Kindergarten to First Grade –
Making the Transition at Church
By Sue Harmon
The first grade room is so different from the kindergarten room! The homeliving center is missing! Where are the building blocks?
Children’s teachers may use these suggestions to give kindergarteners a smooth transition to the first grade classroom:
- Select activities that require little or no printing or reading for the first couple of months.
- Use some familiar songs from the preschool department in the first few weeks.
- For new songs, print the words on chart paper and help children to follow the words.
- Provide rhythm instruments for the boys and girls to play.
- Have the children work on the floor rather than at tables for some activities.
- Remember to print rather than write in cursive!
- Provide lined manuscript paper for writing activities. First graders are not ready for regular notebook paper.
- Use colors or shapes to help children match questions and answers or parts of Bible verses. They can match the red cards, the yellow circles, and so on.
- Plan a variety of activities for group time – times to move, times to sit, times to listen, times to talk or sing. Remember that the attention span for first graders is only 6-7 minutes.
- Use drama – guide the children to dress in simple Bible costumes and act out the Bible story.
- Make puzzles from old teaching pictures that relate to the Bible content for the day or for the unit.
As teachers make efforts to ease the transition from the preschool area, brand new first graders can be happy and comfortable in their church classrooms!
