From 4th Grade to Kindergarten - Please Help!?

Question

I'm trying my best to work out a schedule for this upcoming year and several hours later I am more frustrated than ever. Seniority kicked in and I have been moved from a 4th grade classroom to Kindergarten room and I feel like a fish out of water. I have concerns:

My teaching partners have insisted they want to have a rest time, which is fine, but they want to have an hour (fyi, they are both new too). I feel like I am already strapped for time without taking an entire hour out. Plus I'm worried that the kids will get restless and irritable. I want to have 30 minutes tops. Is this unreasonable? I don't want to be snarky.

Next, I have come to understand that centers are important and I have developed literacy corners that will shift every 15 minutes that help them practice and refine their reading and writing skills. What I'm not sure about is actually teaching reading and writing. Should you have a sit down lesson every day? Every other day? Once a week? How long?

I have math down, but teaching reading/writing is giving me a lot of anxiety. Reading Comprehension and Writing were my favorite thing to teach in 4th grade... now I feel miserable. :( 4th grade is just so different from Kindergarten. Any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

I made this same move, so I might be able to give you some ideas.

First, you must internalize that you will be working with infants. They are like little sponges covered with antennae and will read your every mood. Some of these children may come reading ready, but many will barely be toilet trained and able to recite the alphabet. The kids will need the full hour rest time as they will actually sleep and be refreshed afterwards. If you do not give them adequate rest, they will be restless and irritable. For those who are outgrowing napping, have a "stay quietly on the mat and 'read' your book" rule. Don't skip recesses either..they will need the fresh air and physical stress release. If the weather is bad, take some physical activity breaks in the classroom.

Three huge  differences between 4th and K are 1. You will be teaching the children how to be in school as much as you will be teaching content. 2. They will need much more positive reinforcement, token rewards, pats and hugs, and individual attention than your older students. Be ready with stickers and prizes. The "I like the way Tasha is sitting in her place on the reading rug..." type statements. NEVER use sarcasm (goes over their heads), yelling (scares them, so they can't learn the rest of the day), harsh statements or anger (makes them defiant and make parents mad). Positive works better with this age group in all respects. Praise, praise, praise. 3. Children this age learn better through play than through structure, so your language arts will focus much more on sound-symbol acquisition, basic letter/number printing, word recognition (at least until Christmas), left-to-right progression, parts of a story, etc..... but in fun, playful ways - puppets, music, coloring, word games, storytime, etc. Everything needs to be presented to multiple learning styles and in multiple repetitions. Use constructive play as a reward system, too: puppet time, puzzle time, floor time in the development areas, sand table, computer center, etc.

Keep your lessons brief. Don't count on 15 min centers being adequate for all the learners. Be be flexible in your pacing, but strict in your routine. Penmanship practice is a good sponge activity for early in the day to get them focused. Reading and math are always good mid-morning before they are too hungry and tired. Story time is good right before naptime--settles them. Art or seatwork is good after nap so they can begin as they awaken. Go to one of the experienced and supportive K teachers (or lower level 1st grade teacher, if everyone K is new) and see how she organizes and paces everything. See how she preps the parents for involvement and how she deals with first-child-at-school parents. Focus on communicating with parents and providing lots of feedback on each child's progress.

Verbalize everything and teach explicitly. Teach them all your expectations and establish firm routines, so they know what to do next. Have a schedule of the day so the kids know "When the big hand is on the 12 and the little hand is on the 10, it is 10:00. What do we do at 10:00? Circle time on the story rug!" Speak slowly, softly, kindly, and say everything at least 3 times at 3 different times. (If you have little catch phrases, you will find the kids begin to say them to each other in positive peer pressure to behave and attend.I tried many, but two of mine that every class liked were: "I love busy bees buzzing." and "Are your listening ears and thinking caps on?") Children this age love to help, so have lots of helpers and rotate everyone--fairness is huge with the K-1 set. You will not have a lot of grading, but you will have more prep. You won't have the pressure of standardized test prep, but you will have more individualization of instruction to focus on.  

Much of your time will be diagnostic..watch for vision, hearing, and developmental delays that are interfering with learning. Above all, find out if you can love this age group. Not everyone can be a good K teacher, but those that love the kids find it is a heavenly placement. You will know it is all working when they forget and call you "Mommy" instead of your name and when they cry to stay at school with you instead of going home for the weekend!!  Kids never forget their K teacher--for good or for bad!!  

Whew, probably more than you wanted or needed, but good luck!!

Answer 2

I teach 1st through 3rd grades and I totally understand your worries - that is a big shift.

I personally feel that 1 hour is a long time for resting kindergarten. I could see 20 minutes but those kiddos will get restless. I would also ask parents you know (not your current ones)  because I know at my school, parents have to pay for all day kindergarten and would not like their kids "resting" for an hour.Maybe there is a "quiet" activity you could do.  If you think about it, giving them 1 hour of "rest time" doesn't prepare them for 1st grade - we don't do rest time.

Centers are great for kindergarten. The kindergarten teachers in my school do pull out literacy groups so that a kiddo will get into a small group direct instruction based on ability at least once a week. You  will be getting kids that went to preschool/montessori that can probably read and know their sounds and other kids that just stayed home and don't even know how to write the alphabet - huge range and literacy centers are going to be one way you can meet all those needs.  I think that there are books out there to use with kiddos. I could be wrong, but I recall Katie Wood Ray has a book called...Reading and Writing for our youngest learners.  Debbie Miller is another author that comes to mind.  All I remember from teaching this age group is that you are really teaching these kiddos how to "do" school. How to follow the rules, walk in a line, schedule as well as other social skills. Academics are definately important but the social stuff is too in kindergarten.