Motivating a Kindergartener WWYD?

I'm a little sad today....we went from DD being very quick, ending last year with being called AG....& now....
My daughter is struggling.

Her teacher says she's really bright, but gets distracted or lacks confidence, & has to pull the answers out.

when I do work with my DD she gets very frustrated, distracted, says it's hard/I can't. I need tips on how to motivate her into the I can & focus mode.

TIA!!!!

Message edited 11/15/2013 3:41:59 PM.

Motivating a Kindergartener WWYD?

My daughters love learning sight words in shaving cream. We also put the words around the house and go on hunts for them. I use stickers and they love star fall or abc mouse.com. Use edibles to practice 1 on 1 correspondence and ask questions about the groupings. Give her small notebook and colored pencils and pens to practice letter writing or even large chart paper. Make sure when you are reading to ask comprehension questions and involve her in the reading. Like guessing the next word. You can use an easel to practice letters, words, and numbers. Children love to erase things, so write a couple of letters or words and have them erase a word that has the "b" sound.

Re: Motivating a Kindergartener WWYD?

Great tips!!!! Yes, I need fun ways to get her involved & not just boring repetitive practice.

Motivating a Kindergartener WWYD?

If she didnt do good on her numbers but you know she knows it, it could be that she was assessed on a day that she didnt feel like doing it or was in a mood perhaps. My DS can be like that. Unfortunately if he is tired he will look me dead in the eye and say he doesnt know it or just ignore me.

I feel like at this age testing is a whole new thing for them and they will eventually get it.The following has worked for with DS:

Give special treats for doing well on test.. Mcdonalds or special privileges in the house. I dont let him know about any bad grades he has gotten, I just work with him more on that area.

Like the previous poster said, I try to keep things interesting. So for the sight words I created a Caterpillar chart in addition to reviewing the flash cards. He gets excited to add new words to his chart to feed the caterpillar. I also search online for worksheets for him to do as review instead of teaching him. Such as cut and paste sight words in a sentence or paste the letters next to objects that begin with that letter to practice letter phonetics. My son goes Apesh!t over being able to cut, paste and color things. He also loves stickers, he gets excited to pick out and place stickers on his worksheet at home.

He also likes the wipe and clean off booklets. I picked some up at Target and the Dollar tree. I have one for the Alphabet & Numbers he uses to practice writing. I also picked up a Math wipe off booklet. He likes to write it in marker and then wipe it off. Target has these workbooks on clearance and at the $ spot sometimes and the Dollar tree has alot of reading and math workbooks.

I find the workbooks/printables are easier to use to keep him interested and review. I also find that reviewing a little in addition to homework helps him retain the information. So depending on his mood I will have him practice writing his ABCs or the number 1-10 or a phonics worksheets a few times a week. It has really helped him do well on his assessments.

I know it seems like alot but I do little hear and there, but have the material ready. In our case it was different, because my son went into K on the younger side with no pre-schooling, so it has been an adjustment to get him used to the structure and get him caught up.

Re: Motivating a Kindergartener WWYD?

We had this problem with DS last year. And now in 1st, I see he was terrified of his k teacher (I am NOT blaming the teacher AT ALL)

I still am not sure how to fix it though, my DS is doing much better this year.

Just wanted to give some

Re: Motivating a Kindergartener WWYD?

Re: Motivating a Kindergartener WWYD?

Thank you thank you!
keep them coming!!!

Motivating a Kindergartener WWYD?

When I was young, they thought I was low and just didn't get it, but in reality, I was bored, so I didn't do work. Perhaps you could have a conversation with the teacher and see if there is anyway that your daughter could have other activities to do AFTER she has finished her work carefully and correctly. As a teacher (I teacher older elementary kids), I have folders with extra activities and work for my kids to do if they finish their work. I know it's not always the easiest thing for the teacher, but in this case, giving your daughter something else to do may make her feel special and confident.

As for home, I agree with My2Girlz11, keeping it fun and interesting will help build skills AND confidence. Using paint, shaving cream, or sand to do sight words are always fun activities for kids. Building words with letter cards or blocks is something else she can do. If you are doing math, let her use manipulatives (can be anything from fun erasers to stuffed animals) to solve simple addition/subtraction problems.

Re: Motivating a Kindergartener WWYD?

That's the weird thing....she loves to sit their & do math with her fingers or objects, spell words driving or on boxes & such. But sitting down for homework is pure agony!!!

Re: Motivating a Kindergartener WWYD?

Thought about this post toay:

My DS had to practice is sight words and wasnt in the mood and I found free printables where they trace, color cut and paste the letter to make the words and some color by sight words(teacherspayteachers.com). He was interested to do it because it allow him to cut, color and glue lol.

Some helpful sites for free printables:



COAH - This is where I got the Caterpillar poster board

SuperTeacher - helps with his phonics and letter blends, I have him color pics instead of circle.

Teachers Pay - This is where I got the pdf with the Color by sight words worksheet.

We use abcya.com and spellingcity.com for sight word practice. On spelling City website you can create a list of sight words and let them play games off of that list. I use free version for both sites.

FM me if you want me to send you any printables I downloaded.

Motivating a Kindergartener WWYD?

What does her hwk consist of? Maybe you van make it more interactive and then once she figures out the solution she can write it on the paper?

Or if she does her hwk then maybe you guys do something fun together or a treat afterwards. Just to get her into it. I used to tell my DS, if you want to go to karate we have to do hwk and "it has to be done right with full attention, so lets knock it out". Because some of his math hwk is easy for him and his handwriting assignments are so boring to him.