Posts tagged The New Kindergarten

In kindergarten thinking skills are stressed, not just in science and math, but in all aspects of the day. The children become used to the teacher asking them how to solve all different kinds of problems. When a problem of discipline arises, children are asked to think how to solve it. For example, if two children are fighting over a toy, the teacher can ask for the toy and say, “How can you solve the problem you two have? You both want the toy. What can you two do about that?” The teacher might put the toy away until the children solve the problem.

Excerpted from “The New Kindergarten” by Jean Marzollo, illustrations by Irene Trivas (c) 1987-2012.

Discipline in kindergarten is based on positive reasons for respecting each other and being safe. Teachers state rules in a way that helps children understand them: We take turns in centers so that they don’t get crowded; we walk so we don’t fall down; in a group discussion we raise our hands so each of us can be called on and heard by everyone else; we share materials so that we each get a chance to use them; we clean up after ourselves so that the next person has a place to play. 

Because young children can get rambunctious, they need clear signals to tell them when to calm down. Teachers teach the signals at the beginning of the year. “When I feel you’re getting too noisy, I’ll turn the lights off and on two times. That will be a special signal for you to quiet down.” Or, “When I clap my hands three times, please stop what you are doing and listen to me because that will be a signal that I have a special announcement to make.” Or, “When I ring my bell, that is a signal to clean up and get ready for lunch.” Or, “When I start to sing a certain song, that is a signal to meet on the rug for circle time.” Children enjoy learning the meaning of special signals and enjoy being able to act in accordance with them.

Good teachers know that you don’t just tell children to get ready for lunch, you teach them at the beginning of the year exactly what “getting ready for lunch” means in your classroom: putting away equipment, getting in line, washing hands, and so forth. Sometimes teachers invite children to give their ideas for improving classroom procedures. 

Excerpted from “The New Kindergarten” by Jean Marzollo, illustrations by Irene Trivas (c) 1987-2012.

This game is played like Musical Chairs. You will need as many balloons as there are children minus one. Have the children help you figure out how many that is (a good activity for practicing one-to-one correspondence). Perhaps you can have parents or older children visit the class to help you blow up the balloons. This game needs to be played outside on a windless day. Or inside in an area where there is sufficient space in which to move around. Play music. As the music plays, the children bat the balloons around. If a balloon drops, that’s okay. Just pick it up and continue to bat it around. When the music stops, each child catches and holds onto a balloon. Whoever is without a balloon becomes your helper. This person gets to pop a balloon with a pin so that there is one less balloon for the next round. Continue until the last child catches the last balloon and becomes the winner. An alternative and less competitive way to play (and one that saves balloons) is to not pop a balloon each time, but rather to identify the child left standing without a balloon with a good, friendly laugh, and then to continue the game, letting that child play again. No one ever leaves the game, and you play it for as long as you and the children like.

Excerpted from “The New Kindergarten” by Jean Marzollo, illustrations by Irene Trivas (c) 1987-2012.

On a warm, sunny day, let children shoot bull’s-eyes with squirt guns.  Draw the bull’s-eyes with chalk on the ground.  Try shooting bubbles too.  This safe shooting activity gives children practice in real life, eye-hand coordination, a benefit that digital shooting games do not provide.

Excerpted from “The New Kindergarten” by Jean Marzollo, illustrations by Irene Trivas (c) 1987-2012.

Counting Parts of Plants

Look at real flowers together. Record what the flowers look like with “scientific” drawings. Count the petals and leaves on flowers, and write the numbers on the drawings. If the flowers have too many petals to count, write many on the picture. Save the pictures, using them to practice classification. Ask the children: How many ways can you classify the flower pictures? Some ways are by number of petals, by number of leaves, by color, by shape, and by size.

Grow a Number

Have the class pick a lucky number. (Perhaps it should be five or six, the age of most of the children.) Wet a sponge and set it in a shallow dish. Sprinkle cress seeds in the shape of the lucky number on the sponge. Set the seeds in indirect sunlight. Have the children take turns checking the sponge each day to make sure it is damp but not too soggy. Teach them to water the dish, not the sponge, so that the sponge can soak up the water it needs. As the seeds sprout, they will lean toward the light. Ask the children why. (Seedlings like light; they need it; they seek it.) Turn the dish around every so often to keep the sprouts growing up straight. If any seeds grow out of place, weed them out.

http://jeanmarzollo.com/KINDERGARTEN/kindergarten_index.html

Excerpted from “The New Kindergarten” by Jean Marzollo, illustrations by Irene Trivas (c) 1987-2012.

Some teachers find it interesting to review at this time of year facts that children are learning (or have learned) about dinosaurs.  Children can draw pictures to illustrate the dinosaur facts below or act them out in dramatic play.  I am impressed that today kindergarten kids know the words “fiction” and “non-fiction.”  As a class project, you could make fiction and non-fiction books about dinosaurs.

Dinosaur Facts

Dinosaurs hatched from eggs.
Some dinosaurs were big. 
Some dinosaurs were small. 
Some walked. 
Some flew. 
Some swam.
Some dinosaurs ate meat.
Some dinosaurs ate plants.
Some dinosaurs ate both. 

Simple Simon

Simple Simon met a pie man
Going to the fair.
Said Simple Simon to the pie man,
“Let me taste your ware.”
Said the man to Simple Simon,
“Show me first your penny.”
Said Simple Simon to the pie man,
“Indeed, I have not any.”

Ask the children to retell in their own words the story of Simple Simon.  Can they do it using the word zero?  Explain to the children that the word ware can mean “things that are being sold.”  In class discussion, elicit that the pie man was taking his pies to the fair and sell them.  He would sell each piece for a penny.  How many pennies did Simple Simon have?  The answer is zero.  Ask the children to help you think up more verses to the poem so you can discuss more numbers.  For example,

Said the man to Simple Simon,
“Show me pennies two.”
Said Simple Simon to the pie man,
“Here are two for you.”

The number zero is featured in my new books, Help Me Learn Addition, and Help Me Learn Numbers 0-20.

http://jeanmarzollo.com/books/help_me_learn_addition.html

http://jeanmarzollo.com/books/help_me_learn_numbers.html

Excerpted from “The New Kindergarten” by Jean Marzollo, illustrations by Irene Trivas (c) 1987-2012.

The book is available online for free at:
http://jeanmarzollo.com/KINDERGARTEN/kindergarten_index.html.