By: Kindergarten Teachers
Opposites are very important to education, but they are also important to our life. Without them, we would not know what “hot” was compared to “cold”. As kindergarteners, we begin to find out exactly what opposites are and why they are so important. When it comes to basic concepts for kindergarten 1, opposites are one that tops the list. Opposites are pairs of words that directly contrast each other or are opposites. For example, “in” is the opposite of “out”.
Opposites help students to learn how to describe different things through comparison. This is pivotal to learning and comprehending language for kindergarteners. There are also many activities we can do with our students to help them learn about opposites. With the internet at our disposal, there is always a way to download a free program, look up videos, or even read articles that give great ways to invent our own opposites for kindergartener’s activities.
To demonstrate this, we as the teachers of Kindergarten 1 give reviewing sessions of the opposites in the first month of the school year during this distance class. The goal is to recall the students’ understanding of the opposite concept before we go far to the advanced level of the opposite concept. We deliver this review session by giving some pictures of the opposites, such as pictures of a ball whether it is IN the box or OUT of the box, a pencil whether it is LONG or SHORT, and a simple experiment by asking students to prepare ice cube or cold water and hot water for distinguishing COLD or HOT. They touch them alternately from hot, then cold as the teacher mentions. By doing this activity, we can see how they really understand the concept of hot and cold as well as the feeling they get when they touch something cold or hot. They were really excited about doing this activity. There is one more activity we have in this distance class for reviewing in front VS behind and above VS below. We play videos to give them more knowledge about those opposites. We give them interactive games for those opposites as well. The game shows the position of some items, then students have to answer where that item is. As always, we never forget to give a star reward if our students can answer it correctly.
Sources:
https://education.yourdictionary.com/for-teachers/kindergarten-opposites-activities.html
https://www.usingenglish.com/teachers/articles/classroom-activities-for-teaching-opposites.html
