Looking for engaging, cross-curricular kindergarten activities that work online? Here are three learning experiences that were a hit in our class! Directed Show and Share: After organizing our online class into smaller groups, we started weekly Show and Tell time. This was the traditional showing of a toy and resulting discussion. Students’ attention, however, was often Read More…
The benefits of a personal letter sound chart
Do you use letter sound anchor charts in your classroom? Here are the benefits of using a personal letter sound chart for early readers and writers. Visual documentation of growth over time A personal letter sound chart is a record of the sound / symbol associations for an individual student. Like its counterpart, the Read More…
Management tips for teaching virtual kindergarten!
Teaching a virtual kindergarten class? Here are some management tips that worked for us, and a Google Meet freebie! 1. Our initial communication with parents When we first received our class list (one day before we started teaching virtual kindergarten!), we sent an email introducing ourselves, including a real photo and the Bitmoji we would Read More…
Social emotional lessons in my go-to book for teaching Concepts of Print.
It was just recently that I discovered the social emotional lessons in my go to book for teaching Concepts of Print. A few years ago, I was thrilled to discover that The Monster at the End of This Book had been brought to life, still as a storybook, through animation. Here is just a taste Read More…
Children’s books for explaining emotions (and link to freebie)!
Children’s books for explaining emotions! Talking about feelings is more comfortable when stories start the conversation. These children’s books explain emotions gently and provide a natural transition into discussions about self-acceptance, empathy, kindness, love and friendship. I hope you enjoy them as much as we have. Lots of Feelings is a great book to introduce Read More…
Managing Back to School Anxiety – Teacher tips
Back to School Anxiety is very real for our students and for us! Here are some teacher tips for managing both! This post is an update from the vault after four more years of experience and in the context of our new reality. Anxiety symptoms: Symptoms of anxiety are a common complaint by many anticipating Read More…
Kindergarten and COVID – Why smaller kindergarten classes are a must
COVID has heightened the kindergarten class size conversation. I have always been in agreement that smaller kindergarten class sizes are important. Right now, they are a must. Defining smaller and larger classes I consider a small kindergarten class one that consists of fifteen or fewer students and a classroom teacher. I had a small class Read More…
