Reader ...”I worked part time and my kids got picked up at their elementary school and transported to enrichment 2-3x/week. My greatest joy was picking them up from kindergarten, watching them play with friend in the playground and then going out for lunch or.making.lunch together. As a parent, I would not want ffull day K…they grow up too quickly not to treasure those early years together.”
Forget the Common Core, Finland’s youngsters are in charge of determining what happens in the classroom.
“The changes to kindergarten make me sick,” a veteran teacher in Arkansas recently admitted to me. “Think about what you did in first grade—that’s what my 5-year-old babies are expected to do.”
The difference between first grade and kindergarten may not seem like much, but what I remember about my first-grade experience in the mid-90s doesn’t match the kindergarten she described in her email: three and a half hours of daily literacy instruction, an hour and a half of daily math instruction, 20 minutes of daily “physical activity time” (officially banned from being called “recess”) and two 56-question standardized tests in literacy and math—on the fourth week of school.
That American friend—who teaches 20 students without an aide—has fought to integrate 30 minutes of “station time” into the literacy block, which includes “blocks, science, magnetic letters, play dough with letter stamps to practice words, books, and storytelling.” But the most controversial area of her classroom isn’t the blocks nor the stamps: Rather, it’s the “house station with dolls and toy food”—items her district tried to remove last year. The implication was clear: There’s no time for play in kindergarten anymore.
Kindergarten is a GARDEN FOR CHILDREN. The idea is to begin socialization while playing.
Please tell that to the dodo birds at the meetings on Oct. 5 and 27.
Not all kids will be able to read on the same date.
INtroduce it in grade 1 in a differentiated environment. Students will make great progress. They cannot learn at a faster rate than their developmental readiness. Some kids will site read without having any comprehension. That does not mean that they can read, they just learned a mechanism for picking out words.
The district seems to be looking for time for recess andi imaginative play. That can be provided in the home or in an enrichment program for students who do not thrive in kindergarten. Many parents think that their children are geniuses in preschool. In Ridgewood we all think that our kids are exceptional.
Let them be kids first, enjoy childhood. The competition and grind of the RPS will wear them down soon enough. Parents should not underestimate their importance in their children’s education.
We all know full day K is extended day-care for moms who work (except in Ridgewood where if fills the need of moms who go to the spa or lunch or tennis). But that is OK, we’ll just pay for it and move on.
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To say that it has and significant educational value and kids who don’t attend full day K will be at a (long term) disadvantage is disingenuous at best.
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The only place where full day K might make sense would be for those children diagnosed with significant (medical) developmental disabilities
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But again, these facts don’t matter – give the moms what they want, pay for it and move on.
Why start applying logic to the Ridgewood school budget now…
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Those with developmental disabilities already are given full day services.
The Ridgewood RED program is a great early intervention program.
In urban areas child care/day care is needed for poor working families. Children get meals, health care and social services. Parents het inexpensive child care.
What do Ridgewood parents need it for? The children are not disadvantaged. Besides, it will impress your friends to say that your kids go to Montessori or Little Ivy. And thats what its all about.
4:32 and 6:51 are 100% correct.
So… no need for additional full day K
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The RED program is top notch – arguably the best in the nation (dare i say best int he world?).
This program is probably the best money spent in the entire Ridgewood school budget.
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