Welcome to Kindergarten Cafe!

I’m Zeba, and I’m here to help you find the *kindergarten magic* in your classroom. I create resources and share strategies to make your teaching easier, more engaging, and focused on those magical moments of growth with your students. Whether you teach kindergarten, preschool, or first grade, you’ll find ideas and activities to bring that *kindergarten magic* to life. Feel free to reach out—let’s make teaching kindergarten magical again!

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Supporting Students who Struggle With Mistakes

Building Self-Confidence In Kindergarteners ~ Ep. 131

What Every Dramatic Play Center Really Needs ~ Ep. 130

What Principals Really Want You to Know About Hiring, Interviews, and Getting the Job ~ Ep. 129

Getting Students to Add More Details in Their Writing ~ Ep. 128

Literacy

Getting Students to Add More Details in Their Writing ~ Ep. 128

Literacy

Adding Details in Writing in Kindergarten If you are teaching kindergarten writing, the main goal is still getting students to write one really good sentence. You want them using conventions, spacing, and the sounds they can hear in words. You also want them working on spelling trick...

Making the Shift to Systematic Phonics Instruction with Melanie ~ Ep. 126

Literacy

Simple Phonics Skills That Help Kindergarten Students Become Confident Readers Teaching kindergarten is full of magic moments, but one of the biggest is when reading finally clicks for a student. You can literally see the moment it happens. A child who has been slowly learning letters suddenly...

Small Group Ideas for Kindergarten Reading Comprehension ~ Ep. 124

Literacy

How to Teach Kindergarten Reading Comprehension in Small Groups When you're working with students who have solid decoding skills, it's time to focus on building their comprehension. In kindergarten reading comprehension small groups, your instruction should center on helping students understand, discuss, and apply their understanding of...

Decodable Books vs Leveled Texts in Kindergarten ~ Ep. 123

Literacy

Decodable Books vs Leveled Texts: What’s Best for Beginning Readers? There's a lot of buzz in early literacy about whether to use decodable books or leveled texts, especially in kindergarten classrooms. It's an important topic—one that impacts how students learn to read and how confident they feel...

Unpacking Mid-Year Assessment Data ~ Ep. 120

Classroom Activities and Lessons

How to Use Kindergarten Mid-Year Assessments to Guide Instruction and Support Students Mid-year assessments can bring up a mix of emotions for kindergarten teachers. You’ve worked hard for months, and now it’s time to evaluate student progress. But what if the data doesn’t reflect the growth you...

Easy Small Group Ideas for Blending and Decoding Success ~ Ep. 119

Literacy

How to Support Blending and Decoding in Kindergarten Literacy Small Groups When students know their letter sounds but struggle to blend them into words, it can create a roadblock to early reading. Blending and decoding in kindergarten is a foundational skill, and some students need targeted small...

Help Kids Move Beyond Labeling to Writing Sentences ~ Ep. 116

Literacy

How to Help Kindergarten Students Transition from Labeling to Writing Full Sentences Teaching kindergarten writing sentences can be one of the most rewarding yet challenging parts of early education. Many students enter the classroom ready to share stories with enthusiasm, but when it's time to put those...

A Developmental Approach to Teaching Writing with Melissa from Teaching to Transform ~ Ep. 114

Literacy

Apple Spotify Amazon Music If you don't allow that independent time where they are showing you whether they want to write or not, showing you whether they draw pictures or not, if you don't allow that, you don't know what to teach them. You don't know what they're ready...

Kindergarten Small Groups for Teaching Letter Sounds ~ Ep. 106

Literacy

Apple Spotify Amazon Music This is your permission slip to be creative with the way your small groups are and that really small groups should be about targeting the skills your students need and practicing those skills.~ Zeba from Episode 106 of The Kindergarten Cafe Podcast Episode Summary Small groups don’t...

Kindergarten Case Study: Supporting Kindergarteners With No Letter Knowledge ~ Ep. 105

Literacy

Apple Spotify Amazon Music Don't panic if they don't know all their letters and sounds when they are first coming to kindergarten. It's okay because you are going to teach everyone letters and sounds.~ Zeba from Episode 105 of The Kindergarten Cafe Podcast Episode Summary It can feel overwhelming when a...