Teaching kindergarten is tough, but virtual learning in kindergarten is tougher. These distance learning tips for kindergarten will make this transition easier. Hopefully, it will make distance learning more fun for your students.
If you are like me, you would have never ever imagined that you would be teaching five year olds online. Who would have ever guessed these difficult circumstances that we find ourselves in.
But, here we are. Thrown into the unknown: Google Classroom, Canvas, Google Meet, Zoom, Nearpod, Seesaw, Jamboard, Google Slides, Kami, The new buzzwords are endless and completely overwhelming. I am an older teacher, and I thought I could never do it.
Guess what? I am doing it and I am finding my groove. Here are my best distance learning tips for kindergarten that will allow you to get your groove back.
Sing, Sing, and Sing some more. 
Even if you don’t sing well, give it a shot. Have a few students unmute their mics and sing with you.
Pick one to do a duet. They love that.
I love to find familiar songs and use them to count, spell sight words or basically teach whatever. We count by 10’s to the song Hi Ho the Derio. I spell “like” to It’s a Small World. Spell “there” to the tune Celebration.
I teach a song about learning to cut to the tune of ” Where is Thumbkin?”
Who is cutting? Who is cutting? Thumb on top. Thumb on Top. Fingers on the bottom. Fingers on the bottom. Chop, Chop, Chop
Or, here is one for the vowels to the melody of “Bingo.”
There are five vowels in the alphabet and we will sing their Name-o’s.
A-E-I-O-U A-E-I-O-U A-E-I-O-U And that is all their Name-O’s
There is a vowel. It’s name is A
And “A” is their Sound-O
“A” “A” “A” “A” “A” “A” “A” “A” “A” “A” And that is what is sounds like.
You can do this for each short vowel sound. The kids can get up and dance as they sing. I have some great dancers.
Un-mute for awhile. 
This is very important to build relationships with you and their classmates. Small kids need and love this.
It is very tough to have all students un-muted at the same time. Small groups work a lot better. I always give them the first few minutes to talk to one another. Muting my mic and camera helps them feel more at ease to talk to their peers.
Having students bring something to share for show-n-tell also really, really gets the ball rolling. Students at this young age love to share their toys and items that mean a lot to them.
Mix it up.
I don’t want to overwhelm my parents. Also, I don’t want kids to not have enough to do if they want to do more. I give a lot of optional assignments.
We use Canvas, so I just list optional assignments and link a Google Slide. I have created many google Slides for math, rhyming, sight words and short vowels.
Young students need a little practice to drag and drop slides, but they learn quickly. The below activities will help you to mix it up and keep it fresh. Your students will be more engaged if activities are varied.
During live sessions, I throw in Number Talks, share my screen for online books with RAZ-Kids and Discovery, and complete worksheets together.
Google is your friend.
Jamboard is engaging and fun for students. Let me walk you through the steps. Also, I will give you a freebie to start.
So, find a picture or worksheet that you want to use.
Screenshot editor and tool is an extension on Google Chrome that makes this easy. Save anything as a Png. Open Jamboard that is located in your Google Waffle.
Click the plus sign on the bottom right. Go to your toolbar on the left side, and choose the add image icon. Find what you would like to add. Matching activities are great.
Share and change settings to anyone with the link can share and edit.
Put the link in your chat box when doing small groups.
Share your screen and explain the steps to your kids. Show them how to find the drawing tools. My students loved this and being able to draw with their friends.
Play engaging games.
A simple favorite is “Simon Says” but use your name instead. I like to include this game with my learning objectives. When I teach shapes, I say, Mrs. Barton says, “Make a triangle with your fingers.”
Mrs. Barton says, “Find a cylinder in your house.” This incorporates movement, fun and learning together.
On Fridays, I like to play a different game. We have dance parties. I let them request songs that I find on my phone to play.
Go Noodle is, of course, also a favorite.
Give paper and pencil work.
Students in kindergarten need to cut, glue and write. These are essential skills that cannot be learned on the computer.
Deployment of materials is essential. This is how I have the students turn in work also. We have two bins for pick-up and drop off. One packet for the month has worked for my school.
Including fun art projects to go along with stories and social studies and science units has been a hit with the students.
They love to show me their finished projects on our live sessions.
Directed Drawing
Students love directed drawings. They also learn how to follow step-by-step directions. The below robot is one that I used during my shapes unit.
I drew it out first on a whiteboard.
During the live lesson, I gave directions very slowly and made a few things easier for the students. They absolutely loved this.
Some of their robots looked better than mine.
Don’t give up!
I hope these distance learning tips for kindergarten were helpful. We are in un-chartered territory. This is hard. But, it will get easier, and your tool belt will get larger.
Join Facebook groups for distance learning. They have been so helpful to me in learning new skills.
There are positives here. I feel like I am able to talk to my students in small groups and really form relationships. In the classroom, I always felt rushed and had to deal with the behavior of the other students in the room.
Guess what? Students are learning, and they will continue to learn. Let’s stick together and help one another.