Time young children spend in learning centers is precious for their development. And yet, it’s one of those strictly school-related activities, which is why we must do our very best to set them up for success.

Creating a successful learning center requires lots of strategic planning and effort. There are many questions you need to answer first, including…

How many centers should you create? 

How long should the center time be? 

What are the centers going to be about? 

How will your students know which centers to go to?

I know, right?! Makes your head spin! And that’s just barely scratching the surface.

Luckily, in over 20 years of teaching, along with 11 years in mentoring early childhood educators, I’ve gained plenty of experience with learning centers, as well as methods for improving and fine-tuning learning centers. 

For this episode of Elevating Early Childhood, I’m going to share my top 5 methods, along with some additional tips to help tie everything together.

Alrighty, Changemakers! Let’s get to it!

Key Takeaways:

- How to create learning centers that set kids up for real success (00:00)

- Questions you NEED to answer before creating a great learning center (01:39)

- Do THIS if you’re having challenges with learning centers (02:35)

- My top methods for fine-tuning your learning center time and make it run smoothly (06:29)

- Method 1: Applying labels so kids could recognize and organize them easier (7:24)

- Method 2: Creating a picture schedule for clarity on the order of their daily activities (8:48)

- Method 3: Making visual routines explaining how each learning center works (10:36)

- Method 4: Adding a visual planning component to your center time (11:54)

- Method 5: Implementing a cleanup routine at the end of center time (15:20)

- Real results from someone who implemented these learning center methods (16:48)

Additional Resources:

- Visit our website to find tons of pre-K teaching resources here:

https://www.pre-kpages.com/

- Get my book “Teach Smarter: Literacy Strategies for Early Childhood Teachers” here:

https://www.pre-kpages.com/teach-smarter-book/

- Learn more about my membership program “Teaching Trailblazers” here:

https://bit.ly/join-teaching-trailblazers

- Get my FREE guide on how to create successful learning centers here:

https://www.pre-kpages.com/center-essentials/

- Get our Teacher Success Bundle:

https://www.pre-kpages.com/products/teacher-success-bundle/

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Elevating Early Childhood is an early education podcast dedicated to helping Pre-K, Preschool, and Kindergarten teachers teach better, save time, and live more.

If you enjoy the podcast, please follow, rate, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform.

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Onward & Upward!

Teaching Trailblazers

Teach Smarter: Literacy Strategies for Early Childhood Teachers