Working in a Kindergarten Classroom
Presentation developed by Mary Barbera, Janis Jank,
Jean Dunaway and Gwen Chalmers
PRE ASSESSMENT
PLEASE SUBMIT TO YOUR ADMINISTRATOR
AACPS-Division of Special Education – Para Educator Training Videos
Name:
School:
Date:
1. Requisite learning behaviors are
a. the independent skills a child needs in kindergarten like zipping their jacket or
using the bathroom independently.
b. the skills a child needs in order to be ready to learn, such as sitting quietly or
following routines.
c. the basic skills needed before academic learning such as naming colors and
shapes or writing their name.
d. the higher order thinking skills stressed in Common Core.
2. Instruction should be differentiated because
a. children have different learning profiles.
b. not all students in the classroom are at the same level of achievement.
c. children have different interests that serve as motivators.
d. all of the above.
PRE ASSESSMENT
PLEASE SUBMIT TO YOUR ADMINISTRATOR
3. Which of the following statements is most true about giving directions?
a. you should give directions only once so children learn to pay attention.
b. you should give 1 step directions to all kindergarten students.
c. directions should focus on what you want the children to do instead of what they
should stop doing.
d. you can expect all kindergarten students to follow directions within two seconds.
4. The most important goal of a positive behavior support plan is
a. to teach the child to communicate her needs using appropriate behavior.
b. to reduce the number of office referrals and suspensions.
c. to get the student to stop inappropriate behavior.
d. to make the classroom climate positive.
5. Limited choices are important for children who want to control their environment because
a. children shouldn’t always get their own way.
b. the teacher cannot let each child do whatever they want.
c. the teacher sets the limits, but the child can exercise her power by making a
choice.
d. children need freedom within the school day.
Closer Look at Kindergarten
 Adapted from an observational form created by Early
Childhood and Itinerant Special Educators to inform ECI
teachers about expectations in typical Kindergarten
classrooms
 Can be used as an informal assessment of a student’s
strengths and needs in the classroom.
 Highlights skills to reinforce and scaffold areas of weakness.
Social and Emotional Expectations
Get on and off bus
 Find their way around school
 Exhibit independent self care (eating and bathroom)
 Put on/off clothing within a reasonable amount of time
 Manage personal items
 Express emotions and feelings appropriately
 Communicate own wants and needs
 Separate from parents and accept school personnel (lunch
monitor, nurse, administrators, cultural arts teachers)
 Respond to social recognition and reinforcement
 Respect others and their property

Requisite Learning Expectations
 Attend to speaker in large group
 Wait to take turns and share
 Stay in own space and control voice during activity
 Raise hand to participate in activity
 Ask questions and get information
 Follow directions given by teacher
Oral Language and Reading Expectations
 Recall and complete tasks demonstrated previously
(rhyming, letter/word identification, sequencing, letter
sounds, etc.)
 Answer questions about literature (sequencing, main idea,
cause and effect, summarizing , predicting)
 Respond with words or compliance when comments are
directed to him or her
 Ask questions and get information
Writing Expectations
 Relate experiences and ideas to others
 Generate ideas to represent in drawing and writing
 Respond to prompt by drawing and/or writing
independently
 Ask questions and get information
Workshop – Rotations - Treasure Time
 Independently chooses from a menu of literacy activities
 Use a variety of manipulatives appropriately
 Initiate and complete a task independently
 Wait to take turns and share
 Recall and complete tasks demonstrated previously
 Follow three-part directions related to task
 Understand role as part of a group
Some Ways to Differentiate Instruction
 Input: How is the material presented?
 Difficulty: Does it need to be harder or easier?
 Level of Support: What sorts of prompts are needed?
 Output: How will the student show us what she knows?
 Alternative Goals: Is there another more relevant goal
for this student during this activity?
Suggestions to Support Language Difficulties
• Use multisensory strategies, especially for initial
teaching
• Add (or maintain visual aids) especially for academic
information presented orally
• Preteach concepts
• Visual models of work
• Word banks
• Communication books/boards
Hierarchies to Facilitate Differentiation
 Concept Hierarchy
 Visual Cue Hierarchy
 Tool Hierarchy
 Prompt Hierarchy
Concept Hierarchy
 Match
 Find the one the same color
 Same word spoken to same
word spoken – Are “sing” and
“sing” the same?
 Recognize
 Point to red
 Do “sing” and “ring” rhyme?
 Identify
 What color is this?
 Say a word that rhymes with
“king.”
Visual Cue Hierarchy
Object:
Photo:
Realistic Color Illustration:
“Cartoon” Color Illustration:
Realistic Black and white Illustration:
“Cartoon” Black and White Illustration:
Rebus + Word:
pencil
Word:
pencil
Writing Tool Hierarchy
 Marker
 Pipsqueaks
 Color Changers (to encourage tracing)
 Chalk
 Crayons
 Big
 Erasable Twistups
 Colored pencils as substitutes
 Pencil
 Large vs. small
 Triangular
 grips
-bulb crayons
-Twistables Slick Stix
Make an “always be prepared” bag
 Visual Supports
 Token system or behavior checklist and reinforcers
 Special tools (scissors, pencil grip)
 Alternate activities if the student cannot do what the rest of
the class is doing, finishes quickly, needs to be removed
from the class
TOP TEN LIST
EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT AND
INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES
1. How can I get them to follow directions?
 Clear simple language
 Start vs. Stop directions – Walk vs. don’t run
 Fewer words
 Stop and Listen
 Modified routines to facilitate following direction
 Place in line
 Special duties
 Special location
2. What is “Wait Time?”
 To respond to directions
 To answer questions
 Give the student time to respond to the natural teacher
direction before giving a prompt (our kids don’t need
to be perfect)
 Individualized
3. Review and Rehearse
 Expectations
 Rules
 New events (picture day)
School Picture Day
Smile!
4. How do we build independence?
Most
Intrusive
Full Physical
Partial Physical
Model
to
Visual
Gestural
Least
Intrusive
Verbal
Independent
Use the least assistance the child needs
 Example: Jean is not able to write her name other
than J, how would you prompt her?
 Copy the model
Jean
Trace the letters
5. Let’s Get Visual
 Visual Learning Style
 Poor communication skills
 What do you do when you don’t have an
appropriate visual
My Teacher is Sick
Today Ms. White is
absent. We have a
substitute. Ms.
White left plans so
Mr. Brown knows
what to do. I will be
O.K.
Schedules
1
FIRST
THEN
2
3
Break / Choice
Independent Work System:
Today I will…
_____________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
6. Why is she doing that?
 Function of the behavior

Attention

Escape/avoidance

Sensory

Power and control
7. What do you want her to do?
 Teach appropriate actions to replace inappropriate
ones
 That behavior must meet the function of the
inappropriate behavior
 If you “punish” or “correct,” you only stop the one
behavior
8. Allow limited choices whenever possible
 Why?
 Examples
 Materials
 Location or position
 Timing
 Choice of activities
9. Would you work for a sticker?
 If it doesn’t increase appropriate behavior, it is not a
reinforcer
 Must be individualized
 Must be immediate (or almost )
 Menu of reinforcers for some (limited choice of
activities, etc.)
Tokens and Menu of Reinforcers
I am working for
10. Communicating with the Team
 Confidentiality
 Who’s in charge?
 Ask questions
 What do you do when the advice given conflicts with
what someone else had said?
 Emergency Plans (Fire Drills, behavior issues)
SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LITERACY
• Information provided by: Center on the Social and
Emotional Foundations for Early Learning
• Materials to use with students can be found on the
Center for Evidence-Based Practice: Young Children
with Challenging Behavior at the following web
address:
http://www.challengingbehavior.org
Children with a Strong Foundation
in Emotional Literacy:
 tolerate frustration better
 get into fewer fights
 engage in less destructive





behavior
are healthier
less lonely
less impulsive
more focused, and
have greater academic
achievement
Skills To Teach
 Friendship skills
 Following rules, routines and
directions
 Identifying feelings in self and
others
 Controlling anger and impulse
 Problem solving
Steps to Teaching Throughout the Day:
1. Identify the skill you want to teach
2. Teach the Social Skills Concept –during large group, small group and
provide individualized instruction for children who need it
3. Give children opportunities to practice – role play, prompting
children through an interaction (scaffolding), embedding instruction
4. Model the behaviors in every day interactions
5. Reinforce the behavior in context – use positive
descriptive feedback to comment on children
engaging in the behavior
6. Help children reflect on the skills – individually or in a group
Teaching Strategies from this website
 Adult Modeling
 Modeling with Puppets
 Preparing Peer
Partners
 Songs
 Finger plays
 Flannel Board
Activities
Prompts
Priming
Reinforcements
Incidental Teaching
Use of Games
Use of Children’s
Literature
 Social Stories






http://www.csefel.uiuc.edu/whatworks
Feeling Wheels & Feeling Dice
Checking In
How do you feel today?
Teachers and children can “check
in” each morning by choosing a
feeling face that best describes
their affective state and putting it
next to their name. Children can
be encouraged to change their
feeling faces throughout the day
as their feelings change.
Problem Solving Steps
Would it be safe?
Would it be fair?
How would everyone feel?
Identifying Teachable Moments
•Use natural occurring situations to teach social-emotional
skills.
•Model what you want them to do during typical situations that
occur during classroom instruction.
•Seize the moment when children are looking and listening!
•Use natural occurring mistakes/frustrations as a teachable
moment.
•Teach as you are standing in line, during wait times, during
center time, while you are walking around the classroom, or
in the hallways.
Incidental Teaching
 Provide emotional labels
as children experience
various affective states “Tamika and Tanya seem
really happy to be playing
together! They keep
hugging each other!”
Kindergarten builds a firm foundation
POST ASSESSMENT
PLEASE SUBMIT TO YOUR ADMINISTRATOR
AACPS-Division of Special Education – Para Educator Training Videos
Name:
School:
Date:
1. Requisite learning behaviors are
a. the independent skills a child needs in kindergarten like zipping their jacket or
using the bathroom independently.
b. the skills a child needs in order to be ready to learn, such as sitting quietly or
following routines.
c. the basic skills needed before academic learning such as naming colors and
shapes or writing their name.
d. the higher order thinking skills stressed in Common Core.
2. Instruction should be differentiated because
a. children have different learning profiles.
b. not all students in the classroom are at the same level of achievement.
c. children have different interests that serve as motivators.
d. all of the above.
POST ASSESSMENT
PLEASE SUBMIT TO YOUR ADMINISTRATOR
3. Which of the following statements is most true about giving directions?
a. you should give directions only once so children learn to pay attention.
b. you should give 1 step directions to all kindergarten students.
c. directions should focus on what you want the children to do instead of what they
should stop doing.
d. you can expect all kindergarten students to follow directions within two seconds.
4. The most important goal of a positive behavior support plan is
a. to teach the child to communicate her needs using appropriate behavior.
b. to reduce the number of office referrals and suspensions.
c. to get the student to stop inappropriate behavior.
d. to make the classroom climate positive.
5. Limited choices are important for children who want to control their environment because
a. children shouldn’t always get their own way.
b. the teacher cannot let each child do whatever they want.
c. the teacher sets the limits, but the child can exercise her power by making a
choice.
d. children need freedom within the school day.