Kindergarten Claire

Our Claire started her first day of kindergarten. I think that I was more stressed than she was about it. She rides the bus to and from school. In the morning, all the kids from high school on down ride the bus. I was a little worried about her riding with such big kids, but it seems like she likes it and she did very well on her adventure.

She posed for a picture with her teacher, Mrs. Tanner. We hear that Mrs. Tanner is nice and strict so it will be great for Claire to have a teacher that will keep her focused.

In Arizona, half day kindergarten is still the norm. The state pulled funding a couple years ago because the majority of state legislators felt that full day kindergarten was too expensive for our state and a few actually called it "tax-payer funded all day babysitting". I did a research paper on the subject of full-day kindergarten recently. Before I did the paper I felt that half day was better because it allowed the children to ease into school and that it was more developmentally appropriate rather than to have the children working on academics at such an early age. I felt that the majority of people who wanted to have their children in full-day kindergarten, were parents who worked full-time who wanted to save on child care costs. Also with so much riding on standardized tests, schools wanted to get the children started early on academic excellence.

After my research, I feel quite differently. Did you know that historically the first kindergartens were full day? Kindergartens didn't go to half days until the 1940's when World War II took women teachers away from the classrooms to work with the war effort at home and the baby boom perpetuated the teacher shortage.

So, that is a little history lesson... Gradually, kindergarten has become increasingly academic as results of standardized testing have become more important in determining funding for public schools. These test results even determine whether or not a school will remain open and whether or not teachers will have jobs. So much is riding on them that preparation for the tests begins earlier and earlier. With only 2 hours and 45 minutes of classroom time, guess what kindergarten teachers are going to teach? Are they going to have music and art time? Are the kids going to be able to have adequate time for dramatic play which is so important for this age?

Full day kindergarten gives children time for play, for music and art, for outside play, time to be kids and time for instruction. The teachers can mix it up a bit more. Full day kindergarten doesn't mean more instruction necessarily, it usually means more time for developmentally appropriate activities, a more relaxed atmosphere, and more time for the arts and physical activity. So, that's why I think that it is better....

Claire is enjoying her time at school, however short the school day may be. She comes home singing songs and happy. And that makes me happy.