Teachers develop a classroom schedule that respects children’s natural rhythms–avoiding excessive transitions that cut into the flow of sustained play and deepened learning. Maintaining continuity and flow means:

• Reducing to a minimum the number of group transitions from one activity to another.
• Allowing significant amounts of time for uninterrupted free play and project work.
• Building flexibility into the classroom schedule to accommodate the extended interest of children in certain activities.
• Allowing for flexible teacher supervision between indoors and outdoors, enabling one teacher to facilitate small group work in the classroom while the other teacher supervises the larger group on the playground or piazza.
• Helping children with classroom maintenance routines to reduce prolonged cleanup times.
• Creating fun ways to move as a group from one activity to another, avoiding any feeling of regimentation (e.g. imitating the movement of animals as opposed to walking obediently in a straight line).

Our image of the child guides how we organize our day. As a community, we must devise schedules that respect children’s natural rhythms, avoiding excessive transitions that cut into the flow of sustained play and deepened learning. Schedules should be flexible to accommodate children’s extended interest in a certain experience.