I hate it when people call Kindergarten "kindygarden". I try hard not to be the pronunciation police, but there are some words too annoying to be ignored. But I digress...
Becky and I have been traveling around the Kindergarten circuit in preparation for Evan's entrance into academia next fall. The state of Michigan is mandating that all schools must transition to all day Kindergaten in 2010, but the Dearborn district has decided to be ahead of the curve and the public schools are all implementing full day K starting this fall.
When I first heard about this I was pretty put off by the concept. I know that having our kids at home with mom puts us in the minority these days, but it seems like a major challenge to put kids into school all day instead of easing the transition with a half day program. Last night we went to the open house for the local public elementary school (Snow) and I have to admit that I left the meeting much more open minded about the possibility than I've been the last few weeks.
The two things that stood out to me are:
1) It give the teachers more time to teach each subject. Instead of rushing from writing to math to recess the students are able to work on each topic with greater flexibility and less pressure to power through it.
2) It allows more time for social interaction and communal learning. I think this is one of the most important things for Evan to get from Kindergarten; a full day program gives the students time to interact that doesn't exist in half day K.
So here I am, harnessing the limitless potential of the internet, asking you readers what your take is. Have any of you sent your kids to full day K? or experienced it yourself?
3 comments:
I didn't realize MI was mandating that. Our school district has had full day kindergarten for 3 - 4 years now (because they get more funding that way) and I was just thinking yesterday that I hoped to find a school of choice in a district that offered half day kindergarten. I guess that won't be an option when Jack heads to Kindergarten in 2012.
First of all -- I'm glad to see your Canadian roots are revealed in your obsession over proper pronunciation. That's my boy. Obviously you and your sister were products of the old school half day program. Knowing Evan -- he can handle anything life brings his way.
Our oldest son went to a young fives program which was all day every other day and then on to all day every day kindergarten and had no problems transitioning. However this fall our school district is moving to an all day every day young fives. This means 4 year olds going to school full time. Our middle son will be doing this and he already doesn't like school so we'll have to see what the fall brings. If Evan is eligible for young fives, that might be something you'd want to look into.
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