Question From A Curious Kindergarten Teacher...

amykins1283

I was wondering what kindergarten in like in your particular state/school district?

For example...where I teach (a public school just north of Atlanta, GA) we have full day kindergarten, every day.  It is very academically focused and our goals are to have the kids reading on a level 4, writing three sentences on a single topic with capitalization/punctuation/phonetic spelling, and doing basic addition and subtraction to 10 by the end of the year.  We have a half hour for lunch and a half hour for recess every day and, aside from that time, our focus is on reading, writing, and math. 

These goals are not set in stone, however, and if a child does not reach them they are still sent on to first grade.  We only keep kids back if they truly struggle with everything, have serious maturity issues, or do not make any progress during the year and no cause (learning disability, English as a second language issues, etc.) can be found for the lack of progress.

How about yours?

DandelionMom

In MI some kindergartens are half day, some are full day. 

Our district is half day with a full-day option (that is pretty expensive).  Most of the kids left DD's kinder class able to read, write a few sentences, and were beginning addition/subraction facts.  Recess is optional, they probably went out 2x a week.  The kids have art, music, pe, media, computer lab, and character education.

Adrienne4.11

similar to what you described with a full day, but they still have nap time in kindergarten here. 

CubbyMama

I teach kinder in CA and ours sounds very similar to yours, except we are half day.  Our standard is writing one complete sentence by the end of the year, minimum, but we do aim to get them to writing 2 or 3.  Everything else you said sounds about the same as our district.

ali-1411

We are in Texas.  Kinder is like you describe.  We have full day and they have clear curriculum goals.  30 minute lunch and 30 minute recess which is earned through good behavior.  ( I take serious issue with that, but that's another post).  They also have a 30 minute rest time the first semester.

GinandTonic

Having just had a kindergartener for 3 weeks, I can't answer completely, but it sounds pretty much how you described.  Full day, recess, lunch, a quick snack (because they eat lunch at 11am) and a 20 minute rest time. 

It's pretty intense.  He has homework every night (although they don't turn it in until the end of the month), has already started with sight words.  He's not reading yet, but will by the end of the year.  I haven't seen much math come home yet, but he can already do some basic addition (not from preK, he learned that at home).  So far, it's all been review for him, but I'm not complaining, he can use it.

shouldbworkin

Our district (MI) is full day.  First half of the year focuses on social growth with more time for play, nap, etc.  Second half they phase out rest time and it's more academic.  They learn to read and write by the end of the year.  I don't know how they do it, but it doesn't seem overly academic or stressful for the kids, but they all leave reading, writing and able to do simple math. 

Read2Me

I taught first grade in Upstate NY before becoming a SAHM and my incoming first graders were expected to be reading at a Level 3 (Reading Recovery leveling system), able to write a full sentence, recognize the majority of upper and lower case letters and have a basic understanding of numbers, counting and beginning addition/subtraction.  Our K was full-day with the same breaks and there was an hour early reading lab provided for students who were struggling with early literacy skills.

lolc

We live in FL (Tampa area)....

Kindergarten is full day. My son is in public school. They have a half hour for lunch and a half hour for recess. And I think they switch up which days are music/art/computer lab? They still take naps and they have PE every morning.

As far as academics goes, I don't know. I'm pretty skeptical. A lot of what is being taught right now, my son learned last year when he was in private pre-school. Math seems to be a joke (right now they're learning about shapes.... my son is wayyyyy beyond that) and the teacher will send home occasional "challenges" (never really much in the way of homework) - the latest being "have your child write their name." Umm, my son can write his full name, in correct capital/lower case letters, as well as his address and phone number. Can we get a little more challenging, please?? I'm hoping the challenges start coming. My son is doing phenomenal, but I have to admit I'm pretty disappointed so far. He is capable of so much more and everything he is being "taught" at the present time is stuff that he's well versed in. Wish we could afford private school..... but I wouldn't feel right putting one child in and keeping the other in public (since we would only be able to afford to send one!)

hellokitty-1982

Wow, I'm shocked at what some of the states require from Kinder....I live in KS and can give 2 different perspectives. First of all I work in the public schools and our Kinder students are expected to know their upper and lower case alphabet, shapes, counting to 100 and that's about it! It is pathetic really. I wish our standards were more like those of the original poster to this link. On the other hand my kids go to private school and my youngest is currently in Kinder himself. Having already had one child go through the program and I can tell you that their standards are MUCH higher. They are expected to be doing the things the original poster described. To even get in to the school they have to know at least 75% of their letters and sounds as well as be able to write their name among other things....my son went to a daycare center that offered a pre-k program as part of the curriculum and he went into Kinder already knowing all his letters, sounds, shapes, colors as well as writing his name, address and phone number. They also have 2-3 recess breaks a day (he is all-day) and I can't stress how valuable I think this is. As an educator myself I am a firm believer in kids needing breaks to not only rest their brain but also be active and burn energy!! Where I work the kids only get one recess a day and that is at lunch....sometimes on Friday they can earn an extra recess for behavior and grades but honestly it is usually the kids with behavior problems that need that extra time to burn energy so it seems counter-effective to me but I won't get on my soap box here...lol. The lack of expectations in our public school system shocks me to be quite honest. This is obviously why I chose to make whatever sacrifices possible to keep my kids in private school. For those who think they can't afford it I would encourage you to look into scholarship programs the school offers or as our school offers financial assistance programs. My kids attend a christian school so I'm not sure if all private schools offer this but it is definately worth looking into. I didn't know about it for the first year my oldest son went their and was really struggling with what to do once they both started there since we really couldn't afford 2 kids....the financial assistance program saved us and made it possible for us to be able to send both kids there. It sounds like many of you live in places that have great expectations and kinder programs but for those of you who don't I would encourage you to look at your options!!!

teacherjulie

I teach K in Ohio and I am at an extended day school the children arrive at 7 and get on the bus at 4:45.  My big goals set up by admin are reading on a level 6, wrtiing 3 sentences, add subtract.  We have 35 minutes for PE, 20 for lunch and 40 for rest time.  The reat of the time we are doing academics.  The students get homework every night including the weekend..not my idea admin wants the weekend work 

Halo79RN

teacherjulie:

I teach K in Ohio and I am at an extended day school the children arrive at 7 and get on the bus at 4:45.  My big goals set up by admin are reading on a level 6, wrtiing 3 sentences, add subtract.  We have 35 minutes for PE, 20 for lunch and 40 for rest time.  The reat of the time we are doing academics.  The students get homework every night including the weekend..not my idea admin wants the weekend work 

this makes me sad.  why should a 5 y/o get homework every night and every weekend?  when do they get to be kids?  between this and all of the extracurricular activities people put their kids in ( I know a 4 y/o in about 4 different activities outside of prek),   kids will burn out.  instead of pushing our 5 and 6 y/os hard, how about schools burn the scantron machine and make kids WRITE OUT ANSWERS again... write essays... take math class without a calculator!   Imagine that?   expecting children of the appropriate age to do appropriate work.  hmm?  instead we're pushing 5 y/os to do what we did in maybe 1st or 2nd grade and we're letting jr high and h.s. students get by with memorizing enough to recognize the answer in a multiple choice question. that's pathetic.  I feel sad for my kids.  dd starts kindergarten next year. I've heard they get homework.. I've heard the 1st graders are getting an hour and a half of homework every night.  yeah, let's make them hate it.  that's smart.   

shopgirl78

DD is in Kindergarten.  It is full day.  She has a teacher that is brand new to the profession, so really there is not a lot communicated.  I believe she just hasn't go her ducks in a row yet.   I am not sure what they expected of in the furture.  Write now they are learning to write their name smaller, learning patterns, and doing some basic science.  They have "specials" which is rotated weekly:  Art, Music, PE, computers and something else.  That is the teachers conference time (when the kids are in another classroom for specials).  I know they have lunch and play on the playground. 

LanaM

Ethan's K is full day 9-3, homework every night. They have art, computers, gym, music classes. He comes home extremely tired. I think they get 20-30 minutes for lunch and then some outside play time. I wish they had nap/rest time also.... even though he stopped napping at home a loooooong time ago.

I don't mind that he's there 9-3, he is learning... already writing words (he's been there for two weeks) and trying to read. Last year in pre-K they only had it once a week and I thought that was great.

eajanvrin

Kindergarten still isn't required in NH and most around my area are half day programs.  I just taught Kindergarten for three years at a private child care and we made sure our curriculum lined up with the public school in our district (i.e. knowing all letters, identify 24 of 26 letters and sounds not counting the 5 vowel ones, recognize to 20, identify 20 sight words).  Our classes have all left more than ready for first and being able to write two or more sentences because of where their interests were.  We assigned homework but they had a choice of three language activities and a math activity to complete by Friday.