needed picture/clip-art for circle time

[GH123]

Hello,

I need a visual or picture for childen sitting criss-cross applesauce at group time. Does anyone have a source?

[moonbeamsinajar]

I just found some yesterday. Go to google or yahoo, click on"images" in either search engine, and then type in sitting in circle, or children in circle. Lots of pictures should come up.

[PennStateCutie]

If you go to microsoft office online clip art: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/cl...CL100570201033 and type "hands raised" in the search bar you should find a pic on the 2nd page - if you can't figure it out - PM me your email address and I'll send it to you!

[Peachyness]

Good tips above or what about taking a picture of your class sitting criss cross applesauce?

[GH123]

Great - I just printed off a sign for tomorrow!

I have general classroom signs/rules but staying still during group time is very hard for several. I need a sign specifically for this time. Thanks so much to everyone!

[sarzacsmom]

I don't make my kids sit criss cross applesause-- and I don't insist that they sit perfectly still--- I don't sit perfectly stll and i don't sit criss cross applesause either. I think it's an awful lot to ask of a young child to sit in a way that i find uncomfortable and distracting. I have round circle time cushions and my rule for sitting at circle is bottom must stay on the cushion and the cushion must stay on the floor. I rarely need to speak to the children about wiggling around during cirlce and I find that they pay more attention--- I actually intertwine movement into my cirlceitme -- we clap our hands when we say the alphabet, hop up and down when we say the months, bend over and touch our toes when we say the days of the week, sit and kcik our feet on the floor while we count to 10---things like that---children are going to wiggle---it's part of the nature of children-- so why punish them for it--why not use it to their advantage(and mine) as a learning tool ? I have found that the children actually retain the information more easily when they are allowed to sit comfortably and movement is intergrated into their learning time.

[teachder]

I don't punish my students for not sitting criss cross, but when they get in the way of another student being able to see, they are asked (by that student) to sit down. I have 99% of my students sitting criss cross at every circle time without being asked or reminded and sometimes we get into really long discussions about our learning targets and they can sit there for 30 mins with that 1% being the only one not sitting still. No one ever asks if we can stop talking or if we can "go already". These 4/5 year olds want to be engaged and interested in the topic I think if it's boring they will loss interest, but we are not all song and dance either, they are just into the topic and love discussing and sharing ideas and being heard. Plus they know that we have plenty of "play time" and "movement time" later.

[Lead Teacher]

Sorry... I tend to ramble on. A good icon may be a picture of a pretzel.

I have a class of 20 children, and I'd say that about 8 of them have some learning issues (possible disabilities). I have been meeting with my supervisors and assistant to figure out what we can do to not only help the children all be successful, but to keep our sanity. (I feel awful for the children who are trying to learn and participate, because of the disruptions we pause to address.) We came up with having three arches of a rainbow (the inner 2 get smaller - large, medium, small - 3 different colors). On the outer circle, I have put small, laminated pictures of pretzels at each point a child should sit. They are to try to see the pretzel in between their legs as they are sitting like a "pretzel" or "criss cross applesauce." As I excuse a group of children for snack or lunch, the rest of the children move up closer to me onto the middle arch. The next group of children are excused and the remaining children move up to the smallest arch. We talk about our story or sing a song or clap the syllables of our names while the others are washing and going to their table.
Our tables are labeled with different pictures, and I have a book of the icons to show the children what table they should go to. It also includes a picture of a pretzel.
Children should not be expected to sit perfectly. So far my group has been able to put their bottoms on the pretzel with only a few being able to see it everytime and that is okay - it works for us. You may want to shorten your circle time, too if children are having a hard time sitting and paying attention.