New to Reception how to organise the day

[mollyb]

hi,

I am new to Reception and am just wondering how you go about organising your day.

Presently the mornings work well but the afternoons are long and the children can't sustain concentration.

Help! 

[BenTapestrySupport]

Have you got extended periods of time for the children to do their learning through play? I often found, especially at the time of year, anything longer that 5 minutes listening to me, the majority of the class had switched off. 

In the end I had my day structured so that 'teaching inputs' were placed either end of extended learning opportunities. e.g. Start of day, phonics - Child Initiated time for at least 90min - Maths - Lunch - Literacy - Child Initiated time. 

I could then work with small groups during that C.I time if appropriate, but the main focus for me was to support children in their development based on what they were doing in the things in the environment.