Teaching Tips and Tricks | 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

Zeba McGibbon

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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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Easy Activities for a Morning Meeting Greeting

Classroom CommunityZeba McGibbon

Morning meeting is the best time of the day in any classroom to build classroom community. Children are all welcomed into the classroom and everyone starts their day feeling valued, special, and having some fun! After a while doing the same morning meeting greetings,...

Supporting Children’s Worries in the Classroom

Social Emotional Learning and SupportsZeba McGibbon

All children worry, but some children worry more than others. Sometimes children’s worries present themselves more obviously than others. Sometimes children with worries ask to go to the nurse frequently, have trouble interacting with peers or following directions, or cry more often than other...

Supporting Kids at Recess Kindergarten and First Grade

Social Emotional Learning and SupportsZeba McGibbon

While it pains me to say it, children struggle with recess. What should be a fun and easy time of day has recently become a time of day with constant struggles and ever-increasing recess problems. Children are more over-booked with activities and reliant on...

How to Set Up a Calm Corner in Your Classroom or Home

Social Emotional Learning and SupportsZeba McGibbon

Children need a space in the classroom, and at home, where they can go when they are upset, frustrated, worried, dysregulated, etc. This calm corner in classroom or home is a safe space children can go to regulate their emotions. How do you set...

Strategies for ADHD Students

Social Emotional Learning and SupportsZeba McGibbon

Every classroom has students who struggle with staying focused in school, whether or not students have a diagnosis of ADHD. The focusing strategies for students with ADHD will help all students who struggle with staying on task and working, regardless of a diagnosis. The...

Simple, yet Effective, Small Group Instruction in Kindergarten

LiteracyZeba McGibbon

I hear a lot of teachers asking how they should handle small group instruction in kindergarten. Small groups can be a daunting task when the students’ attention spans are sometimes 10-15 minutes long! How do teachers fit it all in? What do they do...

Helping Children Regulate Their Emotions

Social Emotional Learning and SupportsZeba McGibbon

When children have extreme reactions or temper-tantrums, it can be extremely overwhelming for teachers to handle day after day. Teachers need to know how to react in the moment, as well as the best ways for helping children regulate their emotions to help with...

How to get students to stop talking too much

Social Emotional Learning and SupportsZeba McGibbon

Have you ever wondered how to get students to stop talking too much and after trying all your normal tricks, nothing seems to work? It can certainly get frustrating as a teacher when your students won't stop talking. I have been there! But we...

Teaching kids how to be kind

Social Emotional Learning and SupportsZeba McGibbon

Teaching kids how to be kind is one of the most important things we can do as teachers, and it doesn’t have to be complicated! When we explicitly teach our students what kindness is and give them concrete, specific examples of kindness, we can...

3 Ways to Improve Communicating with Classroom Families

Teaching Tips and TricksZeba McGibbon

Communicating with families can often feel like just one more thing but proactively communicating with families can make a huge difference if, and when, any issues arise with students or families. In today’s blog post, I am going over three simple things that teachers...