If you are a kindergarten teacher or are going to be a kindergarten teacher you know that Kindergarten is it's own entity! No other grade is as emotionally, physically or mentally challenging as kindergarten, however, in my opinion it offers the greatest rewards!! Today I am linking up with Sharing Kindergarten and some other awesome kinder bloggers to bring you tips on Kindergarten.
Let's face it this quote is true! We all have to be a little crazy to do this job and my biggest advice is to use your craziness as you greatest strength. Kids love when you read with silly voices, belt out the words to "Let it go", and slide down that bumpy slide:) Here are my tips for teaching kindergarten.
Establishing classroom rules and procedures is such a HUGE part of kindergarten. My biggest advice with this one is start day one and model, model, model and when you think they have it model some more! Also it is important to be consistent. It took me a few years to figure that one out:) Your kiddos will respond to you and you will be much more effective if you are consistent.
My second tip is to make learning fun! Our hardest job as kindergarten teachers is to lay that positive foundation and develop our students love of learning. We have huge CCRS standards to cover with that dreaded word rigor but we can all do things to make school and learning fun!
Sing songs, dance and let them move! They are 5 we need to let them be little:) We sing a lot of Harry Kindergarten and Storybot songs in my classroom. I am going to use Gonoodle next year. I also use a lot of Whole Brain teaching techniques with my kinders. We use gestures, magic mirrors, and teach our neighbors to name a few. If you have not heard of or every used Whole Brain Teaching you definitely check it out! You won't regret it!
It is important to celebrate everyone's success! Children thrive in a positive environment. Celebrate the small accomplishments as well as the big ones! It's also ok to celebrate yourself! If your lesson rocked tell someone, you had 100% student engagement tell your teacher neighbor or if you actually got to eat you lunch at lunchtime CELEBRATE!
I have these 2 pics saved from Pinterest and I love them! We are kindergarten teachers and are fabulous!!
Hop over to Sharing Kindergarten to read other kindergarten teachers tips!
I loved reading all of your great advice! Establishing rules and routines right from day one is so important, and so is incorporating music and movement whenever you can! Thank you so much for sharing such great tips!
ReplyDeleteWarmest Wishes,
Erin
www.kinderdragons.blogspot.com
Love this- Especially about celebrating successes! I tell my kids all the time that we are like Goldilocks- what is just right for one person may not be just right for another. I love having a community that celebrates EVERYONE! Thanks for the great advice!
ReplyDeleteDeirdre
Mrs. Garcia's Super Scholars
Hey Jill! I really love your blog and have nominated you for the One Lovely Blog Award! You can check out the details on my blog! yay!
ReplyDeleteFound you through the linky :)
ReplyDeleteGreat advice! I've started using several Whole Brain teaching techniques in my classroom as well.
I had to laugh at your opening pic. When I told someone this year that I teach kindergarten, they said "Either you're an angel or you're crazy!" haha!
Hannah