Supporting Kindergarten Students as they Learn from Home

In less than two weeks our world has been flipped upside down.

Teachers are out of their classrooms teaching from a distance and families are filling the role of their child’s teacher inside their home.

Families are juggling the roles of teachers, guardians, keeping the household going, while also more than likely working from home for their own job.

Kindergarten students cannot understand why they are not at school, they miss their friends, their teacher, their routine.

Click HERE to grab this FREE Learning from Home Social Story that families can ready together.

While families make this E-Learning transition, kindergarten students may be having a hard time:

focusing
staying on task
expressing their emotions

This is an incredibly stressful and unsettling time for everyone.

Over the years as a Kindergarten Teacher I have learned through experience and research that little learners need to SEE what they need to do in order to know what to DO.

Now that our learning environment is different, basically the first week of school all over again, children need to learn how to be a student at home and families need to learn how to step into this new role as teacher.

This transition can be extremely hard and difficult.

Similar to how we practice and review our expectations and procedures at school, families now need to do the same at home.

As we transition to this new normal, students need to be shown how to be a student at home and what work time looks like and what they need to do during this time.

Research states that visuals are valuable for learning because they help store information longer, make communication fast and easy, help to support comprehension, and motivate learners.

Similar to at school, when families complete activities at home, students will be most successful when they understand the expectations and can see what they need to do.

It is time to work on an activity for school and your Kindergartner starts to whine five more minutes of TV.

The negotiations begin and before your kindergartner is sitting at the table you are both upset and frustrated.

There is no way quality work will be completed at this point.

Strategies and Ways to get Ready to Work

Start a morning routine to prepare for the day.
Sit together and plan your morning and afternoon schedule together so each of you know what needs to be done.

Also, similar to how you like to enjoy a few minutes of coffee, silence, a book, or workout before you start your day, allow your kindergartner to have that time too.
Just before it is time to work, give your kindergartner a countdown (5-10 minutes) so they are prepared to start.
Have a designated area in your house that is for completing school activities.
Keep supplies, paper, books in that area so that everything is there and ready for them when it is time to complete activities.
When it is time to work go to that area so that your child understands that it is time to work and not play.

Before you start an activity a kindergartner needs to focus their body.
Talk about the expectations during work time.
Brain is thinking, eyes are watching, ears are listening, try your best, work the whole time.
Understand that it is not going to be perfect the first, second, third, or the 100th time you go to sit down and work.
Practice, practice, and practice some more.
Praise expected behavior.
Be consistent and repeat expectations often.

Your kindergartner is in their designated work area, expectations have been read and modeled, you are in the middle of an activity and their head goes down.

They refuse to complete the activity. After you attempt to redirect your kindergartner is now out of their seat and under the table.

They are growling and starting to paw the air as they pretend they are an animal.

You want them to complete the task, but you don’t know how to get them back in their seat to work.

Strategies and Ways to Focus on the Task:

Kindergarten students do best when they can see what they need to do

Choose two activities to complete during a work session.
Have your kindergartner choose the task cards and put them on the work, work, break visual.
To keep the work time motivating have your kindergartner choose the break they would like to do after the complete the tasks.
Keep each task short (5-10 minutes)

Your kindergartner is in the middle of sounding out a word for a sentence and cannot hear all the sounds.

They keep asking how do you spell, but you want them to write the sounds they hear and you don’t want to just give them the letters.

Their voice gets louder, they push their eraser harder on the paper, and you can tell that at any moment something is about to be thrown across the room.

Strategies and Ways to Calm Big Emotions

As you are working if you start to notice frustration with your kindergartner stop and take a break to calm down.
Remember: having your kindergartner complete a school activity should never be an undesirable task.
By taking a moment to walk away it allows your child to take a moment to collect themselves and try again.

Use a feeling chart to encourage your child to talk about their feelings and what is bothering them.
Create a calm down area. In this area your child can choose different ways to self regulate, calm their body, and try again. (Take a deep breath, read a book, build with blocks, listen to music, sit quietly)
When your child is ready and calm go back to complete the activity.
Important: Never skip the activity! Your kindergartner will then associate getting upset and being able to avoid work.
Refocus, review expectations for working, and finish the activity.

Although we were thrown into this new normal at a rapid speed, adjusting and learning how to complete school activities at home is going to take time.

It is going to take patience, practice, and consistency.

Be gentle with yourself and your family.

There will be great days and there will be not so great days.

There will be days that not a lot of activities get done.

Take this time to also enjoy time together and have fun!

Everyone is doing their best and we are in this together.

As you work through activities if there are ways I can help support you or your students please don’t hesitate to reach out.

I’m happy to listen and help.

Be well and stay safe!