September 8, 2025 • 17 mins
What's up PE Nation!
Don't let kindergarten scare you!
Teaching kindergarten PE requires a thoughtful approach centered on structure, simplicity, positive reinforcement, basic games, and genuine enjoyment. When these five elements come together, kindergarten classes transform from potentially chaotic experiences into joyful learning environments where young students thrive.
• Structure forms the foundation for kindergarten success
• Students need consistent routines and expectations
• Keep instructions simple
• Praise specific positive behaviors
• Use tangible rewards
• Stick to basic games
• Have fun!
Take care and happy teaching!
Dave
Check out supersizedphysed.com for more resources, including free PDFs, articles, and courses to help with your kindergarten PE program. Please leave a review to help grow this podcast and keep pushing our profession forward.
-Team Building Games Ebook (with preview): https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Team-Building-Games-and-Activities-for-PE-Class-14063095
-Kindergarten PE Kickoff Guide: article
-Free resources include Substack and Medium articles with PE tips, games, and strategies
-A free video course on the "PE-9": principles for improving your PE program
-High Fives and Empowering Lives book available as an ebook or paperback
-Paperback or download: HERE
-Amazon Ebook: HERE
Become a supporter of the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/385837/support
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hello and welcome to the Super Size Fizzhead podcast.
My name is Dave, and todaylet's talk kindergarten.
It doesn't have to be a scaryword.
Kindergarten can be the bestthing ever.
So, without further ado, herewe go.
Welcome in PE Nation.
(00:41):
I am recording this outsideagain, so I apologize if you
hear my dog squeaking a ball oryou hear the raindrops, please,
it just, I think, stoppedraining.
So my goal, as always, though,is to get out content as best I
can to you weekly and do thebest I can to spread good PE
practices, and kindergarten isno different.
(01:06):
Let's talk kindergarten Firstof all.
I love teaching kindergarten.
The little ones entering yourPE classroom or class for the
first time is just an amazingexperience.
Just seeing those happy facescome into your class for the
first time.
It's a great experience forthem and for you.
And, yeah, I know some areworried, some are excited.
(01:26):
Most of them have to use thebathroom right away, but they're
all curious to see what PE isabout, so let's give them what
they deserve.
Let's have a great school yearin kindergarten, and I want to
tell you how in my five-stepprocess here.
So let's make this a boomer.
Here we go.
(01:47):
Before I begin with number one Ido want to say last year in
kindergarten was the toughestyear I've ever had in
kindergarten.
It was just it was not good andthe students just they had a
hard time listening and focusingand it was just really
difficult.
I don't know how else to say it, but I do think, and it goes
(02:07):
along with number one, what I'mgoing to talk about in a moment.
I think it's the first timewe've ever had them, at least at
my current school, in theafternoon and we had them in the
hottest part of the day becausewe're outside.
We had them in the, like I said, in the afternoon after lunch.
It was like basically nap timefor them.
They were like done, they weredone for the day and they had a
(02:29):
hard time with the heat.
They had a hard time with justwe're inside a lot because the
heat index and the rain kept usinside quite a bit in the
beginning of the school year.
It's how Florida is.
It's just unpredictable withthe weather school year.
It's how Florida is.
It's just unpredictable withthe weather.
So we didn't have.
What I'm about to say, which isnumber one, is structure,
(02:49):
structure, structure.
They didn't have that.
We started the school year.
You know, in the media center,sometimes we're in their
classroom, sometimes we weren'tunder the pavilion as much as we
should have been, or I hoped wecould have been, and they
didn't get the structure theyneeded and the consistency with
being a PE under our pavilion,on their dots and so forth.
(03:13):
So structure is what's mostimportant in teaching any grade
level, but especially forkindergarten.
And you know, without structurethere's no learning, it's just
chaos, and I just can't.
I can't do chaos.
I'm not saying be a tyrant,though.
Structure doesn't mean strict,it's just chaos and I just can't
, I can't do chaos.
I'm not saying be a tyrant,though.
Structure doesn't mean strict.
It means you know law and orderand kids crave structure, they
(03:33):
need it and they deserve it,especially for our younger
children who are coming into anew, sometimes frightening
situation.
They need to know they're in asafe, orderly environment.
There's rules, there'sprocedures, expectations, and
those are the most importantthings to cover in the first two
weeks of the school year andthen continually practice
(03:54):
throughout the year.
And I want to go over somethings that we cover the first
two weeks of school really thefirst week but just slowly get
these down and make sure we havethese.
So here's what we cover.
So first thing is how we enterthe pavilion.
They wait at a certain spot forus and then we come get them
and they go to their dots.
Actually, they put their waterbottles in a hoop that matches
(04:15):
their color of their line.
How we sit on their dots or howthey sit on their dots, how we
signal for a bathroom or drinkbreak and the bathroom and drink
procedures.
As far as teaching them how to,you know, lock the door and
knock and make sure nobody's inthere and clean up after
(04:35):
themselves, things like that.
How to get a drink from thewater fountain, how to put their
water bottles there and to fillit back up, those type of
things.
Also, how the coaches get theirattention, that's a big thing,
that's almost right away andit's a whole nother podcast, so
I'm not going into that rightnow.
But attention grabbers, how wewarm up with a song or music mix
(04:55):
and we take it real simple atfirst.
How we interact with ourpartners so you know, just
talking to our shoulder partneror stand up, hand up, pair up
Now we don't do that right away,but within the first couple of
weeks how we travel from placeto place.
So that means you know, stationto station or from the pavilion
to the field or pavilion to thebasketball court.
(05:17):
Now again, we don't do thatright away, that's probably week
two, but it's definitely thingswe cover.
What happens if there's a firedrill or a lockdown drill, and
where do we go and how do we actand how do we end class?
We usually end them on theirdots.
We do a thing where the boysand girls do a great job, we get
to roll the dice, andkindergarten is just for fun.
(05:38):
For the older boys and girlsit's for points for like a free
day or something like that.
So those are some of thedetails we cover, and then
there's more, but those are themain ones we cover the first two
weeks of school.
Number two is keep it simple,and I've made this mistake many
times.
Students, especially ourkindergarten students, need one
(06:01):
at the most three I say one, twoor three step directions at the
most.
They need to be able to processa little bit of time and then
add slowly to it.
So when we add games and thingsit should be like one step at a
time, one level at a time.
Here's how we walk and thennext time.
Here's how we follow the line Iguess I'm just thinking of
(06:22):
Pac-Man or something and then weadd you know how do we tag?
And then what do we do if weget tagged?
And then we just slowly, slowly, slowly.
So we make simple happen in PEclass by repeating instructions.
Often we rehearse and reinforcedirections.
We begin with basic games forthe first few weeks and then add
(06:43):
as we go, even add levels as wego, and we review concepts from
the previous class.
This is a constant forkindergarten.
We have to keep things simple,right, k-i-s-s.
Keep it simple, stupid.
Yes, always, always, alwayssimplify.
And that is number two.
Number three is praise andreward positive behavior.
(07:05):
And it sounds simple, I know,but this step is often
overlooked.
If we want our students torepeat positive behavior, we
must use praise and positiverewards, and that's like a brain
tattoo right there.
I mean, we really need to dothat and I forget sometimes.
There's so many kids in mykindergarten class.
There's, I mean, around ahundred, and I used to have more
(07:26):
in my former school, but youknow I had also another para.
Right now I have myself and twoparas and about maybe it's not
a hundred, but somewhere in that90 to a hundred range and
sometimes I forget to justreward, because it just there's
a lot of kids and you can'treward them all and so why
(07:47):
bother rewarding any of them?
And that's not.
That's not true and I reallydon't feel that way, but
sometimes maybe I'm.
I get a little bit like oh, Igotta get this done, I gotta get
this done, I gotta start themusic.
I just slow down and look forpeople boys and girls doing a
great job and reward them.
It doesn't have to be a physicaltoken, but we do have those in
our school.
They're called bear paws andeach teacher carries them in
(08:09):
their pocket or whatever andgives them to students doing a
great job or being helpful insome way.
So in PE class we give theseout like candy on Halloween.
For the first couple weeks wegive them to every student
sitting nicely listening tofinal directions, being helpful,
just doing what we are doing.
If I'm doing like a freezedance or something, they're
(08:35):
matching me.
You know, giving out these bearpaws and reinforcing what we
want to see and hear in ourprogram and that makes it just
successful for everybody,especially for you, but
definitely for a kindergartenthat needs that tangible token
of appreciation.
And yes, praise goes a long way.
Of course, verbally, telling astudent they did an amazing job
brings them joy andrepeatability.
You want to keep them going.
Just make sure when you praiseor give a tangible item, they
(09:00):
know specifically why theyreceived it.
And this is hard.
I'm not great at this.
But instead of just being likehey, great job, it should be
great job sitting correctly andlistening to the teacher, or
great job throwing the ball toyour partner, instead of awesome
, say, that was awesome how youremembered the rules of our
class.
I really appreciate that, andthat goes for kindergarten, all
(09:24):
the way through well being anadult.
So, definitely, specific praiseand you know I'm not always the
best at specific praise becauseit feels like, oh man, it takes
forever to be specific.
But do the best you can andthat's my goal, to get better at
it.
And don't forget about highfives and fist bumps.
Just, you know, go around,greet your students.
(09:45):
You see them around school.
High fives, fist bumps, justsaying hi, that can make a
child's day.
So definitely, definitely,definitely praise and reward
positive behavior.
Number four is stick to basicgames.
So in the beginning of the yearwe repeat and rehearse basic
(10:06):
skills and games just for a longtime.
And you know, like I said,we're outside.
It's just very important to ourprogram to be ready for
anything that comes our way, andespecially a backup game or
inside activity that, just at amoment's notice, all of a sudden
lightning's in the area.
We have to unsign things likethat.
This is true for teachers thathave a gym as well and I envy
(10:31):
you, by the way but especiallyfor outdoor teachers like myself
.
Kindergarten students want tolearn and have fun.
Sitting around isn't fun, somake the most of your movement
in the class.
So here's how we keep gamessimple.
First of all, we do a lot ofgames with basic locomotive
movements.
We practice moving on thepavilion to music.
(10:52):
We, you know, can walk, skip ifthey can.
That's kind of a little upperlevel thing there Sliding,
hopping, galloping, if they can.
But just do simple things, likeyou know.
Hey, let's be airplanes andwalk around the pavilion, let's
drive, pretend like you'redriving a car, let's take giant
steps and baby steps and even dolike the cha-cha slide Is there
hopping and clapping andanything I can think of to just
(11:13):
keep it simple and to do thebasic movements.
We do them, and that's thefirst thing.
Again, just keep everythingsimple, simple songs.
Songs I play a lot, I justrepeat them and I choreograph
them, just with simple dance andexercise moves.
I'm not Justin Timberlake,although I sometimes feel like I
should be in a different lifeor something.
(11:35):
Not really.
We play them a lot and then weslowly expand our list of songs.
I'd say basic games, like Isaid, short and sweet games,
very few rules.
We rehearse them a lot.
Some of them are musical hoops,rollout, pac-man, freeze dance,
just learning boundaries, andsimple tag games with noodles,
(11:58):
and I will link some of these,by the way, in the show notes so
you can get a feel for what I'mtalking about.
I just that's.
These are some of these are forlike another podcast, completely
so.
Another one is number and colorrecognition.
Our dots have numbers andcolors.
Each student is assigned a well, definitely a number, and then
I usually keep kindergarten onthe same colors each time.
(12:20):
So even if I have uh, three orfour classes coming in, they
have their own colors all thetime and numbers and I call them
.
These are their home dots.
We play games where they travelaround the pavilion until the
music stops.
Then they have to find theirhome dot and sit down in a
timely fashion, things like that, where they just try to
remember their numbers.
And, by the way, they have ahard time with numbers and
(12:42):
colors right now.
So I'd say the final one forthis one is number and letter
recognition.
So we just talked about numberand color, but also number and
letter.
So I've written grants forwhat's called brain balls, if
you've seen them online, andagain, I have an article which
I'll put in the show notes soyou can see some of these things
.
They're small basketballs withletters and numbers on them, so
(13:10):
we practice rolling and bouncingballs by themselves and with a
partner.
The literacy aspect of our PEprogram is very important to our
school, and working on just theletters, colors, numbers,
recognition, all that stuff isvery important and sometimes I
think or feel like they oh, theygot this Kindergarten.
They know their letters, theyknow their numbers.
I mean maybe, but we justplayed the other day, honestly,
and we have some work to do.
(13:30):
They had to say a word thatbegins with their letter on
their ball and one of the girlshad it wasn't just her, it was a
few people.
She had the letter C.
I'm like, oh, what does C standfor?
She goes Seagull and she wasvery happy and proud about it.
I'm like, oh well, no, but okay, let's try, maybe cat.
(13:52):
So they definitely strugglewith that, not everybody.
But you know, not allkindergartners come in with, you
know, pre-k experience or justyou know they just need a little
help.
So work on that with them.
And so the bottom line fornumber four is stick to the
basics, right?
Number five, and the best one,is have fun.
(14:15):
After you put all this work in,you have a well-oiled machine
or you know, sort of.
I guess fun is the mostimportant aspect of kindergarten
.
If you're not having funwearing gym clothes and playing
games with children, you reallyneed to find another career.
I mean, we have the best jobever and it's not easy all the
time and, trust me, I'msometimes.
I get really, you know, nothappy.
(14:37):
Look upset and things aren'talways perfect, they're not.
But I mean, come on, I weartennis shoes and gym shorts and
a dry, fit shirt every day towork.
I mean, who else can do that?
And I have fun and I play games.
It's awesome.
So you know, just seeing thesmiles giving high fives,
encouraging our little ones toachieve their highest potential
(14:57):
is what it's all about.
Kindergarteners love theirteachers and you can make their
day.
They love PE class the most,even.
But you've got to make it funand have fun.
That's what it's all about.
Be silly, play fun games, smileevery single day and have fun
(15:20):
single day and have fun.
And now it's time for yourcowbell tip of the day.
All right, so your tip of theday is to just enjoy
kindergarten.
It's the best.
I mean, really, if you putthese things in place, things
(15:40):
can go wrong, but if you put thestructure in place, you put all
this in place and you're havingfun.
Just enjoy kindergarten.
It's not always easy.
Like I said, last year it wasvery, very difficult.
It was the absolute mostchallenging kindergarten I've
ever had.
It was very, very difficult.
It was the absolute mostchallenging kindergarten I've
ever had.
And then this year, as firstgraders, they're much better.
They, you know, just watchingthem see.
(16:01):
You know, grow and learn andachieve and smile.
You know that's the best rewardfor us.
So it's not always easyteaching kindergarten, but it's
amazing.
And you know I just want you tohave fun teaching kindergarten
and I put some differentresources in these show notes to
check out.
To help you with that, some freethings, some PDFs, all that
stuff and, of course, thearticle that I've been talking
(16:23):
about.
So that is your cowbell tip ofthe day.
Thank you everybody for tuningin today.
I really do appreciate it.
As always, go tosupersizefizcom for more
information and to check outeverything I talk about in these
(16:46):
podcasts, my courses, pdfs, mybook, just all the stuff, the
freebies, everything, thearticles, everything is at
supersizefizcom and a bunch ofthem are in the show notes at
your convenience.
If you want to check those outand definitely leave a hopefully
five-star review, it'll takeyou 3.5 seconds I didn't really
(17:09):
count that out, but somethinglike that just to leave a review
.
That'd be awesome to help growthe podcast.
So have a great day, week,weekend, pe Nation.
You guys and girls are awesomeand let's keep pushing our
profession forward.
Thank you.
Hello and welcome to the Super Size Fizzhead podcast.
My name is Dave, and todaylet's talk kindergarten.
It doesn't have to be a scaryword.
Kindergarten can be the bestthing ever.
So, without further ado, herewe go.
Welcome in PE Nation.
(00:41):
I am recording this outsideagain, so I apologize if you
hear my dog squeaking a ball oryou hear the raindrops, please,
it just, I think, stoppedraining.
So my goal, as always, though,is to get out content as best I
can to you weekly and do thebest I can to spread good PE
practices, and kindergarten isno different.
(01:06):
Let's talk kindergarten Firstof all.
I love teaching kindergarten.
The little ones entering yourPE classroom or class for the
first time is just an amazingexperience.
Just seeing those happy facescome into your class for the
first time.
It's a great experience forthem and for you.
And, yeah, I know some areworried, some are excited.
(01:26):
Most of them have to use thebathroom right away, but they're
all curious to see what PE isabout, so let's give them what
they deserve.
Let's have a great school yearin kindergarten, and I want to
tell you how in my five-stepprocess here.
So let's make this a boomer.
Here we go.
(01:47):
Before I begin with number one Ido want to say last year in
kindergarten was the toughestyear I've ever had in
kindergarten.
It was just it was not good andthe students just they had a
hard time listening and focusingand it was just really
difficult.
I don't know how else to say it, but I do think, and it goes
(02:07):
along with number one, what I'mgoing to talk about in a moment.
I think it's the first timewe've ever had them, at least at
my current school, in theafternoon and we had them in the
hottest part of the day becausewe're outside.
We had them in the, like I said, in the afternoon after lunch.
It was like basically nap timefor them.
They were like done, they weredone for the day and they had a
(02:29):
hard time with the heat.
They had a hard time with justwe're inside a lot because the
heat index and the rain kept usinside quite a bit in the
beginning of the school year.
It's how Florida is.
It's just unpredictable withthe weather school year.
It's how Florida is.
It's just unpredictable withthe weather.
So we didn't have.
What I'm about to say, which isnumber one, is structure,
(02:49):
structure, structure.
They didn't have that.
We started the school year.
You know, in the media center,sometimes we're in their
classroom, sometimes we weren'tunder the pavilion as much as we
should have been, or I hoped wecould have been, and they
didn't get the structure theyneeded and the consistency with
being a PE under our pavilion,on their dots and so forth.
(03:13):
So structure is what's mostimportant in teaching any grade
level, but especially forkindergarten.
And you know, without structurethere's no learning, it's just
chaos, and I just can't.
I can't do chaos.
I'm not saying be a tyrant,though.
Structure doesn't mean strict,it's just chaos and I just can't
, I can't do chaos.
I'm not saying be a tyrant,though.
Structure doesn't mean strict.
It means you know law and orderand kids crave structure, they
(03:33):
need it and they deserve it,especially for our younger
children who are coming into anew, sometimes frightening
situation.
They need to know they're in asafe, orderly environment.
There's rules, there'sprocedures, expectations, and
those are the most importantthings to cover in the first two
weeks of the school year andthen continually practice
(03:54):
throughout the year.
And I want to go over somethings that we cover the first
two weeks of school really thefirst week but just slowly get
these down and make sure we havethese.
So here's what we cover.
So first thing is how we enterthe pavilion.
They wait at a certain spot forus and then we come get them
and they go to their dots.
Actually, they put their waterbottles in a hoop that matches
(04:15):
their color of their line.
How we sit on their dots or howthey sit on their dots, how we
signal for a bathroom or drinkbreak and the bathroom and drink
procedures.
As far as teaching them how to,you know, lock the door and
knock and make sure nobody's inthere and clean up after
(04:35):
themselves, things like that.
How to get a drink from thewater fountain, how to put their
water bottles there and to fillit back up, those type of
things.
Also, how the coaches get theirattention, that's a big thing,
that's almost right away andit's a whole nother podcast, so
I'm not going into that rightnow.
But attention grabbers, how wewarm up with a song or music mix
(04:55):
and we take it real simple atfirst.
How we interact with ourpartners so you know, just
talking to our shoulder partneror stand up, hand up, pair up
Now we don't do that right away,but within the first couple of
weeks how we travel from placeto place.
So that means you know, stationto station or from the pavilion
to the field or pavilion to thebasketball court.
(05:17):
Now again, we don't do thatright away, that's probably week
two, but it's definitely thingswe cover.
What happens if there's a firedrill or a lockdown drill, and
where do we go and how do we actand how do we end class?
We usually end them on theirdots.
We do a thing where the boysand girls do a great job, we get
to roll the dice, andkindergarten is just for fun.
(05:38):
For the older boys and girlsit's for points for like a free
day or something like that.
So those are some of thedetails we cover, and then
there's more, but those are themain ones we cover the first two
weeks of school.
Number two is keep it simple,and I've made this mistake many
times.
Students, especially ourkindergarten students, need one
(06:01):
at the most three I say one, twoor three step directions at the
most.
They need to be able to processa little bit of time and then
add slowly to it.
So when we add games and thingsit should be like one step at a
time, one level at a time.
Here's how we walk and thennext time.
Here's how we follow the line Iguess I'm just thinking of
(06:22):
Pac-Man or something and then weadd you know how do we tag?
And then what do we do if weget tagged?
And then we just slowly, slowly, slowly.
So we make simple happen in PEclass by repeating instructions.
Often we rehearse and reinforcedirections.
We begin with basic games forthe first few weeks and then add
(06:43):
as we go, even add levels as wego, and we review concepts from
the previous class.
This is a constant forkindergarten.
We have to keep things simple,right, k-i-s-s.
Keep it simple, stupid.
Yes, always, always, alwayssimplify.
And that is number two.
Number three is praise andreward positive behavior.
(07:05):
And it sounds simple, I know,but this step is often
overlooked.
If we want our students torepeat positive behavior, we
must use praise and positiverewards, and that's like a brain
tattoo right there.
I mean, we really need to dothat and I forget sometimes.
There's so many kids in mykindergarten class.
There's, I mean, around ahundred, and I used to have more
(07:26):
in my former school, but youknow I had also another para.
Right now I have myself and twoparas and about maybe it's not
a hundred, but somewhere in that90 to a hundred range and
sometimes I forget to justreward, because it just there's
a lot of kids and you can'treward them all and so why
(07:47):
bother rewarding any of them?
And that's not.
That's not true and I reallydon't feel that way, but
sometimes maybe I'm.
I get a little bit like oh, Igotta get this done, I gotta get
this done, I gotta start themusic.
I just slow down and look forpeople boys and girls doing a
great job and reward them.
It doesn't have to be a physicaltoken, but we do have those in
our school.
They're called bear paws andeach teacher carries them in
(08:09):
their pocket or whatever andgives them to students doing a
great job or being helpful insome way.
So in PE class we give theseout like candy on Halloween.
For the first couple weeks wegive them to every student
sitting nicely listening tofinal directions, being helpful,
just doing what we are doing.
If I'm doing like a freezedance or something, they're
(08:35):
matching me.
You know, giving out these bearpaws and reinforcing what we
want to see and hear in ourprogram and that makes it just
successful for everybody,especially for you, but
definitely for a kindergartenthat needs that tangible token
of appreciation.
And yes, praise goes a long way.
Of course, verbally, telling astudent they did an amazing job
brings them joy andrepeatability.
You want to keep them going.
Just make sure when you praiseor give a tangible item, they
(09:00):
know specifically why theyreceived it.
And this is hard.
I'm not great at this.
But instead of just being likehey, great job, it should be
great job sitting correctly andlistening to the teacher, or
great job throwing the ball toyour partner, instead of awesome
, say, that was awesome how youremembered the rules of our
class.
I really appreciate that, andthat goes for kindergarten, all
(09:24):
the way through well being anadult.
So, definitely, specific praiseand you know I'm not always the
best at specific praise becauseit feels like, oh man, it takes
forever to be specific.
But do the best you can andthat's my goal, to get better at
it.
And don't forget about highfives and fist bumps.
Just, you know, go around,greet your students.
(09:45):
You see them around school.
High fives, fist bumps, justsaying hi, that can make a
child's day.
So definitely, definitely,definitely praise and reward
positive behavior.
Number four is stick to basicgames.
So in the beginning of the yearwe repeat and rehearse basic
(10:06):
skills and games just for a longtime.
And you know, like I said,we're outside.
It's just very important to ourprogram to be ready for
anything that comes our way, andespecially a backup game or
inside activity that, just at amoment's notice, all of a sudden
lightning's in the area.
We have to unsign things likethat.
This is true for teachers thathave a gym as well and I envy
(10:31):
you, by the way but especiallyfor outdoor teachers like myself
.
Kindergarten students want tolearn and have fun.
Sitting around isn't fun, somake the most of your movement
in the class.
So here's how we keep gamessimple.
First of all, we do a lot ofgames with basic locomotive
movements.
We practice moving on thepavilion to music.
(10:52):
We, you know, can walk, skip ifthey can.
That's kind of a little upperlevel thing there Sliding,
hopping, galloping, if they can.
But just do simple things, likeyou know.
Hey, let's be airplanes andwalk around the pavilion, let's
drive, pretend like you'redriving a car, let's take giant
steps and baby steps and even dolike the cha-cha slide Is there
hopping and clapping andanything I can think of to just
(11:13):
keep it simple and to do thebasic movements.
We do them, and that's thefirst thing.
Again, just keep everythingsimple, simple songs.
Songs I play a lot, I justrepeat them and I choreograph
them, just with simple dance andexercise moves.
I'm not Justin Timberlake,although I sometimes feel like I
should be in a different lifeor something.
(11:35):
Not really.
We play them a lot and then weslowly expand our list of songs.
I'd say basic games, like Isaid, short and sweet games,
very few rules.
We rehearse them a lot.
Some of them are musical hoops,rollout, pac-man, freeze dance,
just learning boundaries, andsimple tag games with noodles,
(11:58):
and I will link some of these,by the way, in the show notes so
you can get a feel for what I'mtalking about.
I just that's.
These are some of these are forlike another podcast, completely
so.
Another one is number and colorrecognition.
Our dots have numbers andcolors.
Each student is assigned a well, definitely a number, and then
I usually keep kindergarten onthe same colors each time.
(12:20):
So even if I have uh, three orfour classes coming in, they
have their own colors all thetime and numbers and I call them
.
These are their home dots.
We play games where they travelaround the pavilion until the
music stops.
Then they have to find theirhome dot and sit down in a
timely fashion, things like that, where they just try to
remember their numbers.
And, by the way, they have ahard time with numbers and
(12:42):
colors right now.
So I'd say the final one forthis one is number and letter
recognition.
So we just talked about numberand color, but also number and
letter.
So I've written grants forwhat's called brain balls, if
you've seen them online, andagain, I have an article which
I'll put in the show notes soyou can see some of these things
.
They're small basketballs withletters and numbers on them, so
(13:10):
we practice rolling and bouncingballs by themselves and with a
partner.
The literacy aspect of our PEprogram is very important to our
school, and working on just theletters, colors, numbers,
recognition, all that stuff isvery important and sometimes I
think or feel like they oh, theygot this Kindergarten.
They know their letters, theyknow their numbers.
I mean maybe, but we justplayed the other day, honestly,
and we have some work to do.
(13:30):
They had to say a word thatbegins with their letter on
their ball and one of the girlshad it wasn't just her, it was a
few people.
She had the letter C.
I'm like, oh, what does C standfor?
She goes Seagull and she wasvery happy and proud about it.
I'm like, oh well, no, but okay, let's try, maybe cat.
(13:52):
So they definitely strugglewith that, not everybody.
But you know, not allkindergartners come in with, you
know, pre-k experience or justyou know they just need a little
help.
So work on that with them.
And so the bottom line fornumber four is stick to the
basics, right?
Number five, and the best one,is have fun.
(14:15):
After you put all this work in,you have a well-oiled machine
or you know, sort of.
I guess fun is the mostimportant aspect of kindergarten
.
If you're not having funwearing gym clothes and playing
games with children, you reallyneed to find another career.
I mean, we have the best jobever and it's not easy all the
time and, trust me, I'msometimes.
I get really, you know, nothappy.
(14:37):
Look upset and things aren'talways perfect, they're not.
But I mean, come on, I weartennis shoes and gym shorts and
a dry, fit shirt every day towork.
I mean, who else can do that?
And I have fun and I play games.
It's awesome.
So you know, just seeing thesmiles giving high fives,
encouraging our little ones toachieve their highest potential
(14:57):
is what it's all about.
Kindergarteners love theirteachers and you can make their
day.
They love PE class the most,even.
But you've got to make it funand have fun.
That's what it's all about.
Be silly, play fun games, smileevery single day and have fun
(15:20):
single day and have fun.
And now it's time for yourcowbell tip of the day.
All right, so your tip of theday is to just enjoy
kindergarten.
It's the best.
I mean, really, if you putthese things in place, things
(15:40):
can go wrong, but if you put thestructure in place, you put all
this in place and you're havingfun.
Just enjoy kindergarten.
It's not always easy.
Like I said, last year it wasvery, very difficult.
It was the absolute mostchallenging kindergarten I've
ever had.
It was very, very difficult.
It was the absolute mostchallenging kindergarten I've
ever had.
And then this year, as firstgraders, they're much better.
They, you know, just watchingthem see.
(16:01):
You know, grow and learn andachieve and smile.
You know that's the best rewardfor us.
So it's not always easyteaching kindergarten, but it's
amazing.
And you know I just want you tohave fun teaching kindergarten
and I put some differentresources in these show notes to
check out.
To help you with that, some freethings, some PDFs, all that
stuff and, of course, thearticle that I've been talking
(16:23):
about.
So that is your cowbell tip ofthe day.
Thank you everybody for tuningin today.
I really do appreciate it.
As always, go tosupersizefizcom for more
information and to check outeverything I talk about in these
(16:46):
podcasts, my courses, pdfs, mybook, just all the stuff, the
freebies, everything, thearticles, everything is at
supersizefizcom and a bunch ofthem are in the show notes at
your convenience.
If you want to check those outand definitely leave a hopefully
five-star review, it'll takeyou 3.5 seconds I didn't really
(17:09):
count that out, but somethinglike that just to leave a review
.
That'd be awesome to help growthe podcast.
So have a great day, week,weekend, pe Nation.
You guys and girls are awesomeand let's keep pushing our
profession forward.
Thank you.
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