I read this post earlier this summer, but realize I didn't leave a comment. I cannot agree more with you on the importance of "every day" - I have found that when I keep our schedule predictable, everything is better; behavior, student engagement, and learning in general. When holidays come around and I am excited to do seasonal activities that take us off our routine, it never fails - we go off the rails! Last year I scaled way back on making as many changes, and things went much better. Lesson learned!
Kids love when they know the routine and everything is predictable. They ooze confidence. They can put all of their brain energy into learning instead of trying to figure out what the heck is going on. Plus, if you do stick with your schedule every day, the few days that you do plan something different are so much easier for them to handle. When we do special projects, I try to just fit them into our already existing blocks of time. And I try to keep our schedule in place up to the last day of school so that things don’t get so crazy.
I read this post earlier this summer, but realize I didn't leave a comment. I cannot agree more with you on the importance of "every day" - I have found that when I keep our schedule predictable, everything is better; behavior, student engagement, and learning in general. When holidays come around and I am excited to do seasonal activities that take us off our routine, it never fails - we go off the rails! Last year I scaled way back on making as many changes, and things went much better. Lesson learned!
Kids love when they know the routine and everything is predictable. They ooze confidence. They can put all of their brain energy into learning instead of trying to figure out what the heck is going on. Plus, if you do stick with your schedule every day, the few days that you do plan something different are so much easier for them to handle. When we do special projects, I try to just fit them into our already existing blocks of time. And I try to keep our schedule in place up to the last day of school so that things don’t get so crazy.