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

Zeba McGibbon

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PODCAST

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

Zeba McGibbon

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Ideas for classroom jobs and why they are important

Classroom DesignZeba McGibbon

Classroom jobs are a critical part of the classroom community. They teach students responsibility, independence and teamwork. Not all classroom jobs are created equal though! In this blog post I write some different ideas for classroom jobs and why they are important!

Motivating a Student by Making Them Feel Special

Teaching Tips and TricksZeba McGibbon

Wouldn’t we all love the magic trick to motivating a student to do work? The truth is, if you form a classroom culture where students feel special and valued, then they will always be motivated! I have five ways to make students feel special...

The secrets to a welcoming classroom environment

Classroom DesignZeba McGibbon

Creating a welcoming classroom environment is easier than you thought, and the secret might surprise you! As teachers, especially at the start of school, we are bombarded with all the stuff and all the things that we are supposed to buy for our classroom...

Parent Communication Made Easy with ClassTag

Teaching Tips and TricksZeba McGibbon

Teachers have a million things to worry about during the year, but don’t let parent communication be one of them! ClassTag has everything I have ever looked for in a parent communication tool. I’ll get into all the parent communication features, but my favorite...

A Proven classroom set up for kindergarten independence

Classroom DesignZeba McGibbon

Any kindergarten teacher will know – independence is the name of the game. Not only is it a critical skill for young children to develop, let’s be honest… there’s one of you and twenty of them. Twenty young children who are used to getting...

Welcome to Back to School Made Easy Guaranteed!

Teaching Tips and TricksZeba McGibbon

When thinking about that welcome to back to school, there are two types of teachers out there. Let me know in the comments which type of teacher you are! There’s the teacher who leaves her classroom when summer starts and doesn’t come back to...

Remote Teaching: What I Will and Won’t Miss

Distance and Digital TeachingZeba McGibbon

I’ve been teaching remotely for almost a full year… I have just a few weeks left. Many said it couldn’t be done and I am here to prove that it could. My students learned just as much as they would have in the classroom....

Why I Don’t Do A Countdown for Summer

Teaching Tips and TricksZeba McGibbon

I’ve been there - so desperate for summer that I start counting down the days. In fact, I do this every year. However, I’ve started to keep my countdown for summer private from the students. I am not trying to make anyone feel bad...

5 Ways to Keep Students Engaged at the End of the Year

Teaching Tips and TricksZeba McGibbon

Keeping students engaged at the end of the year can be tough. At this point, they’ve done all the routines and learned all the tricks up your sleeve. They are feeling burnt out, and let’s face it, so are you. Here are five easy...

Turning Misbehaviors In The Classroom into Teachable Moments

Social Emotional Learning and SupportsZeba McGibbon

The secret to good teaching? Finding those teachable moments and running with them. Good social-emotional instruction involves a balance of preventative instruction with responsive instruction. Today, I’m going to show you how to turn those misbehaviors in the classroom into responsive teachable moments.