Preschool and Kindergarten Teachers

Preschool and Kindergarten Classroom Teachers
The passage from preschool to kindergarten offers many unique challenges. Children enter kindergarten with a wide array of past experiences and from a wide variety of settings (home, Head Start, mother’s mornings out programs, full-day childcare, half-day childcare, and family childcare centers). For young children, the transition to school is much more than simply changing buildings or settings—it means learning a new set of rules and behaviors, adjusting to a new peer group, and getting to know new teachers. In addition, children must learn to play and cooperate with other children, pay attention for longer periods of time, and develop independent work habits.

When children begin school, they draw from previously learned skills and behaviors to help them adjust. If the two environments are different or incompatible, children may have difficulty learning the new routines and rules, making new friends, and functioning in the new settings. Thus, one of our roles as educators is to try and reduce the differences and enhance the similarities between the environments so that children are able to make a smooth transition. This means that there is continuity between settings.

This section provides ideas on how to help build continuity between children’s early care settings to promote practices that help children have the best transition possible. You will find many tips, activities, and concrete ideas here to help you with the transition process. This section of the website is divided into two areas: sending program (or preschool teacher) area and receiving program (or kindergarten teacher) area.