There are a few kindergarten questions that I get asked a lot. These mostly come through Instagram DMs or emails. I know that kindergarten can seem overwhelming, and there is so much to learn!

I thought it would be easiest to put all the answers to my most frequently asked questions in one place. This way, I can link to resources and other blog posts that may be useful.

For a more comprehensive overview of all things kindergarten, make sure you check out my post: My Ultimate Guide to Kindergarten Centers.

How do I run centers?

I do free choice centers. Students self-regulate and choose the centers they want to do, and stay there as long as they want. For more information on what this looks like, check out my post about Free Choice Centers.

What does your schedule look like?

What your daily schedule looks like will entirely depend on two things: what other items are built into your day (lunch, recess, prep times, etc.) and your students. I do not think of our daily schedule as a fixed entity – it can evolve and change along with the needs of my students.

That being said – our kindergarten flow of the day tries to maximize the time that students are spending in large blocks of uninterrupted play. This allows for deeper, more meaningful learning to take place. You can learn more about this in my post about Simple Ideas to Improve Your Classroom Schedule. I also have a podcast episode about my Flow of the Day:

Is play time separate from math and literacy?

Simple answer: no.

Play is how children learn, so play is embedded throughout the school day. There is no separate time for students to play and students to learn. Instead, students can explore their learning in free-choice centers and other areas like dramatic play, building, etc.

You can read more about my thoughts about this in my post Comparing Play-Based and Paper Centers and Let’s Talk About Play-Based Literacy in Kindergarten.

How do I assess and document learning?

This is a huge topic that involves learning what assessment is and what documentation is. Much of my understanding of this topic comes from the book THINQ Kindergarten. I’ve also written a blog post Want to be amazing at kindergarten documentation? Here’s how!

Do you have questions about kindergarten? Ask them in the comments!