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The Kindergarten Toolbox
Welcome to The Kindergarten Toolbox Podcast, your go-to guide for creating calmer classrooms and more confident writers in the wonderfully unique world of kindergarten.
I’m Amy Murray — former kindergarten teacher, Type C “organized-in-piles” human, and vanilla-latte enthusiast. After years of helping teachers streamline their classroom routines with tips and tools that actually make sense for 5- and 6-year-olds, I created this podcast to support you with the practical strategies you’ve been craving.
Each episode is short, actionable, and designed to help you:
✔ simplify classroom management
✔ reduce behavior chaos with systems that stick
✔ teach writing in a way that meets beginning writers where they are
✔ build routines that make your day flow
✔ use visuals, tools, and expectations that really work in K
Whether you’re a brand-new kindergarten teacher or a seasoned pro looking for clarity and calm, you’ll find step-by-step support to help you feel more confident and in control.
Because kindergarten isn’t just the new first grade, it’s a world all its own, and you deserve tools that actually work.
Hit follow so you never miss an episode…
Here’s to calmer days and more confident writers!
Episodes
42 episodes
41. How to Talk About Behavior at Kindergarten Parent-Teacher Conferences
Have a kindergarten parent-teacher conference coming up where you need to talk about a child's behavior? It's one thing to share assessment scores and work samples, but explaining challenging behaviors to parents can feel a whole lot more uncom...
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40. What Should You Actually Talk About at Kindergarten Parent-Teacher Conferences?
Do kindergarten parent-teacher conferences make you wonder how you’re supposed to fit EVERYTHING you want to tell families into 10 or 15 minutes? Between assessment data, work samples, behavior, academics, independence, and all the things, it c...
39. What Should You Do When a Kindergartener Asks, “How Do You Spell...?”
Do your kindergarten students ask, “How do you spell...?” approximately 75 times during your writing block? You want them to become independent writers, but simply telling them to “sound it out” isn’t always enough, and spelling every wo...
38. Should You Use Sentence Starters in Kindergarten Writing
Should kindergarteners use sentence starters when they’re learning to write? Sentence starters can be a helpful scaffold for beginning writers, especially when they’re paired with a picture, but we don’t want students to become so dependent on ...
37. Why Your Kindergarteners Can Tell You a Sentence But Can't Write One
Your kindergartener just told you exactly what they want to write...so why can’t they get that sentence onto the paper? Writing a sentence might seem like one simple task to us, but for a beginning writer, there are a LOT of skills that have to...
36. Why “Make Good Choices” Doesn’t Work in Kindergarten
Do you find yourself telling your kindergarten students to “make good choices” all day long? It sounds like a perfectly reasonable reminder, but there’s one problem: what YOU consider a good choice might be very different from what a five-year-...
35. Why Is My Kindergarten Class Suddenly Getting Harder to Manage?
Does it feel like your kindergarten class was doing SO well and then suddenly...they weren't? The routines you practiced are getting sloppy, students are talking more, and you're repeating directions you swear they were following just fine last...
34. The Kindergarten Reward System That Doesn't Require a Prize Box
Does a kindergarten reward system really need a prize box, classroom money, or complicated points to keep students motivated? Some of my kindergarten students' favorite classroom rewards didn't cost me a single penny.In this episode, we'...
33. Why Does Every Kindergartener Need Me at the Same Time?
Does it feel like every kindergartener needs you for everything, all day long? And have you caught yourself thinking, I swear last year's class wasn't this needy?In this episode, we're talking about why kindergarten students nee...
32. The Best Classroom Rules for Kindergarten (And What to Do When Students Break Them)
How many classroom rules do you really need in kindergarten? And what should happen when students don't follow them?In this episode, we're talking about how to keep kindergarten classroom rules simple, explicitly teach your expectations,...
31. What Behavior System Should You Use in Kindergarten?
What behavior system should you use in kindergarten? Classroom economy, Dojo points, desk pets, prize boxes, reward systems...there are SO many options. But just because a behavior system works with older students doesn't mean it's the right fi...
30. The Biggest Classroom Management Myth Kindergarten Teachers Believe
Do you think classroom management starts when student behavior becomes a problem?One of the biggest classroom management myths kindergarten teachers believe is that behavior management is all about consequences, clip charts, rewards, or ...
29. What to Plan Before the First Week of Kindergarten (Hint: It's Not Your Centers)
Are you spending your summer organizing centers, decorating your classroom, and shopping for kindergarten supplies, but you're still not sure what to teach during the first week of school?You're not alone. Every summer, kindergart...
28. Do Kindergarten Teachers Need to use a Daily Behavior Report?
Should kindergarten teachers send home a daily behavior report for every student?It's one of the most common classroom management questions I see every summer, especially from teachers preparing for a new school year. While many classroo...
27. Should Kindergarten Students Have Classroom Jobs? Here's Why I Use One Daily Helper Instead
Should kindergarten students have classroom jobs?Classroom jobs have been a tradition in elementary classrooms for years, but are they actually teaching responsibility or creating more work for teachers?In this episode, I'm...
26. Community Supplies or Individual Supplies? What Works Best in Kindergarten
Should kindergarten students have individual school supplies or community supplies?It's one of the biggest classroom setup decisions kindergarten teachers make before the school year begins. In this episode, we're breaking down the pros ...
25. What to Teach During the First Week of Kindergarten (And What Can Wait)
If you're planning for the first week of kindergarten and feeling overwhelmed by everything you need to teach, this episode is for you.One of the biggest mistakes kindergarten teachers make is trying to jump straight into academics befor...
24. New Kindergarten Teacher? Here's What I Wish I Knew Before My First Day
Are you a new kindergarten teacher preparing for your first year in the classroom? Or maybe you're switching grade levels and wondering what makes kindergarten so different from every other grade?In this episode, I'm sharing my biggest p...
23. The 5 Classroom Management Decisions Every Kindergarten Teacher Should Make Before School Starts
Before school starts, there are five classroom management decisions every kindergarten teacher should make.Too often, we spend our back-to-school time organizing supplies, decorating bulletin boards, and planning lessons while putting of...
22. The Real Secret to Successful Kindergarten Classroom Management
Do calm kindergarten classrooms have better-behaved students?Not always.In this episode, we're talking about the real secret to successful classroom management in kindergarten. It isn't a complicated behavior system or the latest ...
21. The One Thing Every Kindergarten Classroom Needs for Better Classroom Management
When classroom management feels exhausting, the problem may not be your students or your behavior strategies. It may be that too much of your classroom depends on you constantly reminding, redirecting, and holding everything together all day lo...
20. How to Reduce Calling Out in Kindergarten Chatter Challenge
Getting kindergarten students to stop talking can feel impossible sometimes.The blurting, interruptions, constant calling out, and nonstop classroom chatter can quickly make your classroom feel chaotic and exhausting. And after a while, ...
19. How to Survive End-of-Year Behavior in Kindergarten (Without Starting Over)
If your kindergarten classroom feels louder, messier, and harder to manage right now, you are not alone. End-of-year behavior in kindergarten is real, and May can start to feel like pure survival mode for teachers.In this episode, we’re ...
18. Why Kindergarten Classroom Management Still Feels Hard
Kindergarten classroom management shouldn’t feel this hard, but if you’re constantly repeating directions, managing every transition, and ending the day exhausted, you’re not alone.In this episode, we’re breaking down why classroom manag...
17. 3 Things Every Kindergarten Classroom Management System Needs
In this episode of The Kindergarten Toolbox Podcast, Amy Murray breaks down the three essential components of effective kindergarten classroom management: clear expectations, visual supports, and consistent routines.If your classr...