Aftercare in Elementary School: What should I look for?
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Anonymous
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We're at Garrison in PK aftercare and it's going well. Similar to what sounds like the Cooke situation, it is free to everyone (amazing!) but because of this if you don't get on the list early you may have a few weeks of stress because they hold slots for low income families. However, we were told that there has never been a case at Garrison where someone who wanted aftercare didn't get in.
We've had a good experience so far with it--it's run by DCPS and there is a coordinator who handles Garrison and one other school, so she's onsite two days a week and is very responsive to parent inquiries and concerns. The teachers are two ECE teachers, so like Cooke, it's the same staff members who are in the school during the day and know the kids already. It's not our direct classroom teachers which is nice because we've gotten to know two additional teachers and our kid gets to be with different folks for the last two hours of the day--and our kid REALLY likes all of the teachers. How it works: the regular classroom teacher walks the aftercare kids down to the aftercare classroom. They have a snack which is actually quite substantial--it's a hot meal and I think they actually call it "supper." They have playground time, and then they do a lot of arts and crafts and activities that we bring home (i.e. recently: making snowmen, making little handprint turkeys, etc.). There's a lot of singing and games--we're always learning new songs from the activities. They ONLY do screen time in rare situations like if a staff member has to go home sick unexpectedly, and in the one case where that's happened this year it was a PBS show. They also have a program come in a few days a week called "Jumpstart" which is a national, evidence-based early childhood program where they bring in a fairly large group of trained college students who work with the kids one-on-one and in small groups to do activities, reading, etc. For the older kids, aftercare is totally separate and different--I know they have some formal offerings (orchestra, sports) and that it includes dedicated homework/study time as well as playground time, but I don't know much else about it yet. |
Anonymous
We are at HD Cooke, and my PK3er loves after care there. It's a mix of "center" time (basically free choice in the classroom), outside or gym time, specials (art & library), and some other organized activities (e.g., there is an Americorps program that comes in once a week). It is free for everyone regardless of income, and the teachers and assistants rotate to provide the care, so they already know the kids well. It is a much better after school program than the charter we used to attend, which charged $400/month for non-FARM families. We are really happy with it. |
Anonymous
NP here. Just to be clear--at Cooke as long as you enroll by a certain day, you are guaranteed after care. It's only after that date (sometime in July) that you have to worry about not having it. I think that is true for all the schools for which DCPS provides the after care. |
Anonymous
| I would be wary of after care that is provided by for-profit companies. I know lots of Bridges families that are having major problems with after care this year (including one person who withdrew because of it). Apparently, the after care was much better last year when Bridges did it in-house, but now Springboard has taken over and it's more expensive and has had lots of problems. |
Anonymous
| Do people still like Polite Piggies at Maury and Tyler? |
Anonymous
| I like Polite Piggy's at Maury. My kids seem to enjoy it and it is a nice mix of free play and more structures activities like art. If you do the extras, it gets expensive, but I like having the option. |
Anonymous
Third vote for MOMIES TLC. I think a lot of the "great person" series is probably lost on my 3 year old, but if you ask him questions about it, you'll get answers. For the younger kids, its boiled down into things like dances, chants, etc. They definitely seem to offer a great mix of structured activities and free play. |
Anonymous
My 5 year old loves them too. He doesn't even want to do any of the other enrichment activities because he likes the regular MOMIES class so much. |
Anonymous
| Mommies taught my 3 year old the word "feminist" . I love it! |
Anonymous
| Which schools use MOMIES TLC? Thanks! |
Anonymous
Shining Stars, Lee Montessori at minimum. |
Anonymous
Whittier EC as well, although possibly not until next year. |
Anonymous
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Love the aftercare at CMI. We do a mix of the creative clubs and some of the regular aftercare. I made the mistake of picking my child up "normal time" the other day and she complained the whole way home that she wanted to stay in aftercare.
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Anonymous
My daughter, who is now 4, was at Shining Stars last year and attended MOMIES tlc summer camp over the summer as well. At first, I think that the Great Person series was a little bit over her head, but as the year progressed, she was really into it. Obviously, she liked some units more than others, but she has actually retained the knowledge and can still talk relatively coherently about Angela Davis and Nelson Mandela and Bethany Hamilton (the surfer whose arm was bitten off by a shark). The year+ that she spent with MOMIES also introduced her to concepts like race, class and gender in ways that were age appropriate and very positive. I was thrilled that she was introduced to those things by people outside our family, in positive ways. It has made our subsequent conversations about them so much easier, if only because her time with MOMIES has given me things that I can reference easily that are already familiar to her. |
Anonymous
| 11:14 here. We are now at a DCPS whose aftercare is run by the school, and while it's perfectly acceptable and DD likes it well enough, it's not the same as what she was getting with MOMIES. If it was up to me, I would make them the city-wide aftercare provider for all children, because they are that great. |