Kindergarten

[sunlver]

For those who kids do half day Kindergarten, do you think they can learn enough in that time?

My youngest is in half Day Kindergarten..Dont get me wrong.. I would miss her dearly if she were gone all day..Maybe because she is my youngesst of 3, and the baby..that I am extremely anxious to have her back home. Her hours are 8-11:10am..we live 9 houses from the school so she is back home by 11:20.
My other 2 kids had half day as well at that age, and did fine..

I know it is the 2nd week of school, but I look at what they have done, and basically I am still waiting for the real learning to start. The other day my daughter told me that they went to PE and to Music class..I was happy that she was so excited about all that, but it made me think.."How much learning really goes on?"

I am not trying to start any debates or anything about half day versus all day Kindergarten. I was just basically wondering how much can they learn in those 3 hours??

 

[AndyLL]

I've gathered kindergarten is more to try to get all kids to the same level for 1st grade.

Remember kids have different amounts of preschool including some that have none at all.

My understanding of kindergarten is to introduce kids to a structured learning enviournment... which is different then heavy duty learning itself.

It also gives kids that are lacking some of the basic skills they need a chance to catch up.

I'm amazed at the difference of actual learning that is taking place in my sons 1st grade class this year compared to what they were doing last year in a (almost) full day kindergarten.

 

[golfgal]

The first few weeks of kindergarten are used to test kids to see where they are at, teach them how to be in school, walking in lines, sitting still when necessary, raising your hand to ask a question, etc. It sounds easy to us but it isn't to a 5 year old.

Our oldest did 1/2 day kindergarten and by the time our twins were in kindergarten the school switched to full day. I LOVED full day kindergarten, so did they. They still did all of their main academic work in the morning, just like they would have in a 1/2 day setting, in the afternoon they had classes like music, PE and art. Yes, they learned as much in 1/2 day as they did in full day EXCEPT they got used to being in school for the full day so it made 1st grade easier for them.

Also keep in mind that 5 year old have the attention span of a gnat and they don't spend very long on any one thing in class, maybe 15 minute blocks of time. That is about 12, 15 minute blocks just in the morning.

 

[MomNeedsVacay]

my daughter is in full day Kindergarten from 7:50-2:35 every day.
Last year she attended preschool every day from 9:30-12:30; to me, if she only did a half day of K, I would feel like its another year of preschool. Its a lot to get used to-- she is very tired by the end of the day, but so far, so good!

 

[Minnie824]

We had the option of full or half day this year and I took half day. Its hard enough for them to adjust to going every day, let alone all day every day. They have the next 15-20 years to go to school full day. Plus, the full day program is covering the same amount of material, just in more time, with additional 'fillers' of more PE, more music, etc. My older daughter learned to read in kindergarten in the half day and I'm sure my current kindergartener will as well. I don't expect it to happen in a few weeks..its a process that will happen by the end of the year.

 

[kinntj]

You'll be surprised what they are learning in those 3+ hours. Our district has 3 sections of full day and tons of 1/2 day sections. We chose 1/2 day, because we though our DD would do best with a shorter day. The first week was learning about the routines of their day with centers, library time, gym, music and recess. They learned to stand in line, sit at the centers without getting up (until their time was up to switch), criss cross applesauce with bottoms down, legs crossed hands on lap, eyes on teacher, ears are listening and lips are zipped. That's hard for 25 kids to do at one time.

Does your school/district do curriculum night? At the end of September, the teachers invite the parents to come in (no kids allowed) and learn about what their children will learn throughout the year. This is the time that parents can ask questions. If your child's teacher doesn't have anything like this, I'm sure they can go over with you what's expected.

This is my DD5's 2nd week of class and they are introducing 3 zoo animals/letters. So far she's learned about Allie Alligator (Aa) and Missy Mouse (Mm). They learn to sing a song about them (poems), say their sounds and learn hand/arm movements too. They write the letters. This gets them ready for reading and writing. For math they are learning the AB pattern. I've compared what the full day and 1/2 day are doing and it's the same thing.

I'm sure your child will be diving into the work soon enough. Right now, you just have to wait for the teacher to get to know what level each of the children are at.