Welcome to Busy Bee Kindergarten

My name is Randee Bergen and I offer an oft-published blog/vlog in which I share my experience and expertise with fellow kindergarten teachers, principals, intervention teachers, first grade teachers, homeschooling parents, and anyone else vested in ensuring the best foundation for our five- and six-year-olds. I post theory—currently focusing on the Science of Reading—and practice (what I do in my kindergarten classroom to consistently turn out strong readers and writers).

My Background

I recently retired (2023) from teaching for 30+ years, including all grades 1st-6th, multiage classrooms, special education, reading intervention, coaching, and my favorite—kindergarten! My education includes a BA in Special Education and Elementary Education and an MA in Special Education and Educational Leadership. Over the years, I have taken innumerable courses and trainings in curriculum and instruction and participated in countless professional book studies. I’m kind of known for not always doing what I’m told and instead using my own knowledge, intuition, and research to determine what my students need. I am the author of Teaching Writing in Kindergarten (Scholastic, 2008)* and Teaching Reading in Kindergarten (Scholastic, 2013).** I have also presented at state and national conferences as well as consulted and provided trainings for many school districts. Most important and by far the most fun and valuable, more than a hundred teachers, coaches, and principals have visited my classroom in Grand Junction, Colorado to see my students in action. Retirement will allow me to put even more time and energy into this blog and helping kindergarten teachers do the best that they can for their little learners.

My Mission

My mission is—and will always be—sharing what I know and love and continue to learn in order to make other kindergarten teachers’ teaching experience easier and more effective. This blog/vlog is my latest attempt to do just that. Here you will find many ideas to:

• understand the what, how, and why of teaching kindergarten

• increase your expectations for what kindergartners are capable of learning and doing (check out what’s possible with kindergarten writing)

• make teaching easier

• get better results with less effort

• spend less money on programs and materials

• implement the science of reading and, if so desired, balance this with the effective instructional approaches you have used in the past

• get materials recently developed by me to incorporate the science of reading into your classroom programming

• learn how to move all students along the continuum of learning, getting a high percentage of them at or above level by the end of the school year.

Subscription Options

There are two ways to subscribe to Busy Bee Kindergarten. The first option is a free subscription. With this, you will receive several posts per week, most with accompanying video of me teaching in my real-live actual classroom, everything from whole group phonics to small group reading instruction to whole class daily writing. The second is a paid subscription. The paid subscription gives you access to all the materials, descriptions, and year-long plans and scope and sequences that I have created and tested in my classroom as well as detailed weekly lesson plans with links to many demonstration videos and materials. There are 4800 of you following this blog; whichever option you choose, I welcome you into the community. The more we work together, the better we can serve the students entrusted to us as well as better enjoy the hard and important work that we do.

$12.00 per month OR $120.00 per year. I also offer a free subscription option.

What else do I offer?

I am recently retired and have time now to come to you! I offer trainings and consultation with your school or your district. The more teachers you can round up to attend a training session, the better the bang for the buck. For more information, please message me at missbusybeekindergarten@gmail.com.

About My Books

*Teaching Writing in Kindergarten provides a step-by-step program for teaching a classroom full of five-year-olds how to write. Though published in 2008 when I was teaching half-day kindergarten, it is fairly well aligned with the science of reading and how I still teach writing now with full day kindergarten. Some things will never change when it comes to teaching young children how to write and that is why this book remains relevant. Teachers across the country still message me on a regular basis telling me how helpful this book has been in improving their writing instruction.

**Teaching Reading in Kindergarten was written while I was still teaching half-day kindergarten and did not have time for things like whole group phonics and interventions. It was also published before the Common Core Standards came out. It is outdated and does not align with the science of reading. I do not recommend that it be purchased by anyone.