Is teaching Kindergarten going to be a huge change from teaching 2nd grade?
I taught 2nd grade for 7 years and then moved down to kindergarten. Kindergartners don’t know the routines of school – you need to teach them how to raise their hand, walk quietly in a line, sit still and listen to a story. It takes lots of patience to teach these and you will remember that “2nd graders already know how to do this.” Teach the routines of school in a positive setting, praising kids for their good behavior (“I see Jennifer is sitting with her legs crossed and hands in her lap. Thank you Jennifer” instead of, “Bobby! you need to sit down now!”) Academically, I start with the premise that kindergartners don’t know anything. We practice counting up to 10 the first 3-4 weeks, sing the ABC song, learn the letter “a”, show them how to hold pencils, etc. The very , very basics. Do your best to make sure you are starting at the absolute bottom of what you are teaching, and move up as you see the kids can do what you want. Kids love learning things through songs. I teach lining u
