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I get asked a lot about our Kindergarten schedule from a variety of people. Sometimes parents, other teachers, or even people not in education at all say things like, “When I was in Kindergarten we took naps!” and they are curious about what it looks like today. I even hear, “What do you do all day?” Well, trust me, we are busy! If you have known me for a while or been around this site, you know that I am a huge advocate for play in the classroom. I am very blessed to teach in a place where play is not only supported but a part of every Kindergarten classroom daily. Due to this, I have been asked a lot about how that fits into our day. I thought it would be helpful to share our Kindergarten schedule with you!
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Before sharing my schedule, I just want to state that every classroom is different in every school around the world. What works for one doesn’t work for another, and schedules often vary based on district requirements, bus scheduling, etc.
I also know that sadly, several Kindergarten teachers are simply not allowed to have play in their classrooms. This is so disheartening, and I hope a change is near for them! If that is the case for you, I suggest reading 10 Ways to Incorporate More Play into Your Classroom. I hope you can find some inspiration!
And be sure to check out this full day Transitional Kindergarten schedule for even more examples of how to include play in the classroom!
My schedule for Kindergarten is just to give you a glimpse into our day since I have been asked so much about it. I am not going into full detail in this post about each aspect of our day. But I hope to answer the main question of “What do we do all day?”
Of course – I would love to hear from you anytime with more questions!
*I currently teach Transitional Kindergarten, however, this schedule is very similar to when I taught Kindergarten (see schedule linked above).
8:35-9:00 – arrival, breakfast, morning work
Our morning work consists of unpacking, signing in, fine motor tasks, and play.
9:15-9:30 – number corner, calendar
I recently made the switch to number corner and calendar in the morning and I LOVE it – I really feel like for my class and preferences, this flows better in the morning vs. later in the day during math.
9:30-11:00 – literacy (science/ss integration)
Our literacy block focuses on mini lessons, writing time, a LOT of reading and read alouds, and free-flowing centers, where students are moving through their choices and I am meeting with small groups.
Want to know more about free-flowing centers? You can learn all about how they work in the P.L.A.Y. course (request your invite!).
11:00-11:45 – lunch/recess
11:50-12:10 – rest/story
We don’t sleep or take naps, but we do spend some time with the lights out just taking it easy with a story/regrouping. These kids are very young and the day is busy!
12:15-1:00 – classroom play/centers (kitchen, sensory, blocks, etc.)
This is when my kids make their plan to play in our classroom. We have a kitchen area, blocks, cars, LEGOS, puzzles, and tons more.
Our room is set up so that our work areas are actually integrated into play areas. You won’t find toys on the outskirts of the room, rather the centers are all throughout and in well defined spaces.
Kids decide on a plan, but are allowed to change their plan and move freely between areas. During this time I support the development of social-emotional skills, as well as work on academics in authentic ways as they come up naturally through play.
For instance, if I have a student who isn’t able to count with one-to-one correspondence, I may build a LEGO tower with him and count the blocks. If a student cannot read CVC words, we may do word puzzles together or read books.
This is a time that they are continually learning and it is SO important for their development. I can’t imagine our day without it!
Keep in mind they are allowed to free play, and I do not interrupt their play. Rather, if they are interested in playing and learning with me, I may approach them, but I never interrupt them.
For instance, if a child was already immersed in building legos, I would never go over there and make them count them. It’s only if we have started building together or they show an interest.
1:00-1:50 – math
Math is a similar structure to literacy. Routine is VERY important at this age and they thrive when they have similar systems in place throughout the day.
We have mini lessons, number talks, and free-flowing math centers (similar to literacy) where students are freely moving through their choices and I am meeting with small groups.
1:50-2:05 – recess
2:05-2:20 – snack
2:30 – dismissal
Note – early in the year we dedicate WAY more time to dismissal and pack up – it takes us a while to get it down to ten minutes. 😉
Need an EDITABLE template to plan your own schedule? I have the one below for you – snag it at the bottom of the post!
I also get asked the following questions (or receive these comments) sometimes –
Don’t you have standards to meet?
Yes, we are actually a Common Core state so we definitely do! I find that my kids are succeeding because this play is intentional and supporting the whole child.
You must have “high kids” if you have time to play…
No, I actually have kids with all abilities and from all sorts of walks of life and backgrounds. Students qualify for Transitional Kindergarten based on social-emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and academic need – so it’s a busy room! Learning through play supports my kids where they are at, so it is differentiation at its finest!
I wish we could do that!
Trust me, I wish that for you too. It is my hope that developmentally appropriate practices will continue to be spoken for and fought for, and that play can be brought back in every room!
You can grab your free editable schedule template by clicking the large, yellow download button at the end of the post (be sure you have PowerPoint to open)!
Your planning will be so much easier with instant access to:
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117 Responses
Full day kindergarten is new to out province this year. So far I am really enjoying it! We begin at 8:45 and let out at 3:15. We are required to have a lot of play based learning, such as free play both inside and outside daily. I felt as though the first 3-4 weeks the main focus had to be rules, structure, and routine. I had to get the behaviors down before anything else. My biggest issue is that many of our teachers, in particular grade 1 teachers are so against this full day kindergarten implementation. They make comments about the amount of play and the huge disconnect between K and 1. Any advice on addressing the negative Nancy’s?? I strongly see the benefits of play. It’s too bad others do not.
Hi Jay! I agree it can be so hard when not everyone is on board with the importance of play. I think it is something that takes time and a lot of learning, collaboration, etc at the district level too and not just individual schools and teachers. My opinion (and I say this having taught 1st grade as well) is that kindergarten is NOT 1st grade, just as 1st grade is not 2nd grade…. we are not preparing kindergarteners for 1st grade by expecting them to learn 1st grade things. That is partly why I am not a huge fan of the term “kindergarten readiness” because I believe that it puts unneeded pressure on parents and pre-k teachers that the point of pre-k is to prepare for kindergarten. When it is SO much more than that. Just as the point of kindergarten is not solely to prepare kids for 1st grade, and so on all the way down the grade levels. Each grade level is unique and while yes, they flow together and we want vertical alignment, we also have to remember that pushing kids to do things too early is not the answer either. (off of soap box now haha) 🙂 In my honest opinion, 1st graders should have time to play too! We are currently working on that in my district I believe and working together so that there isn’t that disconnect that you mention. Feel free to email me anytime to chat about anything if you need help or support!
I teach in a small school with about 120 students from Kindergarten to grade twelve. We have only nine teachers including our principal so it is such a supportive environment from all around! I teach Kindergarten and Grade One. The Kindergarten students attend school all day on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and every other Friday. This is my daily schedule:
8:30-8:52–Classroom is open. Students have breakfast, visit, start their work for the day.
8:52–Stop for O Canada
8:53-11:02–Work period. Students choose various works (math, science, social studies, blocks, reading, drama, etc.). I work with small groups and individual students. Students make the snack for the class each day. We do a read aloud during snack time.
11:02–11:17–Recess (students may choose library for reading or playground)
11:17-11:45–Trips. . . Monday and Friday–Technology Literacy with the grade 2/3 class. Tuesday and Thursday–School Library. Wednesday (full hour)–walk to public library.
11:45-12:10–Guided Writing
12:10-12:35–Lunch (I am in the room until 12:20 and then grade 6 and 7 lunch helpers are with students. When they are done eating they may read or draw or colour).
12:35-1:00–Recess (library or playground, student choice)
1:00-1:30–Jolly Phonics (K days) or Leveled Literacy Intervention (1 days)
1:30-2:00–Leveled Literacy Intervention (every day), K’s are reading with students from grade 2, 4, or 3
2:00-2:18–Recess (library or playground)
2:18–2:50–Physical Education (Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays we combine grade 1,2, and 3 so we can have some prep time)
2:50–classroom clean-up, talking circle, yoga, music and calendar time
I’m starting in a district this year that has zero play, and only 15 min a day of recess. They seem to think making sight words with playdo is “play”. I’m coming from a district where play and a developmentally appropriate practice was hugely supported- in fact, they hated us to use any kind of worksheets. Now I am going somewhere the complete opposite and am having a really hard time with it. I don’t know what to do. Any advice on how to try to incorporate play or get through to administration is appreciated!
Kiddos arrive between 8:00-8:15. Breakfast in the Classroom 8:15-8:35.
8:35-9:00 Morning Work
9:00-10:20 Reading block. Our reading curriculum must be used with fidelity and we are required to do 90 minutes of ELA instruction.
10:25-10:45, 10:45-11:05 recess then lunch. We call it eat then play.
11:05-11:10 cool down
11:10-12:00 here’s where I’d normally do centers and small groups but my group of kids this year aren’t quite ready for that kind of social or academic skill. So instead it’s reinforcement of our reading block through coloring and cutting/pasting
12:00-1:10 math
1:10-1:40 specials
1:40-2:00 science/social studies
2:00-2:20 snack
2:20-3:00 play-doh. Each student has an agenda that had to be signed by me with a note on behavior and parent reminders EACH DAY it takes a while and I use the play doh time to do this and as a positive behavior reinforcement
3:00-3:15 story time
3:15-3:30 classroom clean up and dismissal.
What does your daily 5 during the reading block consist of?
Hi Cheri! I follow the book fairly closely as far as what our choices are. So they are Read to Self, Work on Writing, Word Work, Listen to Reading, and Read to Someone. I also add in technology. I do not tell my kids which one they are doing, rather they choose (except for there is a rotation for technology because the supplies are limited). It is during this time that I pull small groups and work with kids individually. Hope that helps!
I am so happy reading all the posts and hearing the efforts to keep play in our classrooms. This is missing from many other kindergarten blogs I check in with. I especially enjoyed the European teachers perspective. I teach in a 2.5 hour public school program. We have 2 half day sessions so you can imagine our struggle to keep some free choice/play in our schedule. Thanks Alex for being a great advocate!
So glad this post is helpful to you Janet! Play is so important, and I really hope that soon it will be in all kindergarten classrooms again! I think it’s amazing that you are adding it into your schedule with that limited amount of hours.
Can you tell me how you put your play center items in your actual centers? A picture maybe? I ut mine on the outside per say so they aren’t in he math centers or ELA centers. Thanks!
Hey Andrea! I don’t have pictures of my classroom to share right now, sorry! But I do integrate play items into centers. For instance, their work tables that they may choose to be at may be right next to the kitchen or right next to blocks. It’s amazing how quickly they distinguish when it is/isn’t time to play with the toys. They even use clipboards and lay in the block center to work on writing, etc. It truly is all “their space” and they know what time of day we use which materials. Feel free to email me anytime if you want to chat more about it! 🙂
When I started teaching Kindergarten this year I was shocked to learn that no play was happening not because of any policy but because there were literally no toys in the school for K aside from Math manipulatives. We have a pretty large school and this past year we had 5 full kindergarten classes (next year we’re only going to have 4 and this will be the norm from now on) so rather than trying to furnish 5 classrooms with toys, we came up with a way to divide the resources we did have (I had a lot of toys myself and there were a few things other teachers had plus admin gave us a budget to get a few things like a wooden play kitchen). What we did is that we set up each room with different toys and play focuses (Math, Science, Socials/PE, Art, and LA but there’s fluidity) and the children from each class get to play in each room on a different day throughout the week. They rotate to a different room each day so by the end of the week they’ve been to each play space and done different play activities. We’ve found this to be very effective and the children look forward to changing rooms each afternoon. I clearly post what room the children are going to next to my schedule each day and I found it was the first thing children looked at when they came in each morning. In the third term we even rotated the kids in groups of 4 from each class so they got to socialise with children from other classes which will help get them ready for Grade 1 where they will all be mixed up. It’s also helped them to feel safer with more than just their classroom teacher so if a teacher happens to be away there is always a trusted adult they can go to.
Anyway, back to the day schedule. This is what I did last year.
8:05-8:40 Children trickle in and unpack and then sit down to work on sign in books (they write their name in these EVERY day starting with just first name in Sept and by the end of the year their full first and last name all in lower case. Early in the year they also write words from around the room and later they start writing short “news” messages in what I call Kindergarten writing (which will be initial sounds for most to start with)
8:40-9:00 Calendar
9:00-9:30 Language Arts – includes phonics, sight words, word work etc. I use a lot of interactive notebook activities which the kids love.
9:30-9:40 bathroom, water break, change shoes and get ready for recess.
9:40-10:00 Snack/Recess outside
10:00-10:40 – Math
10:40-11:20 – Special
11:20-12 lunch recess
12:00 – 12:30 Lunch
12:30 – 1:00 sharing, additional LA or Math
1:00-2:00 Centers (covers all subject areas)
2:00-2:20 pack up, story
2:25 Bus students leave
2:40 all other students leave (I usually just read another story in this time since about half my class was gone on the bus)
I’m planning to do something very similar this year with a few changes.
8:05-8:20 Good Morning Tubs (from brown bag teacher: https://thebrownbagteacher.blogspot.ca/2016/01/a-1st-grade-morning-work-alternative.html)
8:20-8:40 Sign in books
8:40-9:00 Morning Meeting (includes sharing, phonics songs and morning message)
9:00-9:30 Language Arts
9:30-9:55 Recess
10-10:40 Specials
10:40-11 Calendar Math
11:00 – 11:30 Math
11:30-12 Lunch Recess
12- 12:30 Lunch
12:30-2:00 Centers
2 -2:20 pack up, story, songs and rhymes
2:25 bus students go
2:40 everyone else dismissed.
Thank you so much for sharing your schedule Hannah! I loved reading it, and wow! It sounds like you and your team really did some brainstorming and collaboration for your kids to have play – that is wonderful!!
I love your schedule! We are not allowed to have “play” but I know how necessary it is so I incorporate it within my lessons! Even just reading a book to the class I have my stuffed animals that come out to play and I noticed a HUGE change in my class and focus. We always have puzzles (math and reading and social studies), keep Playdough alive, Legos will be coming this year and so will blocks and trains. My schedule is a long and rigorous schedule which is our schools choice but I try to make it as fun as possible! Our school is from 8-3 for Kinders/1st and 8-3:30 for 2-7th.
8-8:30 arrival/morning work/morning meeting
8:30-9:15 is our morning learning songs and reading lesson. (I give them opportunities to turn and talk, move around the classroom as we discuss various things about the morning and lots of movement times!!)
9:15-10:40 is my daily five centers which only lasts about 8 minutes each station with reflection and transition time built in.
10:45-11:15 lunch
11:15-11:25 bathroom/transition time
11:25-12 specials (we have art, music, PE, and computer)
12-1:30 math… GoNoodle Airtime and relaxing videos is our favorite! My class was the only one to learn about all the 50 states!! We flip-flop. We teach and small group one day then the next day they have full centers to practice the lesson.
1:30-2 recess
2-2:30 science/SS
2:30-2:45 pack up and dismissal
We have a jam packed day but it turned out really well. The kids responded to the play I incorporated in our classroom!
I love that you are so passionate about incorporating play as much as you can, even though you are tied to a pretty rigorous schedule. I love how you have noticed a shift in your class and their focus too – I am sure they love all that you are doing to make their class more fun and engaging!
Thanks for sharing your schedule – I love reading what other classes are up to, and other readers who land on this post do too!
Hi! I am a portuguese teacher, teaching in Portugal and I can see a big difference between countries. In my school, in kindergarten classroom, we start at 9.20 and have a whole school “Good morning meeting” with songs and a “word of the week” talk. At 9.30 we go to our classroom and have the calendar time, some whole class word work, read aloud stories, math games, centres, Bilingual Project (portuguese-english). Then the children are allowed to free play until outdoor recess time at 11. At 11.30 is lunch time and out door recess until 2pm. In the afternoom children play through centres and finish some Works and then have free play. Snack is at 3pm and outdoor recess at 4pm until parentes come to pick up them. So we have more than 3 hours of free play. But in kindergarten we don’t teach how to read or math standards as you have. They only start to learn this in 1st year. So basically, your kindergarten is our 1st grade. And in our first grade they have 3 hours of free play and outdoor recess too. As a teacher and a mother, would be very struggle to have my kids in a school that doesn’t have times to play. Hope one day, someone can change that system, don’t give up 🙂 (sorry for my english)
I am so jealous of a lot of these schedules!!
8:30-9 morning work drawers (games we’ve previously played) unpack
9-945 writing- Lucy calkins
8:45-1045 math block- whole group lesson and calendar
1045-1110 lunch
1115-1245 literacy block- guided reading and daily 5
1245-115 recess
115-130 restroom water get ready for related arts
130-215 related arts
215-235 math centers
235-3 science or social studies
3-315 snack and pack up
We are required to have a 90 min math block and 90 min literacy block. The state of TNjust passed a law that k-1 students should have 3 15 min recesses a day. I will be interested to see how this is incorporated. Especially since we average 180 kindergarteners each year, it takes almost 15 min to get them all out there.
I wish we had more time for play!
I am lucky if I can get in 15 mins of free play time at the end of the day….and that’s only if we have met the other “time suckers” in literacy and math. Our day starts at 8:15 and they leave at 3:15. Our principal asked what we thought we should try and do for next year….I said, “please remember that kindergarten students need to play.” And her response was, “Well, only if it’s purposeful.” I couldn’t believe she said it, all play is purposeful, but what she wants is “teacher interaction” in all of it. 21 years of teaching kindergarten I am starting to feel that we will never get back to developmentally appropriate practice in the early years
Yes! Yes! Yes! I feel the same way…22 years of teaching, most of them in Kindergarten and this past year was like teaching robots…I couldn’t let them play…it was frowned upon! So sad!!!! I had 5 year olds that hated coming to school…
I totally agree. I’ve been in K for 17 years and have seen the decline in developmentally appropriate practices. At our school, we are expected to have our students in full rigor at all times. We have a 15 minute recess which includes transition times to and from specials and lunch. So really, the children are only ending up with 10 minutes of play. It is so sad! I incorporate a “Friday Free Time” for about 25 minutes each week and even by doing that I feel like I’m going against administration. I am going to look for more ways to incorporate more play during our small group rotation.