New to Kindergarten

[Luv2TeachK]

Hello. I will be teaching kindergarten next year. I currently teach third grade. I am really excited about the change. Does anyone have any helpful hints/activities to pass on? Is there anything I should purchase that would be beneficial in my classroom? Thanks for all of the advice.

 

[PattiMSKteacher]

K stuff I use and ideas

Daily things I use...Anything with letters, (esp. short vowels)! And numbers, 0-10 is easy to find 11-20 can be much harder. Picture cards, A very big calendar, a clock to teach time, blocks (usually easy to find at garage sales are very good for "fun filled friday")

I would go observe a K class if possible -- now even though its the end of the year, can judge how much they have learned by how much you see them review each day.

 

[SusanB]

Next Year!

Wow, that's quite a jump you're making. I student taught in K and 3rd, and this year I taught K (I much preferred it to 3rd). This year I used flashcards for so many different activities. I used to help my class learn high frequency words, and to reinforce this at home, our team sent out a letter with a list of the words, along with a baggie and 18 blank flashcards to make and keep at home for practice. I also used them for numbers 0-30. Once students were identified with weaknesses, I would make letter or number cards specifically for that child. In addition, our reading consultant was made aware of letter/sound weaknesses, such that the child was being double dosed throughout the week.

I feel that even after this year, there are things I would do differently next year. We have a great support system at our school which has helped me immensely this year. One of the easiest things I did was to observe my peer teachers (one who is a 10 year veterern) and to observe rooms at other sites. Take a notepad, because you will get so many ideas. Also taking pictures is helpful if the teacher does not mind. Good luck to you next year - as long as you're not afraid to ask for help, you'll be fine! =)

Susan

 

[janbullock]

K teacher

I used the students names for teaching letters and sounds. We had a name of the day and I really stressed the letters and sounds. We cheered the letters while the student used magnetic letters to spell his/her name. I related any and everything to the students names. One kid named Chase helped to teach the Ch sound. I would say "who in our class has a name that begins like "ch". They love it and they learn to read each others names really fast. You can link them to the sight words as well. They are really interested in each other! Also, writers workshop is a great writing teaching tool for Kindergarten. I used it everyday beginning with the mini-lesson, individual conferences, and closing. My students had great success in writing. Also, don't be afraid to play games with the kids. We played alphabet soup each week. If the student knew the letter they were holding, they stayed out. If not, they went into the soup. In no time at all, the soup pot was empty! It is all about keeping them active without worksheets!!