw up in the van or at school and complain of a headache.  At first we thought there had to be something going on at school.  Maybe he was being picked on or there was something bothering him.  We could never figure out what was going on, until one day his mother realized that he never wanted to lay his head down at night.  And, after his baths at night his hair still had a weird smell to it.  Finally, after some tests she received the news that he had a Peanut Brain Tumor that had developed and reached his spine.  He went through Chemo and missed many days of school.  He graduated High-school 2 years ago with many struggles.  I look back on those days and I am so thankful that I had those moments with him discussing things that were important to him. We did not get upset with him for not wanting to go to school all of those days preceding his diagnosis.  As a mom of a son who sometimes pulls the "I don't want to go to school," I think back and I am thankful that somehow I had an understanding and knew on those days he told me he could not get out of the van to  go to school that I listen to him. Although at the time he had no fever/ reason for me to allow him to stay in that van and go back to the center with me.  It does change how I react when my child tells me he/she is not feeling well, even when I am running late for work and have no idea how the day will work out.  They come first and he help me to always remember this.

I have so many favorite Early Childhood books and this is one of them. When my twelve year old daughter was four she would ask to read this book about citizenship over and over again and it became one of my favorites. 

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go....

Dr. Seuss, Oh! The Places You'll Go!
US author & illustrator (1904 - 1991)

The start

Early Childhood has been the focus of my career and life.  When people work in the field that comes naturally to them, work does not feel like a job, but more like a calling. That is how I feel about Early Childhood because I realized this is where my heart lies. I look forward to Blogging about my path through the Early Childhood world.