Inside: This post explores ways to focus on friendship and unity at Thanksgiving, with a friendship feast, where children work together to make a friendship fruit salad. Why a Friendship Feast? It can be tricky to know how best to approach Thanksgiving due to its complicated history. I decided to have a friendship feast with […]
Co-Created Kindergarten Class Rules: Can We Do Whatever We Want?
Inside: Here I share an inquiry journey, that led to a set of student-created class rules in kindergarten. It All Started With a Question At kindergarten orientation, I asked, “What do you want to know about kindergarten?” There were a lot of typical questions about the bus, lunch, toys, and where they would sit. […]
Kindergarten Name Writing: The Missing Steps
Inside: Discover the missing name writing step, that I overlooked and skipped when I first began teaching kindergarten. Practice Before Instruction Name writing is one of the first things taught in kindergarten every year. A quick Pinterest search reveals a slew of ideas on how children can practice their names through copying, tracing, or building, […]
The Pumpkin Project
You might be surprised to see a post about pumpkins in June! Yet this project began way back in October when I brought in pumpkins and gourds for a math lesson and for the children to explore at the science center. By November, the children noticed that the gourds were starting to change color, […]
Get-to-Know-You Activities for the First Weeks of Kindergarten
Inside: Here you’ll find some of my favorite get-to-know-you activities that help build classroom community at the beginning of the kindergarten year. Make Get-to-Know-You a Priority It’s so easy to get caught up in the back-to-school to-do list of room set up and name tags, that I sometimes lose sight of the most important goal […]
First Days of Kindergarten: Launching Learning Blocks
Inside: Use this 3-step launch plan, during those first days in kindergarten, to kick off each of the learning blocks on your daily schedule. Moving Too Fast on Those First Days of Kindergarten “Mrs. Clarke, what’s math?” We are in those first days of kindergarten, and this is what I hear. I’ve just told children […]
Launching Choice Time Centers at the Beginning of the Year
Inside: Find tips on the best way to slowly roll out your choice time centers to ensure a smooth start to the new school year. The First Day of Kindergarten It’s usually about thirteen minutes into the first day of kindergarten when I hear, “When can we paint?” “When can we use the trains?” “What […]
Using Classroom Rules to Build Positive Language
Inside: Discover how carefully choosing your kindergarten classroom rules can help build better teacher language and improve classroom management. Be sure to download your free set of promise posters found at the end of the post. How We Talk to Kids When I first began teaching, I didn’t know how to talk to kids. […]
