I just finished student teaching in a kindergarten classroom and accepted a job offer to work there next year. While I'm very excited, I'm also now incredibly nervous because I have no idea what to expect. I entered the classroom towards the end of the second semester, and I have no idea what to expect at the beginning of the year. Are there any good websites for first year kindergarten teachers? I don't even know how these kids act when they first start school... any help would be greatly appreciated.
Here are a few I found: http://www.mspowell.com/ http://www.littlegiraffes.com/teacherpage.html http://www.kinderkorner.com/centers.html http://www.thekcrew.net/units.html Just to get you started.
I'll be teaching my first year in kindergarten, too! I've looked online and have found a TON of awesome resources. Here are a few of my favorites: http://www.jmeacham.com/index.htm -- Resources for just about anything you'd ever need! I love this website! http://www.pre-kpages.com/bootcamp.html -- Good beginning of the year suggestions. Really basic stuff. I was in a kindergarten classroom for my first semester of student teaching (we got to go back when the actual teachers went back) and a lot of what's here is exactly the type of stuff I worked with my CT on preparing. http://www.mrsmcdowell.com/ -- Lots of good stuff here, plus a links page. Go down to the teacher's side bar for teacher stuff. http://www.geocities.com/kinderxpress/abc.html -- List of links. Unfortunately has annoying song playing the background, so make sure your sound is down before going! http://kindergarten2.homestead.com/teacherlinks.html -- More great links for kindergarten-specific websites and general teacher websites. There are so many great websites out there and so many fun ideas! I started a couple different Word documents that I'm copying and pasting ideas into. Otherwise, I'd never remember where I found what!
Thank you so much for all these suggestions... I have been to a couple and they are exactly what I am looking for. I can't wait to check out the rest!
There is the Kindergarten Teacher Club on MSN with great teachers that are more than happy to share ideas and what has worked for them. groups.msn.com/KindergartenTeacherClub
Also the first six weeks of school is a wonderful book. Remember these students don't know how to ask to use the bathroom, how to line up, how to sit down, how to use hte water fountain. You have to teach them everything!
I found these today and thought you might enjoy them... http://www.madison.k12.al.us/mtcarmel/0_kindergarten/solley/poempage.html
My site is not great....but I have some materials on there you might can use. Most of the teacher materials are word or excel documents so you can make changes that you want. http://www.sampson.k12.nc.us/Countypage/Technology/Heit/sak/index.htm
tarheelsak - I used most if not all of your charts and lists at the beginning of the year last year! lol Good stuff!
Re: freeabcshool. I am not the site owner; however, I have talked to her several times and she is willing to take suggestions including mine. She is a mom of 6, 5 of which she has adopted (2 of which are special needs children). She is busy but finds time to put on her website requested material and I would like to help her out. I have followed her website growth since the beginning. She has just re-launched her website freeabcschool and it has a lot of 100% FREE curriculum that is very much appreciated.
Another great website for literacy materials (emergent readers and games) is Carl's Corner www.carlscorner.us.com. Everything is high quality and FREE!
