Kindergarten Teaching
Everything You Wanted to Know About Kindergarten Teaching
September is an exciting time for your children, their parents and their teachers, as some kids leave their house for school for the first time.
Kindergarten teaching can be an exciting job. Take lots of pictures of the new students in their rooms, because those will be nice to look back on in scrapbooks, as the school year goes on.
On the first day of kindergarten, teachers generally take their students on a short tour of the school, so they will know where everything is. Of course, at their age, they should never be sent anywhere unattended, but it's still a good idea for them to learn where everything is.
One teacher makes this into an “animal” tour, and puts pictures of different animals at the different locations the kids will see – the library, the school office, the bathrooms, etc. This makes it more fun for the young children, to find the animal pictures at each stopping point along the way.
As the children settle into the school routine, kindergarten teaching becomes more of a teaching task and less of a baby-sitting job, for the most part. Five and six-year old students tend to function most easily when they are placed within small groups. Children of this age are generally starting to make friendships that may last them a lifetime.
Kindergarten teaching at this level should include ways that the children can experiment and learn things on their own (under supervision, of course). The children also usually enjoy games that allow them to tell stories to their classmates.
During the school year, kindergarten students should learn the meaning of rules and schedules and routines, and become comfortable with them. Teachers need to work with each little student, to keep them all on the same page.
Kindergarten children should also learn to keep quiet while others are speaking, and listen to them. They will have their turn to talk, too. Teachers should also make sure that their students can follow simple instructions, and be able to work on activities they enjoy independently for at least fifteen minutes, and hopefully a half-hour.
By the end of kindergarten year, the young pupils should be more social than they were at the beginning of the school year. They should be able to work and play together in small groups and large groups as well, and be willing to share the class' toys and tools with each other. It is important for kindergarten teachers to carefully monitor each student's progress toward that goal.
Kindergarten can be a good or bad experience for children. With proper and compassionate kindergarten teaching, the young students will be ready for elementary school the following year.