What Do Kindergarten Teachers Do (including Their Typical Day At Work)

Job Description

Kindergarten Teachers teach elemental natural and social science, personal hygiene, music, art, and literature to kindergarten students. Promote physical, mental, and social development. May be required to hold State certification. They also establish and enforce rules for behavior and policies and procedures to maintain order among students.

Other tasks include:

• Prepare children for later grades by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.
• Instruct students individually and in groups, adapting teaching methods to meet students’ varying needs and interests.
• Teach basic skills, such as color, shape, number and letter recognition, personal hygiene, and social skills.
• Demonstrate activities to children.
• Read books to entire classes or to small groups.
• Guide and counsel students with adjustment or academic problems or special academic interests.

We asked Kindergarten Teachers how satisfied they are with their job. Here is what they said.

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81% of them said they were satisfied with their job and 91% said they find that their job makes the world a better place or helps to make someone else’s life better.

Typical Day At Work

On a daily basis, Kindergarten Teachers assimilate arriving children to the school environment by greeting them, helping them remove outerwear, and selecting activities of interest to them. They prepare materials, classrooms, and other indoor and outdoor spaces to facilitate creative play, learning and motor-skill activities, and safety.

A typical day for a Kindergarten Teacher will also include:

• Establish and enforce rules for behavior and policies and procedures to maintain order among students.
• Demonstrate activities to children.
• Perform administrative duties, such as assisting in school libraries, hall and cafeteria monitoring, and bus loading and unloading.
• Prepare and implement remedial programs for students requiring extra help.
• Prepare for assigned classes and show written evidence of preparation upon request of immediate supervisors.

We asked some Kindergarten Teachers a few questions to find out what else does their work day look like. Here is what we found.

	Do you have telephone conversations everyday in this job?	3% said yes
	How important is it to work in a team in this job?	67% said very important
	Do you have group discussions everyday in this job?	69% said yes
	Do you talk or work with customers everyday in this job?	43% said yes
	Do you have to deal with angry customers everyday in this job?	3% said yes
	Do you have to make decisions everyday in this job?	59% said yes

Other responsibilities

Besides their typical day, Kindergarten Teachers also attend staff meetings and serve on committees as required. They may also attend professional meetings, educational conferences, and teacher training workshops to maintain and improve professional competence.

On a weekly to monthly basis, Kindergarten Teachers Confer with other staff members to plan and schedule lessons promoting learning, following approved curricula. They might also Meet with other professionals to discuss individual students’ needs and progress.

In addition, they Prepare, administer, and grade tests and assignments to evaluate children’s progress.

Although specific duties may vary, many of them Confer with parents or guardians, other teachers, counselors, and administrators to resolve students’ behavioral and academic problems.

To some Kindergarten Teachers, it is also their responsibility to Plan and supervise class projects, field trips, visits by guests, or other experiential activities and guide students in learning from those activities.

Working life

More than 40 hours per week

Regular schedule like a 9 to 5

In a typical work week as a Kindergarten Teacher, you can expect to work more than 40 hours per week.

Is this right for me

People who are suitable for this job tends to like working with, communicating with, and teaching people. They like helping or providing service to others..

They also like working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

You can read more about these career personality types here.

Explore other careers

http://www.bls.gov/OOH/education-training-and-library/kindergarten-and-elementary-school-teachers.htm

https://www.teach.org/

http://www.aft.org/

http://caepnet.org/