Book Review: What Kindergarten Teachers Know

Disclaimer: I received this book from the author, who is a friend of a friend. She originally got in touch with me to ask my opinion on the book's website and blog. Reviewing the book is just something I want to do because it rawks.

Lisa Holewa walked into the classroom of Joan Rice and saw Joan do things she could never do at home to get children to behave. This lead to a revelation that many of parents come to, I think, that teachers have some secrets and we need to shake it out of them! Instead, Lisa & Joan wrote a book revealing those secrets.

This very easy-to-read book not only reveals secrets, facts really (kids at this age can really only handle 2-3 step directions, maybe you can work them up to 5), but also reminds us of some very simple ideas (take care of yourself!).

They walk us through three guiding principles which are essentially:

1. Kids need to know what is coming next. They just do. This is hard for me to accept because my lil one is always asking questions. I'm sure they all do because well, they need to know what's going to happen next.
   
2. They need clear directions. Again, another hard one for me to remember because my daughter is so damn smart, that it actually frustrates me that she can out logic me one day, but fail to follow my directions the next. What I'm doing is most likely taking over her and many other things that the authors point out.
   
3. There can never be too much fun! There's a reason people become early childhood teachers and it has to be the fun. Sure, teaching is a wonderful thing, but seriously, there's a lot of fun to be had in the classroom. Bring the fun back to your dysfunctional family! ha!
   

Holewa and Rice also have some amazingly straightforward and elegant ideas about teaching our kids problem solving. From reminding us that if we do everything for them, they won't learn to helping us teach our kids to ask for help. Yeah, it's hard to juggle for us, imagine for them!

Bottomline, Holewa and Rice give us a book that will help us in crafting considerate children. Not to mention perhaps save our sanity at the same time.

You can purchase this book through an independent bookseller, Powell's or Amazon.

Technorati tags: Lisa Holewa, Joan Rice, kindergarten, book review