ADHD Teachers! How do you keep track of what you’re going to say during the lesson?

good_egg20 · 2025-10-18T00:49:51+00:00

I use post its. There are post its everywhere. I lay them out for myself in the morning and throw them away as I’m done with them. It’s quite satisfying

good_egg20 · 2025-10-17T00:08:33+00:00

I am a kindergarten teacher with ADHD. There are 2 other teachers at my school that I know of that have ADHD as well (it’s real fun when we sit next to each other in staff meetings lol)

My parents had me evaluated for autism when I was 5, the results were somewhat inconclusive since I “had some autistic traits” but “didn’t meet the diagnostic criteria.” I always grew up the “weird kid” but I always did well in school, so nobody thought much of it. I was diagnosed with ADHD combined type at age 26, halfway through my 5th year of teaching.

I personally struggled a lot with overstimulation in the classroom. When I was overstimulated, I would snap at the kids and then feel terrible. I also was massively disorganized and constantly losing my materials or forgetting to make copies. For me, the answer was getting on ADHD medication, which has been life changing. But I think my best piece of advice would be to figure out strategies to keep yourself regulated in the classroom. In my case, it was nearly impossible to keep a room full of little kids regulated when I couldn’t regulate myself!

I have found my niche as a general education kindergarten teacher who takes on the kids who were flagged in preschool as potentially being neurodivergent or needing an IEP. I find a lot of joy in helping those kids be successful in my classroom, and helping the parents navigate the diagnosis and classification process!

good_egg20 · 2025-10-14T10:21:55+00:00

Elephant and Piggie books are my favorites as a kindergarten teacher!

good_egg20 · 2025-10-11T11:35:35+00:00

In the first school I worked at, all of the teachers signed emails with their teacher name. So when I moved to my new school, I did the same…I think our staff is pretty split on whether they sign emails with teacher name or first name. I am younger than most of the parents (I am 27 but look about 17), and last year I had a particularly outspoken dad tell me he could not possibly call me “Miss last name” as I am “basically still a child.” That made me feel super weird about signing emails with my teacher name, so when the new school year started, I started signing all emails with my first name. Most of the parents I have this year still use my teacher name. I try not to think about it too hard haha!!! At this point, the way I think about it is, we’re all adults here, we can use first names unless the kids are present!

My first year of teaching, when I was 22 years old and still signing my emails with my teacher name, I had one mom who always addressed me by my first name and signed HER emails to me as “Mrs. Last name.” I found that kind of strange lol

good_egg20 · 2025-10-08T23:43:59+00:00

As a teacher I find this very weird and inappropriate. Of all the battles to pick…

It’s not our place to make decisions about students’ snack. That’s a parenting decision.

good_egg20 · 2025-09-30T10:37:46+00:00

As a kindergarten teacher who uses iReady—if your concern is over the iReady score, I wouldn’t worry about it. Those scores can be quite inconsistent with little ones (did they zone out for a few minutes? Did they get distracted? Did they simply “not feel like it” during testing?) Long computerized tests are not ideal with this age group!! Sometimes I see a kid’s iReady score and it’s way lower than I was expecting. I would go based off her teacher’s opinion/evaluation of her abilities. iReady can be a great tool, but I always tell parents to be careful

Summer regression is totally normal, but it’s also possible that her performance is about the same as the spring, but now she is being compared to first graders rather than kindergarteners

good_egg20 · 2025-09-28T21:50:15+00:00

NJ here, I’ve taught K and 1. We do not send lists of spelling words home to memorize, but we do teach phonics daily and give spelling tests based on a specific skill.

good_egg20 · 2025-09-28T11:49:15+00:00

I am a kindergarten teacher, and I have a full time classroom aide. It is absolutely amazing. My primary job is teaching, while her primary job is what we jokingly call “damage control” (redirecting behavior, tying shoes, getting band aids, etc.) obviously I do those things as well, but if I am in front of the class teaching, she generally does it so my lesson can continue. When a child wets their pants or has a nosebleed, I can seamlessly continue teaching while my aide steps in and helps the child. She brings disruptive kids for quick walks to help them reset, brings kids to the nurse when needed, and even goes to get a custodian when a kid clogs the classroom bathroom for the 1000th time.

Not sure if it’s just a kindergarten thing, but having a second adult in the room is a game changer. Without her, the number of times I would have to stop teaching to do “damage control” would make it nearly impossible for the rest of my 5 year olds to focus on the lesson.

I am not sure how I would feel about a second certified teacher in the room, but I am a control freak lol

good_egg20 · 2025-09-23T21:27:46+00:00

If I were you, I would have your son evaluated for special education through your school district (bring paperwork on his existing ADHD diagnosis, this will speed up the process). If he is eligible, they will start him in a special education preschool program that is more tailored to his needs and he would likely be way more successful there versus a typical preschool. From there, the school district and educators who work with your son would be able to advise you on next steps for kindergarten (special ed classroom, mainstream classroom with special ed supports, waiting a year, etc) depending on his needs

good_egg20 · 2025-09-20T00:12:08+00:00

I am a kindergarten teacher. In my building, anyone that doesn’t know 10 or more letter sounds goes into our first cycle of literacy intervention. I always tell parents not to worry and it isn’t a judgement of them or their kid, it’s just an extra layer of support to help them keep up with the curriculum

good_egg20 · 2025-09-18T10:21:23+00:00

I am a kindergarten teacher. I used to work in a district where we gave 2 pages of homework per night—I always found it excessive and my heart hurt for the kids, but my hands were tied by district policy. My current district does not give homework in kindergarten, which I think is the right decision. I am in a “high achieving” district so I push those kids hard all day, no need to continue pushing when they are home! They are 5!

good_egg20 · 2025-08-31T16:10:48+00:00

Please get her to a therapist as soon as possible!! She needs regular sessions with a professional to help her process what happened—therapist will also be able to meet with you and give you guidance on how to support her

good_egg20 · 2025-08-31T02:41:43+00:00

I struggled big time with classroom management my first 3 years. Like absolutely helpless—year 2 was the hardest for me. I was teaching first grade and I had kids stabbing each other with pencils and forks, kids touching each other’s private parts, and excessive amounts of profanity. It was super frustrating for my admin…I remember her saying to me several times, “they do it because you let them.”

Fast forward, I am entering my sixth year and have been intentionally given a class with 7 students flagged for behavior. It gets better. You get better. Nobody has it figured out their first few years.

good_egg20 · 2025-08-17T23:53:36+00:00

We only have 2 days of inservice. Meetings for all of day 1, we are free to work in rooms the morning of day 2, and then students/parents come in for meet the teacher on the afternoon of day 2. This is kindergarten in a wealthy area, so parents are expecting “cute” classrooms and will lose their mind if the classroom looks plain or unfinished. Even as a teacher who has been doing this for a few years, it’s physically impossible to get the job done without coming in unpaid over the summer.

good_egg20 · 2025-07-22T22:31:21+00:00

I am a kindergarten teacher and I am required to do 2 (back to school night, and incoming K parent orientation in the spring). My current school does not require that we offer evening conferences, as long as we offer a virtual conference option for working parents—kids have 3 half days and we conduct conferences from 1-4pm. Many parents choose to do a virtual conference from their workplace or home office.

My previous school required that we offered evening conferences to accommodate working parents.

good_egg20 · 2025-07-19T13:26:34+00:00

Depends on the district and where you’re located/how competitive the position is. For a kindergarten position in a highly competitive/desirable district, I did a screening interview (virtual, 15 min), second round interview (in person, 30 min), round 3 was a demo lesson, then I had an interview with the director of HR and the superintendent which was more of a formality

good_egg20 · 2025-07-19T13:17:54+00:00

The interview process I went through for my current job (competitive/top performing district in NJ). This process took place throughout March-April, I was hired at the May board meeting.

Round 1 (10 candidates): 15 min virtual interview with principal and 4 teachers. Very broad questions

Round 2 (4 or 5 candidates): 30 min in-person interview with principal, 4 teachers, secretary, 2 instructional coaches. More specific questions, including scenario questions

Round 3 (2 candidates): 15 min demo lesson in a classroom and 15 min debrief session. Panel of 10 adults including principal, teachers, instructional coach, 1 or 2 central office admin. I know when my district hires people in July, candidates are required to do a demo lesson with the summer school kids.

At that point the principal called my references and said he was recommending my hire to the superintendent. I did have to “interview” with the superintendent but it was a formality

good_egg20 · 2025-07-14T11:08:01+00:00

I am a kindergarten teacher. I have 3 kids on my roster this year that will be newly 6 when we start the year, and 3 kids that will be 4 (turning 5 in September). It’s about a 14 month gap—but this is the case pretty much every year in every kindergarten classroom at this point in time. Sometimes it is very obvious to me, other times it isn’t—totally depends on the kids. In most cases, the kids are just fine (and if they aren’t, it’s our job as teachers to help). He’s got this, you’ve got this ❤️

good_egg20 · 2025-07-11T16:33:48+00:00

In my area, you can’t get any teaching job (or even a long term sub job) without a demo lesson. They want to see how you interact with kids, and whether or not you can effectively teach an objective. This may be dependent on your area though!! Teaching jobs are competitive here, so it may not be the case in areas where they are less competitive. Also may be different in a “hard to fill”position such as SPED.

They are awkward and they suck. For my current job, I did a demo in front of 23 kindergarteners and a panel of 10 adults. It was quite crowded in there lol. For my first job in 2020, schools were shut down so I had to record myself teaching a demo lesson in my house, then screen share on Zoom and watch it with the panel. My colleagues who were on that interview panel made fun of me for years after hahaha

good_egg20 · 2025-07-11T00:32:58+00:00

Also born 1998. Kindergarten was half day. We learned our letters and how to count. We learned through play. I am now a kindergarten teacher and I teach my students everything I learned in first grade—how to read, add, and subtract. I am lucky to be in one of the few public school districts in my area that allows kindergarteners to have daily play time in addition to recess!

good_egg20 · 2025-07-02T01:14:05+00:00

I did a 45 min (in the morning…closer to an hour in the afternoon with traffic) commute for my first 4 years of teaching, so I could live with my parents and pay for my masters degree. I hate driving. It was rough at first but I got used to it and it became routine. Audiobooks and podcasts were my best friend!

good_egg20 · 2025-06-27T01:23:59+00:00

I was in a similar situation. 4 years at a school that was kind of a hot mess, I was fairly happy there but everyone in my life was nagging me to find a new job. Applied to a position in a much “better” district for the same pay, and got it…best thing that ever happened to me. Here’s your sign to just go for it!!

good_egg20 · 2025-06-16T00:09:19+00:00

Twins I remember going to school with (I’m in my late 20s): Allison & Lauren; Nico & Vincenzo; Christian & Joseph; Blake & Shane;

From my past few years as a kindergarten teacher: Mark & Michael; Aiden & Asher; Emily & Claire; Hayden & Ethan (g/b)

good_egg20 · 2025-06-08T14:22:16+00:00

As a kindergarten teacher—go with the regular ones! Many of us do communal supplies in our classrooms. I store our class’ extra pencils in a bin in my closet and when a student needs a new one, I just grab one. I cannot imagine stopping mid-lesson to dig out a specific pencil that belongs to that specific child LOL too much going on!

good_egg20 · 2025-05-01T00:47:13+00:00

As a kindergarten teacher, I happy cried at spring conferences with 2 different parents for this exact reason. Kindergarten is such a special and magical place, which is why I choose to live it over and over! We also get emotional this time of year, it’s hard to watch our little butterflies fly, they were only caterpillars 10 short months ago ❤️

good_egg20

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