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Greetings from Kindergarten-lessons.com
August 27, 2009

Kindergarten-lessons.com August 2009 Newsletter

For first time teachers...

Congratulations on your new adventure. Although you may feel nervous and on the spot during your first week of teaching young children, remember to relax and have fun. Provide the children with something interesting to do and establish clear expectations and things should run more or less smoothly. Be prepared with extra things to do until you get a sense of how long activities will hold your students' attention.

If children do not seem to understand a concept, always ask - How can I present this concept differently? Do the children have the vocabulary to understand this concept? Do I have to backup a few steps? What can I do differently?

Never assume that young children understand what you are asking them to do. Always show them and then give them hands on experiences. Be aware of learning differences and offer a variety of things to do.

Supporting Learning - Parent Handout

In the beginning of every year, I have parents who ask me for suggestions on how to support their children's learning at home. Here are a few ideas.

  • Relax, and keep activities enjoyable. Avoid overdoing workbook type of activities. Children have years of these ahead of them. Turn learning into games. Say, “Let’s play a game”, not “Let’s practice your numbers”.
  • Ask children to help you make shopping lists, things to do lists, labels, etc. Keep it at their level. If they know how to make a few letters let them print those letters when you need them to make a word.
  • Cook with your children. Let them experience pouring a cup of milk (or 250 ml) into a bowl. Enrich their vocabulary with hands on experiences.

For the complete list (also in a pdf printable version) see,

"Supporting Parents".


If you haven't already checked it out, late September is a great time to teach a kindergarten apple theme.


Happy teaching,
Patricia
kindergarten-lessons.com

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