You Need To Incorporate Play Into Your Lessons
Kindergarten kids love to play so give them something to play with. One thing you must realize is: in kindergarten aged kids nearly everything you teach then will go in one ear and out the other but if you keep repeating it, it might just sink in.
If you are thinking you are wasting your time don’t worry the kids love learning even though it seems they don’t learn very much. For kindergarten kids I use flash cards with pictures and words and the kids forget them as fast as I show them. But if I keep repeating them over time some kids will remember them.
I like the Montessori approach for kindergarten with sandpaper letters and mixed age classrooms. With the sandpaper letters, I make up the word using the sandpaper letters and then get the kids to trace the word while slowly saying it. Hopefully this way it will sink in but not always.
The key to success is repeat, repeat and repeat again. When teaching reading you will find some kindergarten kids pick up the words very fast and remember them while most will not. To test the kids just write the word on the blackboard and see how many can read it.
Usually not to many, but don’t worry as long as the kindergarten kids are having fun while you are teaching reading the they will love the class. If you are using the Montessori way with the mixed age class then the older kids can teach the younger ones and some kids love teaching.
