I've been in education for 20 years, and there's a disturbing trend afoot in kindergartens around the US
Christopher Brown
Business Insider
Apr. 17, 2017
Being a kindergartner today is very different from being a kindergartner 20 years ago. In fact it is more like first grade.
Researchers have demonstrated that 5-year-olds are spending more time engaged in teacher-led academic learning activities than play-based learning opportunities that facilitate child-initiated investigations and foster social development among peers.
...Here's how play helps children
Research has consistently shown classrooms that offer children the opportunities to engage in play-based and child-centered learning activities help children grow academically, socially and emotionally. Furthermore, recess in particular helps children restore their attention for learning in the classroom.
Focus on rules can diminish children's willingness to take academic risks and curiosity as well as impede their self-confidence and motivation as learners — all of which can negatively impact their performance in school and in later life.
Giving children a chance to play and engage in hands-on learning activities helps them internalize new information as well as compare and contrast what they're learning with what they already know. It also provides them with the chance to interact with their peers in a more natural setting and to solve problems on their own. Lastly, it allows kindergartners to make sense of their emotional experiences in and out of school.
Showing posts with label kindergarten. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kindergarten. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Are we actually setting kids back with our emphasis on academics in kindergarten?
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Kids in La Mesa succeed in kindergarten when focus is broad, not just on academics
"And it’s become so academic it’s almost against my principles of teaching like this. Really. It shouldn’t be that way. That’s what made me make my decision.”
Unrelenting Ruth: Leiderman of Murray Manor is Longest-Serving Teacher
But kindergarten veteran is parting in sorrow and protest in 2012
By Doug Williams
La Mesa Patch
May 7, 2011
Even after all these years, Ruth Leiderman still gets nervous and can’t sleep the night before the first day of school in September. It’s the joy of being around children that keeps her going...
“She believes passionately that we not only teach the academics but also develop the whole child developmentally.
“The mentality that has crept into some educational institutions has been ‘put away the clay.’ Not Mrs. Leiderman and her incredible kinder colleagues. I can walk into her classroom on any given day throughout the year and she has something amazing going on for the students. It could be a life-size igloo made of milk cartons, a Polar Express train running down the middle of her room, or all the students dressed as kings and queens.”
Those are examples of the old-school kindergarten values that Leiderman still believes in.
While teachers are now held more accountable for test scores and measured student growth, Leiderman continues to incorporate as much hands-on play as possible.
In her classroom, she still has sand tables, easels, a playhouse and uses clay and Play-Doh, whenever she can mold them into the curriculum.
As she says, “I’ve adapted.”
Yet she disagrees with some of the change.
“The standards have increased,” she says, explaining kindergarten evolution. “And I don’t mind saying, I personally don’t feel for the better. ... I’m actually sad to see the way it went. Very sad.
“I still think the kindergartners should be doing things other than reading and writing. There’s plenty for them to do that’s developmental. … I think learning through play is lost. I truly believe that children learn through play. And that’s gone. All those discoveries that they used to make on their own.”
Leiderman says she’s grateful that at Murray Manor she’s been allowed to blend the old with the new. She knows it’s not the norm at some schools.
As the day unfolds, two hours of language arts are scheduled in the morning, followed by recess, math, lunch and then social studies, science, music, art and “developmental time” when she can blend in the clay and the play.
And is the old-school approach hurting the new-age expectations?
No, says Magliato. He says Leiderman still “maintains rigorous academics” and her class is exceeding the reading-level expectations for this year...
Next year is my last year,” she says. “Do you want to know why? Write it carefully when you write it. I don’t like the way education is going. I’m upset that there’s 30 kids in kindergarten. I think there’s no business for 30 kids to be in kindergarten. And it’s become so academic it’s almost against my principles of teaching like this. Really. It shouldn’t be that way. That’s what made me make my decision.”...
Unrelenting Ruth: Leiderman of Murray Manor is Longest-Serving Teacher
But kindergarten veteran is parting in sorrow and protest in 2012
By Doug Williams
La Mesa Patch
May 7, 2011
Even after all these years, Ruth Leiderman still gets nervous and can’t sleep the night before the first day of school in September. It’s the joy of being around children that keeps her going...
“She believes passionately that we not only teach the academics but also develop the whole child developmentally.
“The mentality that has crept into some educational institutions has been ‘put away the clay.’ Not Mrs. Leiderman and her incredible kinder colleagues. I can walk into her classroom on any given day throughout the year and she has something amazing going on for the students. It could be a life-size igloo made of milk cartons, a Polar Express train running down the middle of her room, or all the students dressed as kings and queens.”
Those are examples of the old-school kindergarten values that Leiderman still believes in.
While teachers are now held more accountable for test scores and measured student growth, Leiderman continues to incorporate as much hands-on play as possible.
In her classroom, she still has sand tables, easels, a playhouse and uses clay and Play-Doh, whenever she can mold them into the curriculum.
As she says, “I’ve adapted.”
Yet she disagrees with some of the change.
“The standards have increased,” she says, explaining kindergarten evolution. “And I don’t mind saying, I personally don’t feel for the better. ... I’m actually sad to see the way it went. Very sad.
“I still think the kindergartners should be doing things other than reading and writing. There’s plenty for them to do that’s developmental. … I think learning through play is lost. I truly believe that children learn through play. And that’s gone. All those discoveries that they used to make on their own.”
Leiderman says she’s grateful that at Murray Manor she’s been allowed to blend the old with the new. She knows it’s not the norm at some schools.
As the day unfolds, two hours of language arts are scheduled in the morning, followed by recess, math, lunch and then social studies, science, music, art and “developmental time” when she can blend in the clay and the play.
And is the old-school approach hurting the new-age expectations?
No, says Magliato. He says Leiderman still “maintains rigorous academics” and her class is exceeding the reading-level expectations for this year...
Next year is my last year,” she says. “Do you want to know why? Write it carefully when you write it. I don’t like the way education is going. I’m upset that there’s 30 kids in kindergarten. I think there’s no business for 30 kids to be in kindergarten. And it’s become so academic it’s almost against my principles of teaching like this. Really. It shouldn’t be that way. That’s what made me make my decision.”...
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Children who are slightly too young for kindergarten will get an extra year of public schooling
California Ups Age for Starting Kindergarten
October 1, 2010
by Emily Alpert
Voice of San Diego
It's official: Soon California will only open the gates to kindergarten for kids who have turned five years old by Sept. 1, moving up current cutoff date from early December.
The new law, signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger yesterday, is meant to ensure that children enter kindergarten more prepared. The idea behind the law is that older kindergarteners will be more mature and ready to handle school, giving them a better start for their whole school careers.
Children who are slightly too young for kindergarten will get an extra year of public schooling -- a new grade called transitional kindergarten -- and then go to kindergarten. The change will be gradual: The kindergarten cutoff date will move to November in 2012, October in 2013, and finish up at September in 2014.
Want to learn more? Read our article about the worries over kindergarten readiness that led to this bill or get more of the background from blogger John Fensterwald. You can also check out this interesting letter from reader Jamie Ginsberg about why she believes the switch could actually exacerbate inequalities in kindergarten.
October 1, 2010
by Emily Alpert
Voice of San Diego
It's official: Soon California will only open the gates to kindergarten for kids who have turned five years old by Sept. 1, moving up current cutoff date from early December.
The new law, signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger yesterday, is meant to ensure that children enter kindergarten more prepared. The idea behind the law is that older kindergarteners will be more mature and ready to handle school, giving them a better start for their whole school careers.
Children who are slightly too young for kindergarten will get an extra year of public schooling -- a new grade called transitional kindergarten -- and then go to kindergarten. The change will be gradual: The kindergarten cutoff date will move to November in 2012, October in 2013, and finish up at September in 2014.
Want to learn more? Read our article about the worries over kindergarten readiness that led to this bill or get more of the background from blogger John Fensterwald. You can also check out this interesting letter from reader Jamie Ginsberg about why she believes the switch could actually exacerbate inequalities in kindergarten.
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