Deb Meng, Transitional Kindergarten Teacher in Elk Grove, provides an example of developmentally appropriate TK homework for November.
Recent Posts
Tags
4th of july
100th day
abcs
active learning
addition
alive
alphabet
animals
antarctica
apples
arctic
art
autumn
bats
beginning letters
beginning of the year
books
bugs
butterflies
butterfly
capitals
Carle
cars
caterpillar
caterpillars
chicka chicka boom boom
chickens
chicks
Christmas
Christmas tree
circle time
class books
class cheer
class labels
class motto
classroom environment
classroom management
classroom morale
clouds
cold
color books
color mixing
colors
color theme
color unit
colours
colour theme
colour unit
communicating with parents
community
counting
crayons
Cristmas
critical thinking
cutting
CVC words
dental health
dice
Dolch
drawing
Earth Day
ELA
ELD
end of kindergarten
end of school year
end of the year
end of year
English Language Arts
English Language Development
Eric Carle
fall
fall songs
farms
Father's Day
file folders
files
fine motor
fingerplay
finger play
fish
flag day
flower
flowers
fluency
friendship
Fry
garden
geography
globe
good bye
good morning
graduation
graph
graphing
group work
halloween
hand-on
hand on math
hand print
hands on
hands on math
hands on science
harvest
healthy choices
hello
high frequency words
holiday books
holidays
home school connections
homework
hundreds day
hundredth day
ice cream
independence day
insects
interactive writing
investigation
jack-o'-lantern
kindergarten color theme
kindergarten color unit
kindergarten halloween books
kindergarten readiness
kindergarten routines
k readiness
lamb
language arts
last day
leaf
leaves
less
less than
letter
letter formation
letter matching
letter recognition
letters
library
life cycle
life cycles
lincoln
lining up
lion
lions
living
lower case
magnet board
magnetic letters
magnetic numbers
magnets
maker
map
mapping
March
math
math songs
money
monster
monsters
more
more than
Mother's Day
music
name
names
neighborhood
non-living
number formation
number recognition
numbers
nursery rhymes
observation
one to one
organization
organize
organized
ornament
paint
Painted Ladies
painting
parents
partners
patriotic
pattern
patterns
penguins
phone
phonemic awareness
phonological awareness
Picassso
pincer grasp
plant
planting
plants
play
poem
poems
poetry
preschool
present
President's Day
print
pumpkin
pumpkins
punctuation
question of the day
rain
rainbow
rainbows
read alouds
reading
reading corner
reading readiness
recycling
review
rhyme
rhyming
Saint Patrick's Day
scavenger hunt
school year
science
seasons
seeds
segmenting
sensory
sequencing
shapes
show and tell
shower curtain
sight words
singing
skeletons
snow
snow paint
snowy
social studies
song
songs
sorting
sounds
Spanish
special area
special needs
spring
St. Patrick's Day
stamp
starting the year
start of the new year
start the school year
STEM
storage
subtraction
subtractions
summer
teaching materials
teeth
ten frames
tent
Thanksgiving
thinking maps
tidy
tips
TK
tk routines
tooth
transition
transitional kindergarten
transitional kindergarten color theme
transitional kindergarten color unit
transitional kindergarten routines
transitions
transition to k
transition to kindergarten
transportation
tree map
tree maps
trees
triangles
tulip
tulips
upper case
Valentine
Valentine's Day
Valentines
vocabulary
washington
watercolor
ways to make 5
ways to make 10
weather
winter
winter art
word work
worksheet
wrapping paper
wrap up
writing
writing activities
For my TK class, I send home Grab Bag actives for homework for the 1semester. Then in Feb. I begin the monthly calendar homework like the one shown. My Grab Bag Homework concentrates on fine motor (thongs with cotton balls & tweezers, playdough activities, cutting & tearing practice, etc.), hands on counting activities, unifix cube activities and sharing. Each activity is in a bag with all materials needed. I rotate about 7 to 8 activities at a time till all students have experienced them. Then I change the activities.
What great ideas, Margaret! I bet the children build confidence as they work through their developmentally appropriate homework activities. We’d love to have you share photos of the bag(s) and an example of your directions. Please contact our Office Manager, Cristiana Tibbats, at 916-780-5331. Thanks. Ada
My son just started TK and got homework on day 1, where he’s supposed to be read a poem and then read it back to me. Umm, he can’t read. Call me crazy, but I would expect the school to help with that. Why is it that in Finland kids aren’t pestered with it until much later, yet my son is practically supposed to do it already? Because TK teachers can’t wait until kindergarten to crush the joy of learning?
My son has a ravenous appetite for new books and has been reading to for at least an hour a day since he was a baby. I am seriously afraid that our horrible approach to early education in this country will ruin that by insisting on performance metrics at inappropriate ages.
TK homework is an oxymoron, and I resent having taken the first step on a painful, years-long fight to keep learning fun for him.
I am a TK teacher and experienced educator. Perhaps the teacher was hoping it would be interactive with the parent and child. My TK monthly home activity menu requires 3 books a day of lap reading with a loved one and interactive activities that require 5 to 10 minutes a day.
The biggest lesson I learned in my first year of TK after teaching K for 18 years, was to slow down. In my district we promote developmental learning in TK to give the children time rather than cramming a curriculum into their young minds. Play is the core of our curriculum.
CKA promotes developmental learning in TK and Kindergarten. If you look under the tab for TK on our website you will see power points and other appropriate curriculum. Bring up your concerns at a conference and direct the teacher to our web site http://www.californiakindergartenassociation.org. You could give her a gift of membership and send her the web site link for her to sign up for our conference.
Reading to your child is the best form of education for young children.
Debra Weller
CKA President
Professional Storyteller
International Early Childhood Consultant