Fairfax County schools - amount of recess, art, music, PE

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know (either by experience or is it outlined somewhere) the frequency and amount of time for recess, art, music and PE in Fairfax County elementary schools? Is it standard throughout the county or does it vary by school? TIA!!

[Anonymous]

I can't say if there is a County standard, but my 8 year old has:

recess - daily
art - once weekly
music - twice weekly
gym - once weekly
library - once weekly

Generally I believe there are no specials on Mondays due to the abbreviated academic day. I'm not sure of the duration of the specials.

[Anonymous]

My DD7 is a second grader and has....

recess - daily
art - once a week
music - twice a week
PE - twice a week
computer lab - once a week
library - once a week

At her school they also integrate Mandarin into the curriculum twice a week, usually part of science, music or computers.

As for duration, I think all the specials are 1 hour EXCEPT the specials they have twice a week, music and PE. One day they are an hour and one day they are back to back and only 30 minutes each. Her class goes to recess at 11:10 and then straight to the cafeteria for lunch at 11:40, back to the classroom at 12:10, so an hour total for both recess and lunch.

She has no specials on Monday.

[Anonymous]

11:36 poster again. You know, I couldn't recall if PE was once a week or twice, but now that I read PP's response, I believe my child does have PE twice a week. I also think the duration of the specials is similar to the PP's....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:11:36 poster again. You know, I couldn't recall if PE was once a week or twice, but now that I read PP's response, I believe my child does have PE twice a week. I also think the duration of the specials is similar to the PP's....

All have these pull-outs or specials which correspond to a standard classroom period:
PE 2x week
Art 2x month [sometimes the teacher uses a cart-have no art room]
Music 2x week
Computer 2x month [sometimes laptops on a cart]
Grade 4- can take a string instrument elective 1x week.
Grade 5- can take either a band/string instrument 1x week.
Grade 5/6- can take chorus 1x week.

Reading teachers work with students with disabilities NOT the regular ed students.
Some students get GT resource pull-out 1x week. Ususally begins in grade 3 if not called GT center or level 4 by FCPS
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Anything else is extra for a specific school above baseline funding. GT center and level 4 are done with normal staffing ratios so there is little or no impact except for transportation if it is provided. Focus, Magnet, Young Scholars, Foreign language, IB all are on top of normal funding

[Anonymous]

recess - daily
art - once a week
music - twice a week
PE - twice a week
computer lab - in the classroom, available daily
library - once a week

[Anonymous]

It varies by school (site-based management).

My 2nd grader is in a Young Scholars class and has:

recess (daily -- approx. 20 minutes)
art (weekly -- approx. 40 minutes)
music (twice each week -- approx. 40 minutes each class)
PE (twice each week -- approx. 40 minutes each class)

The other "special" is library.

[Anonymous]

To the PP that spoke of the Madarin. How does that work. My CD will be at Shrevewood next year and they say they have Chinese. Do they actually have a separate class for it for a while, then work it into the other classes or is it just thrown in from the start? How much so they actually get? I live in another country now and my DC takes another language at school, so I don;t have unrealistic expectations. I'm just trying to fogure out if they actually learn anything or of it's basically just a nod to foreign language instruction. Right now, DC gets about 3 hours a week (maybe a little less) of foreign language instruction. I assume it won't be that much in FFX County.

[Anonymous]

To the PP that spoke of the Mandarin. How does that work. My CD will be at Shrevewood next year and they say they have Chinese. Do they actually have a separate class for it for a while, then work it into the other classes or is it just thrown in from the start?

At my DD's school they have Mandarin as part of the FLES program. In her school, the Chinese teacher comes in 2-3 times a week and does a lesson (all in Mandarin, no English spoken). As I said, some weeks it is science, sometimes social studies, sometimes music, etc. So it is integrated into the curriculum and not a separate class. At her school, it starts in 1st grade. She is a second grader and in her second year of Mandarin. She knows quite a bit. She will probably go to a different school next year for the GT center and I will be sorry that she loses the Mandarin experience.

http://www.fcps.edu/DIS/OHSICS/forlang/fles/

Some schools also offer optional language classes after school (FLEX). Our school does that too and she takes Mandarin there as well because I wanted to give her a little extra boost and the class is really fun.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, PP. That's helpful. If our school has the afterschool class, I'll try to talk her into it. She's a little burned out on second language right now because we live in a foreign country, but once she's around English speakers for day to day life, she may feel differently. Our babysitter speaks Mandarin, so I've been trying to encourage her to talk to the babysitter about it.