Welcome to Kindergarten Cafe!

I’m Zeba, and I’m here to help you find the *kindergarten magic* in your classroom. I create resources and share strategies to make your teaching easier, more engaging, and focused on those magical moments of growth with your students. Whether you teach kindergarten, preschool, or first grade, you’ll find ideas and activities to bring that *kindergarten magic* to life. Feel free to reach out—let’s make teaching kindergarten magical again!

recent

A Developmental Approach to Teaching Writing with Melissa from Teaching to Transform ~ Ep. 114

Managing Math Expectations and Math Materials ~ Ep. 113

A Kindergarten Social Studies Year-Long Plan ~ Ep. 112

A Kindergarten Social Studies Unit: Families ~ Ep. 111

Honest Talk on Handling Teacher Burnout and Difficult Students ~ Ep. 110

Social Studies

A Kindergarten Social Studies Year-Long Plan ~ Ep. 112

Classroom Activities and Lessons

Apple Spotify Amazon Music We zoom out to our local community, Then we zoom out even further to our global community. And we can use that as a launching off point for talking about how to take care of our global community, how to respect differences.~ Zeba from Episode...

A Kindergarten Social Studies Unit: Families ~ Ep. 111

PODCAST

Apple Spotify Amazon Music It's a great launching off point when you're talking about families to then talk about, well, some families have different religions, some families eat different food, things like that. ~ Zeba from Episode 111 of The Kindergarten Cafe Podcast Episode Summary Teaching about families in kindergarten is...

Inside My Lesson Planning Process ~ Ep. 49

Classroom Activities and Lessons

Apple Spotify Amazon Music Episode Summary In this episode I discuss my approach to lesson planning as a kindergarten teacher. I highlight the significance of structured curriculum from the district, emphasizing the creation of a social-emotional curriculum to support fellow teachers. I share insights on balancing prescribed curriculum with personalized...

Rethinking Thanksgiving in Kindergarten

Holidays

I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting and learning about teaching with more of an equity lens. I am definitely trying to diversify my books and offer more perspectives in my teaching than just a White male perspective of history. I want my students to learn...

An Awesome Family Unit for Kindergarten

Classroom Activities and Lessons

A family unit for kindergarten is an important social studies unit to start the year for several reasons. A family unit for kindergarten involves letting the students share about their own families, as well as learning about the similarities and differences between families. Teaching students about...

Social Studies for Kindergarten: Mapping Standards

Social Studies

In social studies for kindergarten, a major standard for younger children is to understand maps and why we use them. Students are asked to explain the difference between maps and globes. Students are also expected to identify, with support, their town and their school. Also, students...

Community Helpers Activities

Social Studies

One of my schools’ main social studies units for kindergarten is a unit all on community helpers. Over the past few years I have noticed that most of my students can identify community helpers because of work they have done in preschool. So, I have thought...

Me on the Map: An Introduction to Geography

Social Studies

Why Me On The Map? The “Me on the Map” activity is perfect for teaching several of my state’s social studies standards. In kindergarten in Massachusetts, students should be exposed to different kinds of maps and globes. Students should also be able to identify the elements of...