"Rug Time" (Circle Time)

In our home, we usually have Class Time after breakfast. Before we enter the classroom we go over some of the rules (i.e., no yelling, no running, put work back on the shelf…). We then always start our class sessions with “Rug Time”. CC suggested the name after watching it on one of her favorite shows, Sid the Science Kid. This is our Rug Time area.

Our Rug Time consists mostly of singing songs with maracas. It is mostly CC and I who do the singing but RJ’s singing/mumbling is slowly starting to improve. You’ll notice that everything in the Rug Time area is in English and in Spanish. We do sing all of the songs in both languages.

Although, CC and RJ can’t read yet, I still want to have this area for them so that they can become familiar with the calendar, the days of the week and the months of the year. As we progress, I plan to change and add Rug Time activities. Here is a close up of The Calendar/El Calendario and the Days of the Week/Los Días de la Semana.

We begin at the Calendar where CC moves the clear yellow marker to highlight the date. We then sing the following song as we point to the days on the calendar. The underlined blanks are changed accordingly. (Both are sort of to the tune of “Frere Jacques”)

Yesterday was ____day, ____day, ____day,
Yesterday was ___day all day long.
But today is ____day, ____day, ____day
Today is ______day all day long.
Tomorrow will be ____day, ____day, ____day
Tomorrow will be _____day all day long.
But today is ____day, ____day, ____day,
Today is ____day all day long.

Ayer fue Domingo, Domingo, Domingo
Ayer fue Domingo todo el día.
Pero ahora es Lunes, Lunes, Lunes,
Ahora es Lunes todo el día.
Mañana sera Martes, Martes, Martes
Mañana sera Martes todo el día.
Pero ahora es Lunes, Lunes, Lunes,
Ahora es Lunes todo el día.

We then, go over the days of the week/los dias de la semana. Although CC can’t read she is usually able to figure out each day by sounding out the first letter. These are the songs we sing:

(to the tune of "Oh My Darling Clementine")

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday Wednesday,Thursday, Friday, Saturday.There are seven days, there are seven days,There are seven days in the week.(repeat)

(to the tune of “The Addams Family")
Siete dias (clap clap)
Siete dias (clap clap)
Siete dias. Siete dias
En la semana(clap clap)
Domingo, Lunes
Martes, Miércoles,
Jueves, Viernes,
y Sábado. (repeat)

After we go over the days of the week, we move on to the months of the year/los meses del año. I’ve changed the months of year board a few times to try to find a way that CC and RJ can best understand the concept and relate the months to familiar events. The close up picture below shows the current layout, which seems to be working well. CC loves birthdays and can read ‘mom’, ‘dad’, ‘rj’ and her name so that’s why I chose to include our family's birthdays and those funny cakes. I included the snowman and train in January because CC and RJ had a memorable snow day and a fun family train trip that month. The rest of the drawings are self explanatory.

We also sing these simple songs to review the months of the year. Both are sort to the tune of “Doe a deer”.

January, February, March, April,
May, June, July,
August, September, October, November, December
Oh, these are the months of the year.
Oh, there are twelve months in a year. (repeat)

Enero, Febrero, Marzo, Abril,
Mayo, Junio, Julio,
Agosto, Septiembre, Octubre, Noviembre, Diciembre.
Son los meses del año. Hay doce meses en un año. (repeat)

After these songs, I often ask CC different questions about the months. (i.e., What month is RJ’s birthday on?, What month is Christmas on?, What month comes after March?...) This typically ends Rug Time since CC and RJ are usually eager to start their work. Although sometimes they ask to sing more songs, so we do!