How much unstructured play time does your MCPS kindergartner have during the school day?

[Anonymous]

We're in MoCo (districted to Rachel Carson, so closely watching the whole elementary school study set for this year, since that school is so overcrowded) with one daughter. She is still a few years away from kindergarten, but I wanted to get a sense of what kindergarten is like in MCPS. I've heard all sorts of horror stories about how "kindergarten is the new 1st grade" and "the kids have tons of HW and no play time." Obviously, play time is so critical for young kids' development, so that concerns me.

So for current/recent parents of kindergartners in MCPS: does your child have HW? if so, how much? how much does MCPS try to incorporate unstructured play time into the day (to the extent you can with a full classroom of kids)?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

They get 20 minutes of unstructured play at recess. That is it.

Honestly, what you’ve heard is true. There is SO much material to cover that the kids go from worksheet to Chromebook to worksheet to Chromebook for most of the day. I have a kid in K this year and there is pretty much zero unstructured play during the day. I think it would b impossible to work that in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They get 20 minutes of unstructured play at recess. That is it.

Honestly, what you’ve heard is true. There is SO much material to cover that the kids go from worksheet to Chromebook to worksheet to Chromebook for most of the day. I have a kid in K this year and there is pretty much zero unstructured play during the day. I think it would b impossible to work that in.

Wait, the kindergarteners use the Chromebooks, too? That seems unnecessary.

[Anonymous]

No unstructured play except for recess. I observed a few times for the full day at my child's K as a volunteer because the teacher needed help and it was ridiculous. Teacher had them going from worksheet to worksheet to worksheet. Maybe 5 minutes of iPad time. Then worksheet again. All. Day. Long. It's no wonder she was complaining a lot of the boys were misbehaving and couldn't sit still. It was her or the school, not them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're in MoCo (districted to Rachel Carson, so closely watching the whole elementary school study set for this year, since that school is so overcrowded) with one daughter. She is still a few years away from kindergarten, but I wanted to get a sense of what kindergarten is like in MCPS. I've heard all sorts of horror stories about how "kindergarten is the new 1st grade" and "the kids have tons of HW and no play time." Obviously, play time is so critical for young kids' development, so that concerns me.

So for current/recent parents of kindergartners in MCPS: does your child have HW? if so, how much? how much does MCPS try to incorporate unstructured play time into the day (to the extent you can with a full classroom of kids)?

Thanks!

OP, I heard horror stories too, and that was over 10 years ago. From what I heard, kids were chained to the desks, doing multiple-choice test prep for hours at a time, interrupted only for lunch in a lunchroom where no child was allowed to say a word, while tears ran silently down their cold little cheeks. The horror stories weren't true. My kid loved kindergarten.

Also, as a general comment -- people don't usually post on the Internet when they're happy with something. Just like the news doesn't feature articles about places where nothing happened and everything was fine. So mostly what you read on DCUM about MCPS is complaints, but you shouldn't assume that it's an accurate reflection of real life. It's not. It's a fun-house mirror, at best.

[Anonymous]

Our ES K (rockville cluster) did have some unstructured play time. The classroom my child was in had a small kitchen area, a rice table, and an area with magnatiles and other blocks. It was part of a rotation that included a literacy center. Not sure how long they got or if it was daily, but I loved that they had some play time besides recess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our ES K (rockville cluster) did have some unstructured play time. The classroom my child was in had a small kitchen area, a rice table, and an area with magnatiles and other blocks. It was part of a rotation that included a literacy center. Not sure how long they got or if it was daily, but I loved that they had some play time besides recess.

+1 This was my child’s experience in kindergarten at a Title 1 school in Silver Spring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our ES K (rockville cluster) did have some unstructured play time. The classroom my child was in had a small kitchen area, a rice table, and an area with magnatiles and other blocks. It was part of a rotation that included a literacy center. Not sure how long they got or if it was daily, but I loved that they had some play time besides recess.

+1 This was my child’s experience in kindergarten at a Title 1 school in Silver Spring.

Me too. Focus school in Silver Spring. In my kid's K class, they have "choice time" in the afternoon (last thing before dismissal) where they can do kitchen area, magna-tiles/blocks, "Imagination station," which is art supplies, etc. I think it's about 20 minutes (in addition to recess.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our ES K (rockville cluster) did have some unstructured play time. The classroom my child was in had a small kitchen area, a rice table, and an area with magnatiles and other blocks. It was part of a rotation that included a literacy center. Not sure how long they got or if it was daily, but I loved that they had some play time besides recess.

+1 This was my child’s experience in kindergarten at a Title 1 school in Silver Spring.

Me too. Focus school in Silver Spring. In my kid's K class, they have "choice time" in the afternoon (last thing before dismissal) where they can do kitchen area, magna-tiles/blocks, "Imagination station," which is art supplies, etc. I think it's about 20 minutes (in addition to recess.)

OP here. That's great to hear! All this talk of worksheets and chromebooks was depressing me :/

PP who said people go to the internet to gripe -- absolutely, for sure. I'm sure the reality is less dire than DCUM makes it out to be. I mean, heck, as long as my kid's teacher doesn't say her main goal is to show the kids the ways of Jesus, she's doing better than I did! (That was a literal quote from my 2nd grade teacher at the year's parent-teacher conference, which prompted my parents to pull me out of that class).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our ES K (rockville cluster) did have some unstructured play time. The classroom my child was in had a small kitchen area, a rice table, and an area with magnatiles and other blocks. It was part of a rotation that included a literacy center. Not sure how long they got or if it was daily, but I loved that they had some play time besides recess.

+1 This was my child’s experience in kindergarten at a Title 1 school in Silver Spring.

Me too. Focus school in Silver Spring. In my kid's K class, they have "choice time" in the afternoon (last thing before dismissal) where they can do kitchen area, magna-tiles/blocks, "Imagination station," which is art supplies, etc. I think it's about 20 minutes (in addition to recess.)

OP here. That's great to hear! All this talk of worksheets and chromebooks was depressing me :/

PP who said people go to the internet to gripe -- absolutely, for sure. I'm sure the reality is less dire than DCUM makes it out to be. I mean, heck, as long as my kid's teacher doesn't say her main goal is to show the kids the ways of Jesus, she's doing better than I did! (That was a literal quote from my 2nd grade teacher at the parent-teacher conference, which prompted my parents to pull me out of that class).

[Anonymous]

It's really going to depend on the teacher, OP. Some teachers make time to go outside for a few extra minutes of outside play/get up and move time, or do movement activities in the classroom, but not all of them do this. I think most kindergarten classrooms have choice times or centers which is playtime, but it's really going to depend a lot on the teacher and not just on the school.

[Anonymous]

My son has “discovery centers” at the end of the day at an upcounty ES but I don’t know if they have time for it every day. They have 35 minutes for recess. I will say that the new principal of RCES is fantastic. I worked for her for a few years and she was one of the best administrators I have had. She’s slowly changing the culture at RCES and I think for the better, according to my friends who work there now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son has “discovery centers” at the end of the day at an upcounty ES but I don’t know if they have time for it every day. They have 35 minutes for recess. I will say that the new principal of RCES is fantastic. I worked for her for a few years and she was one of the best administrators I have had. She’s slowly changing the culture at RCES and I think for the better, according to my friends who work there now.

That's really great to hear. We moved to our neighborhood in part because of RCES, so it was disappointing to learn it's so overcrowded. I'm hoping that between moving some kids to Dufief and (hopefully!) building a new elementary school in Gaithersburg, the overcrowding issue will be somewhat alleviated.

[Anonymous]

This is my kindergartener’s schedule:
- 90 mins reading workshop
- 60 mins math workshop
- 30 mins writing workshop
- 30 mins lunch, 4 mins recess
- social studies/science
- specials 4 days a week and on other day extended social studies/science

Other than recess, it’s all structured. Really glad my kid just missed the cutoff sonwas almost six when starting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is my kindergartener’s schedule:
- 90 mins reading workshop
- 60 mins math workshop
- 30 mins writing workshop
- 30 mins lunch, 4 mins recess
- social studies/science
- specials 4 days a week and on other day extended social studies/science

Other than recess, it’s all structured. Really glad my kid just missed the cutoff sonwas almost six when starting.

Forgot to answer your question. We have monthly homeowner projects, often requiring research/help from parents. Many just skip and seems to be no consequence. No nightly HW.