When a 5-year-old enters kindergarten, it may be her first time in a traditional classroom. Other kindergartners may have been exposed to preschool and are more familiar with the alphabet, numbers, shapes, colors and key concepts addressed in kindergarten. There is the potential for a wide range in learning styles at this age.
A child's "primary learning style" is a term that describes how she best learns and retains information. Some children learn best by seeing information, some by hearing it and others learn best with hands-on activities.
The following lists 10 ways to make adjustments in how kindergarten work sheets can be presented or completed to accommodate the different learning styles.
The traditional classroom and teaching styles work best for visual learners. These students learn primarily through reading and writing, step-by step instruction and often think in words. Kindergarten work sheets are generally better suited for visual learners.
•Math work sheets for visual learners will have a lot of pictures. Students can count and color the pictures and write the numbers.
•The best writing work sheets for visual learners will also have pictures and may have letters to trace and practice. For example, a work sheet on the letter "A" may have a picture of an apple to color and a traceable upper- and lowercase "A" on it.
•A science lesson on seasons for a visual learner might feature four pictures of trees with no leaves. The student would then color each tree in a way that illustrates each season.
•Other examples of work sheets suited for visual learners are dot-to-dot lessons and tracing exercises.
Auditory learners retain information best when they are able to hear it. Teachers with auditory learners can adjust how they present work sheet lessons in a way for these students to catch on.
•Math work sheets teaching the concept of counting can be read aloud. Students can count out loud with dot-to-dot exercises using numbers.
•Writing work sheets can also be read aloud. Learning letters through the alphabet song and repeating things that are written are good ways for auditory learners to retain information.
•An auditory learner may enjoy doing work sheets in groups.
Kinesthetic learners are students who may not sit still long enough to complete work sheets. Adjusting a work sheet for the hands-on learner will involve finding ways for the lesson to become more of a hands-on experience.
•Have cubes or blocks readily available for the hands-on learner when doing math work sheets.
•When finishing a story, have the kinesthetic learners act out what they just heard.
•Kinesthetic learners will get more out of experiments and field trips that accompany a topic being taught in the classroom.
Not every work sheet and every lesson plan will fit every learning style. But kindergarten teachers can adjust how each work sheet is presented in a way to accommodate each method of learning.