Classroom Activities and Lessons | Kindergarten Cafe

Kindergarten Cafe

Welcome to Kindergarten Cafe - your home for teaching ideas, activities, and strategies across all content areas! I am Zeba McGibbon and I love creating resources for teachers and sharing my teaching experience with others. Kindergarten Cafe is aimed for kindergarten, but teachers of Preschool-First grade can find resources here for their students! I love to connect with other teachers so please reach out and say hello!

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Holidays

Earth Day Magic in Kindergarten ~ Ep. 30

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Math

Loving Teaching While Using New Curriculum ~ Ep. 29

Zeba McGibbon

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PODCAST

The Chick Life Cycle Unit is Pure Kindergarten Magic

Zeba McGibbon

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Early Childhood Education

Child-Led Play and Learning with Melysa from PRE-K Spot Talks ~ Ep. 27

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PODCAST

What to Do When a Child Won’t Stop Crying ~ Ep. 26

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3 Kindergarten Writing Activities to do Before Launching Writer’s Workshop

Back to SchoolZeba McGibbon

Kindergarten writing activities and writer’s workshop can be the most challenging time of day for students. Writing involves so many steps for students, it is hard to get it all into place. Students need to think of an idea of what to write, think...

The Kindergarten Must-Haves: Classroom Supplies and Materials

Back to SchoolZeba McGibbon

Preparing for the start of a new school year can be overwhelming, especially when it comes to stocking up on supplies for your kindergarten classroom. To help you get organized, we've put together a list of must-haves that will ensure your students have everything...

Letting Kids Lead End of Year Activities

Classroom Activities and LessonsZeba McGibbon

We all know that the end of the year can get overwhelming and stressful. The children can easily lose engagement and behaviors can increase. One of the best ways that I have found to help with the end of the year slump, is to...

5 Simple Fine Motor Skills Activities

Classroom Activities and LessonsZeba McGibbon

Fine motor skills activities are critical in every early childhood classroom as they set the foundation for future literacy skills. Children need fine motor skills to be able to write and draw. Additionally, fine motor skills are needed for cutting with scissors, zipping, buttoning,...

Teaching Kids to Draw in Three Steps

LiteracyZeba McGibbon

Teaching kids to draw is a critical literacy skill. Children need to be able to draw detailed drawings that when anyone looks at them, they will know what the drawing is of. Learning to draw is important because it helps children develop fine motor...

Easy Celebrations for Kindergarten Poetry Month

LiteracyZeba McGibbon

April is National Poetry Month, so what better time than to have a kindergarten poetry month! By this time in spring, kindergarteners are ready for new genres in reading and writing and so it’s the perfect time to let them explore with reading and...

Fun and Easy Activities in Springtime for Kindergarten

Classroom Activities and LessonsZeba McGibbon

Springtime for kindergarten is a special time of year. The children are much more mature and independent and have built a strong foundation of academic skills. They are ready to take the foundational skills they have learned and apply them to deeper learning. Additionally,...

What High Frequency Words Should I Teach in Kindergarten?

LiteracyZeba McGibbon

What is High Frequency Word and Why Should I Teach Them? A high frequency word is known by a lot of names (sight words, snap words, trick words, heart words, etc.) but they are words that...

Answering All Your Questions About Kindergarten Decodable Books

LiteracyZeba McGibbon

Learning more about the science of reading and how children really learn to read, I know now how important decodable books are for young readers. This blog post is all about kindergarten decodable books, how to use them, and where to find them.

Decomposing Numbers in Kindergarten

MathZeba McGibbon

There are many important math skills for children to learn in kindergarten, but a key foundational skill they need to learn is number decomposition. Teaching decomposing numbers in kindergarten can sometimes be overlooked. But, it should be embedded into whole group and small group...