3 Things I’m Doing to Engage Kindergarten Students in Online Learning
If you are a parent or teacher experiencing online learning, there is a lot you can do to support your child or students.
Last year, when everything went remote, teachers felt stuck making power points, knowing that this material was not engaging for our students, and parents knowing their child was not getting the most out of school. Add this to general social distancing measures, and as a parent of a young child you probably are feeling worried about their ability to socialize with peers and feel connected to their teachers, and school. AND IT SUCKS trying to work, during a pandemic, with your child at home FULL TIME. I hear that too.
So here are three things I am doing, that are keeping my kinder groups engaged and interested in the lesson, so parents can step away for a few minutes.
Give the parents permission to let their child try things on their own. Parents, you have permission to let online school look messy. Walk away.
I promise that teachers are professionals. It is our job to watch how students learn, see what their strengths are, and see where their needs are, and design our lesson to meet those needs. Part of identifying needs is being able to observe when something is too hard, or too easy. If you are right next to your child the whole time, telling them what to do, that prevents teachers from doing our job. If I’m giving an instruction to get markers and paper, and I see your child can’t follow that instruction, I can adjust what I am saying to meet your child’s needs. If I’m asking your child what sound a letter makes, and he doesn’t know, that tells me I need to teach him the letter. The more you help, the more stuck you will be helping the whole year. Step away now, and let your child do what they can, and we will help them through it! I pinky promise.
Engage the senses as much as possible. No, kids should not just be sitting and staring at a screen.
Kindergarteners need a lot of stimulation. Activities should include movement, singing, talking, drawing, listening, and more! I keep each lesson “segment” to about 5 minutes, and have them do something else for each segment. An example of this today was listening to a story, drawing a picture, taking a few turns sharing, then playing a movement game.
Keep things unexpected. Kids like to be on their toes! Build the suspense.
Have a new book? Put it in a pillow case and then pull it out. Use name jars to pull their names for turns. Dress up as different “classroom visitors.” Randomly break out into song. Keep them excited about what will happen next!
Conclusion
The first step to learning is getting kids excited and engaged with whatever platform you are using. Parents, the more you give teachers the freedom to see what is actually working, the better your kids will do! Let me know if there are situations you have questions about, because I want to help to address concerns about online school. In my years teaching I have seen kids do and learn really amazing things, but they need time to learn them, and they need to be engaged, and teachers need to be able to see what they can do so they can teach accordingly.
Trust the process, trust the process, trust the process.
I believe in you!