Saturday, April 16, 2011

Kindergarten Teachers, I Need Your Help

I'm teaching ESL summer "camp" for the first time ever this year. Today we had a planning day and I found out I'm teaching upcoming kinders! Some of these little guys will still only be 4 years old, yikes! I'm used to 1st graders who already know how to use a public restroom, sip water from the fountain, and walk in a line. I'm going to have a new found respect for all you K teachers out there after this!

The theme this summer is "A Healthy Me" and we've decided to work on:
safety and hygiene (maybe a visit from the fire dept., police, lifegaurd, dentist, nurse)
sorting healthy and unhealthy foods
naming basic body parts (incorporating the 5 senses)

So if any of you fabulous teachers have some very basic ideas for teaching these please share! I need to start browsing some kinder and pre-k blogs. I'd also appreciate any ideas for simple (independent if that's possible) math and literacy "stations" for the kids to do every morning during arrival.

Also, only 2 more followers to make it to 150!! I'm eager to hit that mark since 100 somehow slipped past me. My new vocabulary packet is posted on TpT and ready to go. I'll give away a copy soon I hope!

And thanks Brenda, from Primary Inspired, for blogging about it! The support of others is so encouraging- one of the reasons I love our little blog community so much (my husband thinks I have a problem/obsession though).

7 comments:

  1. I can help you! Check out my blog and pull off all the stuff you think you can use. I have stuff on fruits and veggies and will be adding more so stay in touch. You can work on writing their names, some alphabet activities with fruits and vegetables, do some cooking and talk about first, next, and last... lots of art activities,
    sponge paint to build motor skills and use clay.
    I hope my blog is useful.
    Fran@kindergartencrayons.blogspot.com

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  2. Thanks Fran! I'm checking it out right away.

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  3. Don't forget you can sort food by color and count. The Very Hungry Caterpillar would be great! You can count the objects, sort by color, sort by healthy and unhealthy.

    I LOVE Dr. Jean. Check out her website. My kiddos love who let the letters out. I recently wrote a post about all the great music resources. Many of those would be appropriate for your little guys.

    http://learningwithmrsparker.blogspot.com/2011/04/got-music.html

    Good luck. You'll love it; after, you get over the initial shock on kinders. They are great! :P

    BTW- Congrats on 150 Followers!

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  4. For body parts have then lay down on bulletin board paper and trace them. Then have students place labels on their arms, hands, legs, feet, head, etc...

    Ms. M
    Ms.M's Blog
    A Teacher's Plan

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  5. I forgot to mention that their bodies should be cut out of the paper. You can also then make it an interactive center or activity by having the students sort pictures of things you do with your senses next to the body part you use that sense for.

    Ms. <
    Ms.M's Blog
    A Teacher's Plan

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  6. Check out these sites, they would be great activities for incoming kinders!
    http://growingkinders.blogspot.com/2010/10/mental-images.html
    http://mrsguntoriusclass.blogspot.com/2010/09/chicka-chicka-boom-boom.html

    It sounds like you are going to have a lot of fun this summer! :)

    Hadar

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  7. You also need to check out Mrs. Lee's blog. She has some really great ideas for kindergarten. Hope all goes well and you have a great K experience. I think you may be surprised at how much these kiddos will pick up! I love teaching K!!!

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