/circle-time

name: circle-time
description: Plan circle time, morning meeting, or opening routine for PreK-2 classrooms. Use this whenever a teacher asks for a preschool, kindergarten, 1st grade, or 2nd grade morning meeting, greeting, song, calendar/weather, theme discussion, movement activity, story time, SEL check-in, or closing ritual. Triggers on "plan circle time for monday", "morning meeting for kindergarten about feelings", "preschool circle time songs", "what should we do for circle time about fall", "calendar and weather for 1st grade morning meeting", "PreK morning meeting plan for the letter B", "give me a 15 minute circle time about apples", "2nd grade morning meeting SEL check-in", "circle time plan rainy day indoor", "kindergarten greeting song and story", "morning meeting routine for first week of school", "transition songs for preschool circle time", "PreK circle time about community helpers", and similar PreK-2 morning-meeting requests. Produces a full, ready-to-run plan with original lyrics set to public-domain tunes, picture-book suggestions, age-calibrated discussion, and transition cues.

circle-time

Plan ready-to-run PreK-2 morning meetings sized to a requested duration and calibrated to age. Every plan is printable and teacher-runnable without additional prep.

When to trigger

Use this skill whenever a user asks for a circle-time plan, morning meeting, opening routine, calendar/weather segment, greeting or closing song, or transition/SEL activity for PreK through 2nd grade. Teachers may phrase the request many ways — trust the description keywords, not a strict format. If the only thing missing is the age band, ask one clarifying question. Otherwise proceed with defaults.

Inputs

Parse these from the user's request:

• **Age band** — PreK (3-4), K (5-6), 1st (6-7), 2nd (7-8). Required.
• **Theme** — weather, feelings, letter/number of the day, seasonal, SEL topic, community helpers, nature, book-of-the-week. If absent, suggest two and pick one.
• **Duration** — 10, 15, or 20 minutes. Default 15.
• **Group size** — small (≤8), medium (9-15), large (16+). Default medium.
• **Accommodations** — sensory, bilingual/ELL, mobility, nonverbal/AAC.
• **Calendar/weather included?** — default yes for K-2, no for PreK.
• **Date / day-of-week** — optional.

Age inference (check before asking)

| Phrase | Band | |---|---| | "preschool," "PreK," "3-year-olds," "daycare" | PreK | | "kindergarten," "kinder," "5-year-olds," "TK" | K | | "1st grade," "first graders" | 1st | | "2nd grade," "second graders" | 2nd | | "morning meeting" alone, no age | ask once |

If age is missing and you can't infer, ask ONE question:

> Quick check — which age band? **PreK · K · 1st · 2nd**

Accept freeform ("PreK circle time about apples, 15 min, small group, sensory-sensitive child") or structured prompts.

Workflow

1. Parse inputs; fill defaults. 2. Compute per-segment time budget from the age calibration table below. 3. Load `references/tunes.md` and compose original lyrics to a public-domain tune that matches the theme, age, and meter. 4. Load `references/books.md` and pick one primary and one alternative picture book matching theme + age (title + author). 5. Load `references/finger-plays.md` for movement; pick one that fits group size; always include a seated alternative. 6. Load `references/sel-frameworks.md` and choose the check-in protocol (thumbs, colors, feelings wheel, one-word share) appropriate to age. 7. Load `references/transitions.md` for one-line transition cues between every adjacent segment. 8. If any accommodation is flagged, load `references/accommodations.md` and apply substitutions inline (not as footnotes). 9. Assemble the markdown plan in the 8-section output order below.

Output — required sections in this order

Every plan must include every section below (calendar is included only when requested). Place a one-line transition cue between every adjacent pair of segments.

1. **Header** — theme, age band, duration, date (if supplied), total estimated time, and a materials list. 2. **Greeting (2-3 min)** — named greeting ritual (handshake, wave, name song, ball pass) with teacher script. 3. **Song (2-3 min)** — full original lyrics (≥2 verses or 4 lines), tune attribution in the form "to the tune of [public-domain tune]," and hand motions if applicable. 4. **Calendar / Weather / Attendance (2-3 min)** — only if the user requested it or the age band defaults to yes. Include day-of-week chant, weather observation prompt, and attendance cue. 5. **Theme Discussion (3-5 min)** — 3-5 open-ended questions + 2-3 vocabulary anchor words + an optional visual-aid suggestion. 6. **Movement or Finger-Play (2-3 min)** — named activity with step cues AND a seated alternative listed inline. 7. **Story Time (3-5 min)** — primary book (title + author) + one alternative (title + author) + 2-3 pre-reading prompts + 2-3 post-reading prompts. 8. **SEL Check-in (1-2 min)** — feelings protocol (thumbs / colors / feelings wheel / one-word share) with teacher script. 9. **Closing Ritual (1-2 min)** — transition-out song or chant + preview of the next activity.

Between every adjacent segment, insert a one-line teacher transition cue (e.g. "Criss-cross applesauce, hands in your lap — it's song time!").

Total per-segment times must sum within ±2 minutes of the requested total duration.

Age calibration

| Band | Max segment | Language | Movement | Calendar math | |------|-------------|----------|----------|---------------| | PreK | 5 min | 5-7 word sentences, concrete nouns | Lots, frequent standing | No | | K | 10 min | Short sentences, 1-2 new vocab words | Moderate, ≥1 standing activity | Yesterday/today/tomorrow | | 1 | 10 min | Full sentences, 2-3 vocab words | Moderate | + days-remaining, number-of-day, patterns | | 2 | 12 min | Longer discussion, early writing prompts in closing | Any | + date-math, early place-value |

Discussion questions escalate from concrete ("