I'm Naomi Foster, and I teach Kindergarten — where letters become words, wobbly numbers become counting, and my job is simply to give each child the right amount of sun.
Kindergarten · Early Literacy Certified
"you don't rush a seedling — you just keep showing up with water and light"
Kindergarten is the only grade where "circle time" is a legitimate part of the daily schedule, and I've spent seven years convinced it's the most important twenty minutes of the day. It's where eighteen five-year-olds practice waiting their turn, naming their feelings, and occasionally solving a very serious dispute about whose turn it is with the classroom hamster.
My classroom is built around play-based early literacy and hands-on number sense — kids this age learn best with their hands, not worksheets, so ours is a room full of blocks, sorting trays, and a genuinely excessive number of picture books.
I also maintain our classroom's little indoor garden, which started as a science unit and has since become the thing every parent asks about at pickup.
The core areas of a Kindergarten day, each one tended a little differently.
Letters and sounds introduced through story, song, and sensory play.
Counting, sorting, and pattern-building using real objects, not worksheets.
Daily practice naming feelings, taking turns, and resolving small conflicts.
Cutting, threading, and building activities that quietly prepare little hands for writing.
A real indoor garden used to teach observation, patience, and plant life cycles.
Evening sessions helping parents extend early-literacy play at home.
Bean plants, sunflowers, and one very determined avocado pit.
A full sensory unit built around one letter, every single week.
Every child names their mood each morning — no words required.
A growing wall display where every child adds one object per day counted.
Parents and kids plant something together, once a season.
A little celebration where every "seedling" shows how far they've grown.
District honor, 2024
State certification
Play-based learning focus
Classroom garden supplies, 2023
My daughter comes home and tells me exactly which plant grew today. She's five and already patient with something.
Ms. Foster noticed my son needed more time with letters before anyone else even mentioned it.
The Feelings Chart has somehow made bedtime conversations so much easier at home.
Patience, observation, and one very stubborn avocado pit.
The most underrated twenty minutes of a Kindergarten schedule.
A simple morning check-in that changed how our classroom talks.
Fifteen minutes to talk about how your child is growing, in person or by video.