by Jolanta Maria Nitoslawska-Romer, M.Ed.
International Director of Academic Affairs, BE+Live
For the last two months, I have been making asynchronous video clips for preschool children aged 4 to 6. What an experience! Before starting, there was a lot of research to do, what works, what doesn’t work for younger children. I looked at articles, blogs and videos that had been taped. I talked to teachers who had been doing it online since March. I talked to parents who were at home working and had younger children who had “on line preschool classes”, heard ¡quite a few horror stories unfortunately, and one or two brilliant ideas. We all know that there are so many resources online, it can be quite mindboggling.
So here are some personal thoughts on what seems to work best. You may have heard or seen some of them, tried some others out, or are sure that this one or that one just does not work. Or just as sure that it does. Of course, we all on a learning curve, and I don’t think there are any definite answers yet. We shall still see how this learning situation will affect our youngest learners in the future; so, please don’t hesitate in letting us know what is working for you!
Live meetings
Please keep them short! Distance learning for Kindergarten should be fun and productive. Write a message for your kids every day and read it aloud to them and then get them doing things on their own. They don’t have to “be in class” with you for the whole morning. You can touch base with them, sing a song together and then off they go! You can catch up with them for another short session, to sing a song or do a dance later in the day. Be prepared that not all your students will be able to join you! Meet often with small groups of 3-4 kids.
Some teachers tell me that they have set up Google classroom, or use the school LMS to post assignments every day, so that parents know what needs to be done. Other parents prefer to receive weekly assignments so that they can adjust the support they give to their kids depending on their own work and schedules. The best idea is to talk to the parents of your students and reach agreements that most are comfortable with. It will be near impossible to please everyone, but keeping an open mind and an understanding attitude is imperative. Since parents need to be involved with the little ones, schools and teachers need to care for them too!
Props are helpful!
Here are some of the best ones I have used or seen in use:
- A small white board. If you can’t get one, use a white cardboard in a plastic protector and dry erase markers. (It is also helpful for your students to have one as well). You will find so many uses for it: writing words, drawing pictures, making signs, asking questions, writing problems, and so on. The kids can also draw, and write, and show you their work immediately.
- Puppets. Simple hand made ones, or ones that look like they’re talking. You can role play and model.
- Stuffed animals: teddy bears and more. If you don’t have any, print out pictures, paste them on cardboard ( used cereal boxes), and use them in your classes, and videos too. A horse can gallop across a screen, and a lion can roar from the top of a cliff!
- Kid characters – like paper dolls, but more life-like. They can become your classroom friends to greet your students, “play” with them and model. Print them out, paste on carboard and use them close to your camera to make them more “real”. Practice to get the best effects. If you can get ahold of some real girl and boy dolls, you will find that very helpful.
- Small cardboard clocks with clock hands. Buy or print out from the internet. Use them to show times and to set schedules.
- A play microphone- for acting out and getting your students to participate too
- A large cardboard star, covered with glitter. See what it does when you bring it close to the camera! I do not have to tell you in how many ways you will be able to use this star!
I hope these have been helpful tips. MY next blog will be about asynchronous videos for preschool.
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