Are DCPS PK3-4 programs more play-based or academic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids both did PK3 and PK4 at a Title 1 DCPS, not one on your list, within the past three years.

Their experience was pretty similar to the L-T poster above.

They have a theme each quarter. Themes have included: Insects, Trees, Tubes and Tunnels, Signs, Buildings, etc. The kids get really into the theme.

Rough schedule of the day (the order has changed a bit class to class and year to year):

Breakfast
Morning Meeting - they talk about weather, days of the week, who has a birthday coming, etc. There's always a "question of the day" that the kids answer through some hands-on-voting system (has differed class to class), like "which food do you like better, pizza or French fries" or similar.
Recess - they get two 30 min recesses outside each day, one in the morning, one after nap.
Centers - This is pretty much true play. They pick where they play - the library to look at books, "Dramatic Play" which is like dress up and the play kitchen, blocks, water table, sand table, art table, there's at least one center around the theme. This is a full hour.
Specials - This is basically the same as I remember from elementary school. Spanish, Art, Music, Library, Yoga, PE, etc rotating throughout the week.
"Twiggle Time" - this is their social-emotional learning time when they talk about feelings and stuff. The "mascot" is a turtle named Twiggle.
Lunch
Nap (90 mins for PK3, 60 mins for PK4)
ELA - They have a reading/writing block. I think it's about 30 mins a day, and they mostly seem to read a book, talk about the book, draw a picture based on a question about the book, and write their names. They also learn letters and their sounds.
2nd Recess
Closing circle

I think in PK4 they add a math time. It also has a funny name but I forget what.

My kids were both "ahead" and at the end of PK4, both could count to 100 and recognize all the numbers, knew the alphabet and all the sounds the letters made (including a handful of combos like Ch and Th), and could write all the letters (big and little) and numbers and write their full names (first, middle, and last).

My oldest could also do some basic addition (numbers under 10) and my youngest could read a little (but I think she mostly figured that out just from the sounds, I don't think they taught that).

And they had more strategies about calming their bodies and dealing with hard emotions than 99% of current adults, myself included, haha.

Overall, as a layman, it seemed very play-based to me, and a pretty reasonable amount of academics. I will say, at least for my kids (who were at home with a nanny before PK3) PK3 was EXHAUSTING. Partly because they struggled to nap in a group environment, and I think partially because it's just a lot for pretty little kids. Interestingly, my friends with daycare kids, who I would have guessed would have found the switch more smooth, also really struggled at least the first month or two. It's a BIG transition (way bigger than the switch to K, for example).

It’s a non title 1 right? What I don’t see in the schedule is Building Blocks (math), which is apparently mandatory for all pre-k teachers to use but maybe not.

They are missing whole group and small group instruction -which again is supposedly mandatory.

PP here. This is a title 1 school.

Building Blocks! That’s the funny name! Yes, they do that but I thought it started in PK4. I could be wrong about that. There is both whole group and small group during the ELA and Building Blocks, and I believe sometimes they will also have one of the “centers” be a small group instruction in reading and/or math.

This sounds like way too much academics. I don’t agree with all these mandates going down to ECE teachers about it.

My kid did not have any academics and did not know almost all of the stuff PP said above (counting to 100, addition, etc,.). He knew the alphabet and still could not read in K.

ECE was so much fun and inquisitive and they did cool things like build an aquarium, set up a broadcast station, lots of great field trips, etc..

Just finished elementary and top student.

My kid started reading in PK4. By K he had abundant, access to stories, culture, information, ideas because he was already a strong independent reader.

Becoming a "top student" was never the point of teaching him to read.

Way to totally miss the point which is by 3rd grade the kids who were not reading yet have caught up to your kid and there is no difference.

Spending too much time pushing reading early at the expense of play is of no benefit and you lose learning other more important skills discussed above.

If you look at studies, the kids in head start might be more ahead academically but all gains are lost later.

This is a weird take.

I also had a very early reader who is now a teenager and he just .. knows a LOT due to all the books he's read. Reading accumulates, and early readers learn more. This shouldn't be disparaged.

Yeah I understand the research but there seems to be a lot of just anti-academics not just pro-play.

This. There's a lot of Head Start research out there and it takes some expertise to interpret. But it's bizarre how people get so upset about 10 minutes of Heggerty or whatever. A is for apple and it won't kill ya to sing the alphabet song sometimes.

It's okay if some kids want to learn to read. Some kids mostly teach themselves to read and write if they're ahead of the class, and if they don't get instruction they can develop bad habits like not forming letters in the proper way, or pronouncing things phonetically that aren't phonetic in spoken English. They're better off with a little instruction to go with their enthusiasm.

I think you’re not getting the nuance here. Play is learning, it is academics -just not in the traditional sense. Songs/real music is imperative for learning.

I knew I should not have commented because there would be comments over generalizing or not getting the point. Especially because parents don’t want to feel like they failed or are failing their child.

We all do the best we can -obviously teacher too.

I know you did not read all the comments but I did state if a child is interested in reading it’s not going to harm them. What IS harmful is forcing ALL children to learn to read at 3/4 years old.

Your example’s aren’t disproving what I have stated. Again, the research is clear. Play is learning!

Wow so condescending! Play is learning! Really don't know how you get from there to nobody should ever, ever, ever have to do a few minutes of phonics if they aren't ready. If your kid is not ready they'll just have to let it pass by them. I think it's the parents of late readers who feel like they failed or are failing their child. So they want to hold everyone else back and act like any explicit early literacy instruction is somehow poisonous and ruining the purity of their supposedly 100% play-based preschool experience.

Wow, please get some help if you feel that way. No one is out to get you or hold your kid back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not 10 minutes of academics. It is a couple of blocks so 1-2 hours?

Why are the adults running the show not looking at the research or understanding what is developmentally appropriate? Same with so much screen use so early in DCPS?

The big picture is that I don’t trust DCPS to know what is best for my kid. They obviously are not following best practices. I mean it doesn’t get any easier than ECE. If they don’t have best practices for this, there is little confidence IMO that they will for higher stakes in upper grades.

And the majority of parents on here at T1 schools who are actually making excuses and supporting this are not telling you is that they are playing the lottery every year for better schools. Things get worst past ECE.

Oh FFS. I very much doubt it's 1-2 hours. Maaaaaybe 1 hour, total, over a day in PK4 when-- remember-- most of the kids are 5 years old by the end.

T1 parents are not playing the lottery *because* of this. I was a T1 parent and I was 1000% fine with my kid learning letters and numbers, and I thought our T1 preschool was terrific in part because they taught some of the kids to read. I was playing the lottery for a better middle school.

No one I know that has played the lottery has done so for ECE, we have people coming in for ECE and K, it's entirely for MS and HS.

Two of six hours is just lunch/recess/nap and another hour or so is specials usually. So that assumes the spend 2/3 of the remaining time sitting at tables doing worksheets and if teachers can get four year olds to sit still for two straight hours I mean bless them I guess.

Absolutely you can. It’s never 2-3 hours straight. It’s broken into chunks.

Please provide a schedule that includes the mandated amount of time for lunch and recess, plus specials and a 90-minute nap, and all transitions, and still includes 2-3 hours of seat work. Don't forget potty breaks!

Eh, I’ll humor you.


8:20 -8:45 Breakfast + writing practice (5)

8:45-9-15 Morning meeting and read aloud/whole group lesson (20 min)
9:15-10:00 Centers and small groups
(15- 25 min per kid/ 10-15 min with each teacher). (25)

10-10:30 Recess

10:35 -11:05 - whole group math lesson (30)

11:05 - 1:50- Centers and small groups again (25)

11:50-12:20 Lunch
12:20-1:50 NAP
1:50 -2:00 Heggerty (10)
2:00-2:05Snack
2:05- 2:20 Literacy Whole Group (15)
2:20-3:05 Specials


There’s your 2+ hours. Also FYI my old school didn’t give the real schedule to parents in terms of how long small groups were and whole groups.

Bathroom is in centers. Nope no transition times except recess. And PK 4 the literacy block is 30 min longer. Yes snack was really 5 minutes.

My kids definitely do not do writing practice from not the classroom at 8:20. Are teachers not supposed to read aloud? That's too academic? I'm going to be honest none of this sounds terribly academically rigorous.

Looking at above, kids are getting lots of academics IMO

10-15 min small group instruction
30 minutes whole group
25 minutes small group
10 Heggerty
15 literacy while group

Above is a ton and too much.

If some parents want that, you do you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not 10 minutes of academics. It is a couple of blocks so 1-2 hours?

Why are the adults running the show not looking at the research or understanding what is developmentally appropriate? Same with so much screen use so early in DCPS?

The big picture is that I don’t trust DCPS to know what is best for my kid. They obviously are not following best practices. I mean it doesn’t get any easier than ECE. If they don’t have best practices for this, there is little confidence IMO that they will for higher stakes in upper grades.

And the majority of parents on here at T1 schools who are actually making excuses and supporting this are not telling you is that they are playing the lottery every year for better schools. Things get worst past ECE.

Oh FFS. I very much doubt it's 1-2 hours. Maaaaaybe 1 hour, total, over a day in PK4 when-- remember-- most of the kids are 5 years old by the end.

T1 parents are not playing the lottery *because* of this. I was a T1 parent and I was 1000% fine with my kid learning letters and numbers, and I thought our T1 preschool was terrific in part because they taught some of the kids to read. I was playing the lottery for a better middle school.

No one I know that has played the lottery has done so for ECE, we have people coming in for ECE and K, it's entirely for MS and HS.

Two of six hours is just lunch/recess/nap and another hour or so is specials usually. So that assumes the spend 2/3 of the remaining time sitting at tables doing worksheets and if teachers can get four year olds to sit still for two straight hours I mean bless them I guess.

Absolutely you can. It’s never 2-3 hours straight. It’s broken into chunks.

Please provide a schedule that includes the mandated amount of time for lunch and recess, plus specials and a 90-minute nap, and all transitions, and still includes 2-3 hours of seat work. Don't forget potty breaks!

Eh, I’ll humor you.


8:20 -8:45 Breakfast + writing practice (5)

8:45-9-15 Morning meeting and read aloud/whole group lesson (20 min)
9:15-10:00 Centers and small groups
(15- 25 min per kid/ 10-15 min with each teacher). (25)

10-10:30 Recess

10:35 -11:05 - whole group math lesson (30)

11:05 - 1:50- Centers and small groups again (25)

11:50-12:20 Lunch
12:20-1:50 NAP
1:50 -2:00 Heggerty (10)
2:00-2:05Snack
2:05- 2:20 Literacy Whole Group (15)
2:20-3:05 Specials


There’s your 2+ hours. Also FYI my old school didn’t give the real schedule to parents in terms of how long small groups were and whole groups.

Bathroom is in centers. Nope no transition times except recess. And PK 4 the literacy block is 30 min longer. Yes snack was really 5 minutes.

My kids definitely do not do writing practice from not the classroom at 8:20. Are teachers not supposed to read aloud? That's too academic? I'm going to be honest none of this sounds terribly academically rigorous.

Looking at above, kids are getting lots of academics IMO

10-15 min small group instruction
30 minutes whole group
25 minutes small group
10 Heggerty
15 literacy while group

Above is a ton and too much.

If some parents want that, you do you.

And I didn’t even add the 9:15-10 small group

[Anonymous]

It’s interesting that this thread is attracting more input from teachers - the people actually in the classrooms - than some other recent threads of back and forth with parents. While schools and teachers may differ, the overall trend for DCPS seems to be moving towards more academic and kids being evaluated on that. I think it’s good for parents to know more upfront so they can formulate realistic expectations. Even better if schools were honest / clear about schedules but it sounds like that may not always be the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not 10 minutes of academics. It is a couple of blocks so 1-2 hours?

Why are the adults running the show not looking at the research or understanding what is developmentally appropriate? Same with so much screen use so early in DCPS?

The big picture is that I don’t trust DCPS to know what is best for my kid. They obviously are not following best practices. I mean it doesn’t get any easier than ECE. If they don’t have best practices for this, there is little confidence IMO that they will for higher stakes in upper grades.

And the majority of parents on here at T1 schools who are actually making excuses and supporting this are not telling you is that they are playing the lottery every year for better schools. Things get worst past ECE.

Oh FFS. I very much doubt it's 1-2 hours. Maaaaaybe 1 hour, total, over a day in PK4 when-- remember-- most of the kids are 5 years old by the end.

T1 parents are not playing the lottery *because* of this. I was a T1 parent and I was 1000% fine with my kid learning letters and numbers, and I thought our T1 preschool was terrific in part because they taught some of the kids to read. I was playing the lottery for a better middle school.

No one I know that has played the lottery has done so for ECE, we have people coming in for ECE and K, it's entirely for MS and HS.

Two of six hours is just lunch/recess/nap and another hour or so is specials usually. So that assumes the spend 2/3 of the remaining time sitting at tables doing worksheets and if teachers can get four year olds to sit still for two straight hours I mean bless them I guess.

Absolutely you can. It’s never 2-3 hours straight. It’s broken into chunks.

Please provide a schedule that includes the mandated amount of time for lunch and recess, plus specials and a 90-minute nap, and all transitions, and still includes 2-3 hours of seat work. Don't forget potty breaks!

Eh, I’ll humor you.


8:20 -8:45 Breakfast + writing practice (5)

8:45-9-15 Morning meeting and read aloud/whole group lesson (20 min)
9:15-10:00 Centers and small groups
(15- 25 min per kid/ 10-15 min with each teacher). (25)

10-10:30 Recess

10:35 -11:05 - whole group math lesson (30)

11:05 - 1:50- Centers and small groups again (25)

11:50-12:20 Lunch
12:20-1:50 NAP
1:50 -2:00 Heggerty (10)
2:00-2:05Snack
2:05- 2:20 Literacy Whole Group (15)
2:20-3:05 Specials


There’s your 2+ hours. Also FYI my old school didn’t give the real schedule to parents in terms of how long small groups were and whole groups.

Bathroom is in centers. Nope no transition times except recess. And PK 4 the literacy block is 30 min longer. Yes snack was really 5 minutes.

Wow where is the play time??? Just at the centers if kids are not in a small groups. That is it?

This is horrendous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not 10 minutes of academics. It is a couple of blocks so 1-2 hours?

Why are the adults running the show not looking at the research or understanding what is developmentally appropriate? Same with so much screen use so early in DCPS?

The big picture is that I don’t trust DCPS to know what is best for my kid. They obviously are not following best practices. I mean it doesn’t get any easier than ECE. If they don’t have best practices for this, there is little confidence IMO that they will for higher stakes in upper grades.

And the majority of parents on here at T1 schools who are actually making excuses and supporting this are not telling you is that they are playing the lottery every year for better schools. Things get worst past ECE.

Oh FFS. I very much doubt it's 1-2 hours. Maaaaaybe 1 hour, total, over a day in PK4 when-- remember-- most of the kids are 5 years old by the end.

T1 parents are not playing the lottery *because* of this. I was a T1 parent and I was 1000% fine with my kid learning letters and numbers, and I thought our T1 preschool was terrific in part because they taught some of the kids to read. I was playing the lottery for a better middle school.

No one I know that has played the lottery has done so for ECE, we have people coming in for ECE and K, it's entirely for MS and HS.

Two of six hours is just lunch/recess/nap and another hour or so is specials usually. So that assumes the spend 2/3 of the remaining time sitting at tables doing worksheets and if teachers can get four year olds to sit still for two straight hours I mean bless them I guess.

Absolutely you can. It’s never 2-3 hours straight. It’s broken into chunks.

Please provide a schedule that includes the mandated amount of time for lunch and recess, plus specials and a 90-minute nap, and all transitions, and still includes 2-3 hours of seat work. Don't forget potty breaks!

Eh, I’ll humor you.


8:20 -8:45 Breakfast + writing practice (5)

8:45-9-15 Morning meeting and read aloud/whole group lesson (20 min)
9:15-10:00 Centers and small groups
(15- 25 min per kid/ 10-15 min with each teacher). (25)

10-10:30 Recess

10:35 -11:05 - whole group math lesson (30)

11:05 - 1:50- Centers and small groups again (25)

11:50-12:20 Lunch
12:20-1:50 NAP
1:50 -2:00 Heggerty (10)
2:00-2:05Snack
2:05- 2:20 Literacy Whole Group (15)
2:20-3:05 Specials


There’s your 2+ hours. Also FYI my old school didn’t give the real schedule to parents in terms of how long small groups were and whole groups.

Bathroom is in centers. Nope no transition times except recess. And PK 4 the literacy block is 30 min longer. Yes snack was really 5 minutes.

My kids definitely do not do writing practice from not the classroom at 8:20. Are teachers not supposed to read aloud? That's too academic? I'm going to be honest none of this sounds terribly academically rigorous.

Looking at above, kids are getting lots of academics IMO

10-15 min small group instruction
30 minutes whole group
25 minutes small group
10 Heggerty
15 literacy while group

Above is a ton and too much.

If some parents want that, you do you.

And I didn’t even add the 9:15-10 small group

Nobody is doing that much, unless you believe that there are no transitions, snack takes 5 minutes, and nobody ever needs to pee except during centers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not 10 minutes of academics. It is a couple of blocks so 1-2 hours?

Why are the adults running the show not looking at the research or understanding what is developmentally appropriate? Same with so much screen use so early in DCPS?

The big picture is that I don’t trust DCPS to know what is best for my kid. They obviously are not following best practices. I mean it doesn’t get any easier than ECE. If they don’t have best practices for this, there is little confidence IMO that they will for higher stakes in upper grades.

And the majority of parents on here at T1 schools who are actually making excuses and supporting this are not telling you is that they are playing the lottery every year for better schools. Things get worst past ECE.

Oh FFS. I very much doubt it's 1-2 hours. Maaaaaybe 1 hour, total, over a day in PK4 when-- remember-- most of the kids are 5 years old by the end.

T1 parents are not playing the lottery *because* of this. I was a T1 parent and I was 1000% fine with my kid learning letters and numbers, and I thought our T1 preschool was terrific in part because they taught some of the kids to read. I was playing the lottery for a better middle school.

No one I know that has played the lottery has done so for ECE, we have people coming in for ECE and K, it's entirely for MS and HS.

Two of six hours is just lunch/recess/nap and another hour or so is specials usually. So that assumes the spend 2/3 of the remaining time sitting at tables doing worksheets and if teachers can get four year olds to sit still for two straight hours I mean bless them I guess.

Absolutely you can. It’s never 2-3 hours straight. It’s broken into chunks.

Please provide a schedule that includes the mandated amount of time for lunch and recess, plus specials and a 90-minute nap, and all transitions, and still includes 2-3 hours of seat work. Don't forget potty breaks!

Eh, I’ll humor you.


8:20 -8:45 Breakfast + writing practice (5)

8:45-9-15 Morning meeting and read aloud/whole group lesson (20 min)
9:15-10:00 Centers and small groups
(15- 25 min per kid/ 10-15 min with each teacher). (25)

10-10:30 Recess

10:35 -11:05 - whole group math lesson (30)

11:05 - 1:50- Centers and small groups again (25)

11:50-12:20 Lunch
12:20-1:50 NAP
1:50 -2:00 Heggerty (10)
2:00-2:05Snack
2:05- 2:20 Literacy Whole Group (15)
2:20-3:05 Specials


There’s your 2+ hours. Also FYI my old school didn’t give the real schedule to parents in terms of how long small groups were and whole groups.

Bathroom is in centers. Nope no transition times except recess. And PK 4 the literacy block is 30 min longer. Yes snack was really 5 minutes.

My kids definitely do not do writing practice from not the classroom at 8:20. Are teachers not supposed to read aloud? That's too academic? I'm going to be honest none of this sounds terribly academically rigorous.

Looking at above, kids are getting lots of academics IMO

10-15 min small group instruction
30 minutes whole group
25 minutes small group
10 Heggerty
15 literacy while group

Above is a ton and too much.

If some parents want that, you do you.

And I didn’t even add the 9:15-10 small group

Nobody is doing that much, unless you believe that there are no transitions, snack takes 5 minutes, and nobody ever needs to pee except during centers.

So what these few minutes if transitions or bathrooms. The point is that it is heavily academic for 3-4 years old. Making them sit and do this crap is terrible and so inappropriate. It woukd just kill the love of learning and school for some kids. Then throw in HW at some schools and forcing these kids to do that after already a long day of academics.

When exactly are they playing??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not 10 minutes of academics. It is a couple of blocks so 1-2 hours?

Why are the adults running the show not looking at the research or understanding what is developmentally appropriate? Same with so much screen use so early in DCPS?

The big picture is that I don’t trust DCPS to know what is best for my kid. They obviously are not following best practices. I mean it doesn’t get any easier than ECE. If they don’t have best practices for this, there is little confidence IMO that they will for higher stakes in upper grades.

And the majority of parents on here at T1 schools who are actually making excuses and supporting this are not telling you is that they are playing the lottery every year for better schools. Things get worst past ECE.

Oh FFS. I very much doubt it's 1-2 hours. Maaaaaybe 1 hour, total, over a day in PK4 when-- remember-- most of the kids are 5 years old by the end.

T1 parents are not playing the lottery *because* of this. I was a T1 parent and I was 1000% fine with my kid learning letters and numbers, and I thought our T1 preschool was terrific in part because they taught some of the kids to read. I was playing the lottery for a better middle school.

No one I know that has played the lottery has done so for ECE, we have people coming in for ECE and K, it's entirely for MS and HS.

Two of six hours is just lunch/recess/nap and another hour or so is specials usually. So that assumes the spend 2/3 of the remaining time sitting at tables doing worksheets and if teachers can get four year olds to sit still for two straight hours I mean bless them I guess.

Absolutely you can. It’s never 2-3 hours straight. It’s broken into chunks.

Please provide a schedule that includes the mandated amount of time for lunch and recess, plus specials and a 90-minute nap, and all transitions, and still includes 2-3 hours of seat work. Don't forget potty breaks!

Eh, I’ll humor you.


8:20 -8:45 Breakfast + writing practice (5)

8:45-9-15 Morning meeting and read aloud/whole group lesson (20 min)
9:15-10:00 Centers and small groups
(15- 25 min per kid/ 10-15 min with each teacher). (25)

10-10:30 Recess

10:35 -11:05 - whole group math lesson (30)

11:05 - 1:50- Centers and small groups again (25)

11:50-12:20 Lunch
12:20-1:50 NAP
1:50 -2:00 Heggerty (10)
2:00-2:05Snack
2:05- 2:20 Literacy Whole Group (15)
2:20-3:05 Specials


There’s your 2+ hours. Also FYI my old school didn’t give the real schedule to parents in terms of how long small groups were and whole groups.

Bathroom is in centers. Nope no transition times except recess. And PK 4 the literacy block is 30 min longer. Yes snack was really 5 minutes.

Wow where is the play time??? Just at the centers if kids are not in a small groups. That is it?

This is horrendous.

I'm genuinely asking, have you see most DCPS PK classrooms? What other play are they doing? Our kids went on walks when it was nice and had a lot of extended recess also when it was nice, but 18 kids in a classroom is not going to allow for a ton of large active play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not 10 minutes of academics. It is a couple of blocks so 1-2 hours?

Why are the adults running the show not looking at the research or understanding what is developmentally appropriate? Same with so much screen use so early in DCPS?

The big picture is that I don’t trust DCPS to know what is best for my kid. They obviously are not following best practices. I mean it doesn’t get any easier than ECE. If they don’t have best practices for this, there is little confidence IMO that they will for higher stakes in upper grades.

And the majority of parents on here at T1 schools who are actually making excuses and supporting this are not telling you is that they are playing the lottery every year for better schools. Things get worst past ECE.

Oh FFS. I very much doubt it's 1-2 hours. Maaaaaybe 1 hour, total, over a day in PK4 when-- remember-- most of the kids are 5 years old by the end.

T1 parents are not playing the lottery *because* of this. I was a T1 parent and I was 1000% fine with my kid learning letters and numbers, and I thought our T1 preschool was terrific in part because they taught some of the kids to read. I was playing the lottery for a better middle school.

No one I know that has played the lottery has done so for ECE, we have people coming in for ECE and K, it's entirely for MS and HS.

Two of six hours is just lunch/recess/nap and another hour or so is specials usually. So that assumes the spend 2/3 of the remaining time sitting at tables doing worksheets and if teachers can get four year olds to sit still for two straight hours I mean bless them I guess.

Absolutely you can. It’s never 2-3 hours straight. It’s broken into chunks.

Please provide a schedule that includes the mandated amount of time for lunch and recess, plus specials and a 90-minute nap, and all transitions, and still includes 2-3 hours of seat work. Don't forget potty breaks!

Eh, I’ll humor you.


8:20 -8:45 Breakfast + writing practice (5)

8:45-9-15 Morning meeting and read aloud/whole group lesson (20 min)
9:15-10:00 Centers and small groups
(15- 25 min per kid/ 10-15 min with each teacher). (25)

10-10:30 Recess

10:35 -11:05 - whole group math lesson (30)

11:05 - 1:50- Centers and small groups again (25)

11:50-12:20 Lunch
12:20-1:50 NAP
1:50 -2:00 Heggerty (10)
2:00-2:05Snack
2:05- 2:20 Literacy Whole Group (15)
2:20-3:05 Specials


There’s your 2+ hours. Also FYI my old school didn’t give the real schedule to parents in terms of how long small groups were and whole groups.

Bathroom is in centers. Nope no transition times except recess. And PK 4 the literacy block is 30 min longer. Yes snack was really 5 minutes.

Wow where is the play time??? Just at the centers if kids are not in a small groups. That is it?

This is horrendous.

I'm genuinely asking, have you see most DCPS PK classrooms? What other play are they doing? Our kids went on walks when it was nice and had a lot of extended recess also when it was nice, but 18 kids in a classroom is not going to allow for a ton of large active play.

If you are asking this question then you don’t realize that kids can play all day in a classroom. I’m the PP with the older kid who couldn’t read till 1st.

Our ECE classrooms had 4 centers on the periphery of the classroom and the kids would spend 40 minutes or so playing at the centers. Then they rotate to another center and play for 40 minutes. Sometimes they get to pick what centers they wanted. During this time, the teacher would walk around, observe, make some suggestions or ask questions maybe. Above was maybe 1/2 the day. So lots of times, the kids at each centers had to work together and share and play together because the teacher couldn’t be at every center every second.

They also had a few tables in the middle of the classroom with 4 chairs and a long table with lots of chairs where kids would draw, color, paint, do kinetic sand, do art. There was a reading area and kids could sit and just look and flip thru books. Then there was circle and story time.

There was also whole class fun projects like they all worked to build an aquarium (construction paper, tracing animals and coloring) when they were learning about the ocean and animals in it. They set up a broadcasting station and made cameras and mics. They interviewed kids and their thoughts about a topic and made videos for parents. They went outside to look at clouds and draw their own clouds and talked about rain. The school also had a garden so the kids did gardening and planting. One project the kids did was a family tree so we sent in pictures and the kids made a collage and then went up to do a talk and presentation about their family.

Above are just a few examples but you get the point. No one was sitting down doing worksheets or being drilled additions. There was no math or literacy block. There was no pulling kids out in small groups from centers to do what? The teacher incorporated content and letters, numbers into the projects and what they were playing with at the centers. Some centers I remember was kitchen, magnatiles, ice cream stand selling ice cream, etc…

Those 2 years was just so much fun and my kid was fortunate to have it. He has lots of great memories from then and I pictures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not 10 minutes of academics. It is a couple of blocks so 1-2 hours?

Why are the adults running the show not looking at the research or understanding what is developmentally appropriate? Same with so much screen use so early in DCPS?

The big picture is that I don’t trust DCPS to know what is best for my kid. They obviously are not following best practices. I mean it doesn’t get any easier than ECE. If they don’t have best practices for this, there is little confidence IMO that they will for higher stakes in upper grades.

And the majority of parents on here at T1 schools who are actually making excuses and supporting this are not telling you is that they are playing the lottery every year for better schools. Things get worst past ECE.

Oh FFS. I very much doubt it's 1-2 hours. Maaaaaybe 1 hour, total, over a day in PK4 when-- remember-- most of the kids are 5 years old by the end.

T1 parents are not playing the lottery *because* of this. I was a T1 parent and I was 1000% fine with my kid learning letters and numbers, and I thought our T1 preschool was terrific in part because they taught some of the kids to read. I was playing the lottery for a better middle school.

No one I know that has played the lottery has done so for ECE, we have people coming in for ECE and K, it's entirely for MS and HS.

Two of six hours is just lunch/recess/nap and another hour or so is specials usually. So that assumes the spend 2/3 of the remaining time sitting at tables doing worksheets and if teachers can get four year olds to sit still for two straight hours I mean bless them I guess.

Absolutely you can. It’s never 2-3 hours straight. It’s broken into chunks.

Please provide a schedule that includes the mandated amount of time for lunch and recess, plus specials and a 90-minute nap, and all transitions, and still includes 2-3 hours of seat work. Don't forget potty breaks!

Eh, I’ll humor you.


8:20 -8:45 Breakfast + writing practice (5)

8:45-9-15 Morning meeting and read aloud/whole group lesson (20 min)
9:15-10:00 Centers and small groups
(15- 25 min per kid/ 10-15 min with each teacher). (25)

10-10:30 Recess

10:35 -11:05 - whole group math lesson (30)

11:05 - 1:50- Centers and small groups again (25)

11:50-12:20 Lunch
12:20-1:50 NAP
1:50 -2:00 Heggerty (10)
2:00-2:05Snack
2:05- 2:20 Literacy Whole Group (15)
2:20-3:05 Specials


There’s your 2+ hours. Also FYI my old school didn’t give the real schedule to parents in terms of how long small groups were and whole groups.

Bathroom is in centers. Nope no transition times except recess. And PK 4 the literacy block is 30 min longer. Yes snack was really 5 minutes.

Wow where is the play time??? Just at the centers if kids are not in a small groups. That is it?

This is horrendous.

I'm genuinely asking, have you see most DCPS PK classrooms? What other play are they doing? Our kids went on walks when it was nice and had a lot of extended recess also when it was nice, but 18 kids in a classroom is not going to allow for a ton of large active play.

If you are asking this question then you don’t realize that kids can play all day in a classroom. I’m the PP with the older kid who couldn’t read till 1st.

Our ECE classrooms had 4 centers on the periphery of the classroom and the kids would spend 40 minutes or so playing at the centers. Then they rotate to another center and play for 40 minutes. Sometimes they get to pick what centers they wanted. During this time, the teacher would walk around, observe, make some suggestions or ask questions maybe. Above was maybe 1/2 the day. So lots of times, the kids at each centers had to work together and share and play together because the teacher couldn’t be at every center every second.

They also had a few tables in the middle of the classroom with 4 chairs and a long table with lots of chairs where kids would draw, color, paint, do kinetic sand, do art. There was a reading area and kids could sit and just look and flip thru books. Then there was circle and story time.

There was also whole class fun projects like they all worked to build an aquarium (construction paper, tracing animals and coloring) when they were learning about the ocean and animals in it. They set up a broadcasting station and made cameras and mics. They interviewed kids and their thoughts about a topic and made videos for parents. They went outside to look at clouds and draw their own clouds and talked about rain. The school also had a garden so the kids did gardening and planting. One project the kids did was a family tree so we sent in pictures and the kids made a collage and then went up to do a talk and presentation about their family.

Above are just a few examples but you get the point. No one was sitting down doing worksheets or being drilled additions. There was no math or literacy block. There was no pulling kids out in small groups from centers to do what? The teacher incorporated content and letters, numbers into the projects and what they were playing with at the centers. Some centers I remember was kitchen, magnatiles, ice cream stand selling ice cream, etc…

Those 2 years was just so much fun and my kid was fortunate to have it. He has lots of great memories from then and I pictures.

Sorry to burst your bubble but this sounds very similar to our Title 1 DCPS experience. They just also did 10 minutes of Heggerty.

[Anonymous]

Well, I looked up my kid's actual PK3 schedule at a T1 DCPS.

8:30-9:00 Breakfast and "morning activities" whatever that is.
9-9:15: Morning Meeting
9:15-9:30: Writing or pre-writing activities like fine motor and alphabet manipulatives.
9:30-10:20: Centers/small group-- the centers were entirely free play so count as about 15 mins of academics.
10:30-11:15: Specials, which also involved some free play with specials materials such as paint. The teachers came to their classroom except for PE, so no transition.
11:15-12:15: Lunch in room, then recess out front so 5 mins transition out.
12:15-12:30: Transition back inside, do bathroom and hand-washing.
12:30-2: Rest time (nap)
2-2:15: Snack
2:15-2:20: Dance break
2:20-2:45: Math in small groups
2:45-3: Interactive Read Aloud
3-3:15: Closing routine (song, jackets and backpacks) and dismissal.

So academically... 15 mins for writing, 15 mins for morning small group, 15 mins for small group math, and then if you're counting the read-aloud as academic that's another 15. So an hour on a normal day. Less on a day with anything unusual happening. I think the truth of it is, there wasn't that much free play-- not because of a huge academic load but because a lot of time is spent on nap, lunch, recess, toileting, and transitions.

My DD didn't take naps in PK3, so she would play quietly on her cot or look at a book. I think that was a big part of why she learned to read so well. But the teacher did intervene with a few key phonics things like "qu" and "ph" sounds, which gave her reading a boost. But I'm not counting that as academic time. It was just what she wanted to do during resting time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not 10 minutes of academics. It is a couple of blocks so 1-2 hours?

Why are the adults running the show not looking at the research or understanding what is developmentally appropriate? Same with so much screen use so early in DCPS?

The big picture is that I don’t trust DCPS to know what is best for my kid. They obviously are not following best practices. I mean it doesn’t get any easier than ECE. If they don’t have best practices for this, there is little confidence IMO that they will for higher stakes in upper grades.

And the majority of parents on here at T1 schools who are actually making excuses and supporting this are not telling you is that they are playing the lottery every year for better schools. Things get worst past ECE.

Oh FFS. I very much doubt it's 1-2 hours. Maaaaaybe 1 hour, total, over a day in PK4 when-- remember-- most of the kids are 5 years old by the end.

T1 parents are not playing the lottery *because* of this. I was a T1 parent and I was 1000% fine with my kid learning letters and numbers, and I thought our T1 preschool was terrific in part because they taught some of the kids to read. I was playing the lottery for a better middle school.

No one I know that has played the lottery has done so for ECE, we have people coming in for ECE and K, it's entirely for MS and HS.

Two of six hours is just lunch/recess/nap and another hour or so is specials usually. So that assumes the spend 2/3 of the remaining time sitting at tables doing worksheets and if teachers can get four year olds to sit still for two straight hours I mean bless them I guess.

Absolutely you can. It’s never 2-3 hours straight. It’s broken into chunks.

Please provide a schedule that includes the mandated amount of time for lunch and recess, plus specials and a 90-minute nap, and all transitions, and still includes 2-3 hours of seat work. Don't forget potty breaks!

Eh, I’ll humor you.


8:20 -8:45 Breakfast + writing practice (5)

8:45-9-15 Morning meeting and read aloud/whole group lesson (20 min)
9:15-10:00 Centers and small groups
(15- 25 min per kid/ 10-15 min with each teacher). (25)

10-10:30 Recess

10:35 -11:05 - whole group math lesson (30)

11:05 - 1:50- Centers and small groups again (25)

11:50-12:20 Lunch
12:20-1:50 NAP
1:50 -2:00 Heggerty (10)
2:00-2:05Snack
2:05- 2:20 Literacy Whole Group (15)
2:20-3:05 Specials


There’s your 2+ hours. Also FYI my old school didn’t give the real schedule to parents in terms of how long small groups were and whole groups.

Bathroom is in centers. Nope no transition times except recess. And PK 4 the literacy block is 30 min longer. Yes snack was really 5 minutes.

Wow where is the play time??? Just at the centers if kids are not in a small groups. That is it?

This is horrendous.

I'm genuinely asking, have you see most DCPS PK classrooms? What other play are they doing? Our kids went on walks when it was nice and had a lot of extended recess also when it was nice, but 18 kids in a classroom is not going to allow for a ton of large active play.

If you are asking this question then you don’t realize that kids can play all day in a classroom. I’m the PP with the older kid who couldn’t read till 1st.

Our ECE classrooms had 4 centers on the periphery of the classroom and the kids would spend 40 minutes or so playing at the centers. Then they rotate to another center and play for 40 minutes. Sometimes they get to pick what centers they wanted. During this time, the teacher would walk around, observe, make some suggestions or ask questions maybe. Above was maybe 1/2 the day. So lots of times, the kids at each centers had to work together and share and play together because the teacher couldn’t be at every center every second.

They also had a few tables in the middle of the classroom with 4 chairs and a long table with lots of chairs where kids would draw, color, paint, do kinetic sand, do art. There was a reading area and kids could sit and just look and flip thru books. Then there was circle and story time.

There was also whole class fun projects like they all worked to build an aquarium (construction paper, tracing animals and coloring) when they were learning about the ocean and animals in it. They set up a broadcasting station and made cameras and mics. They interviewed kids and their thoughts about a topic and made videos for parents. They went outside to look at clouds and draw their own clouds and talked about rain. The school also had a garden so the kids did gardening and planting. One project the kids did was a family tree so we sent in pictures and the kids made a collage and then went up to do a talk and presentation about their family.

Above are just a few examples but you get the point. No one was sitting down doing worksheets or being drilled additions. There was no math or literacy block. There was no pulling kids out in small groups from centers to do what? The teacher incorporated content and letters, numbers into the projects and what they were playing with at the centers. Some centers I remember was kitchen, magnatiles, ice cream stand selling ice cream, etc…

Those 2 years was just so much fun and my kid was fortunate to have it. He has lots of great memories from then and I pictures.

Well, at our school they would be pulled out from centers to do things like math manipulatives with the teacher. Or for each kid to work on writing their own name with help. Or sometimes it was to talk about a behavioral or social development issue. And then you have all the IEP-related push-ins and pull-outs, which ideally would be worked into the centers play but that's not always feasible depending on what the service actually is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not 10 minutes of academics. It is a couple of blocks so 1-2 hours?

Why are the adults running the show not looking at the research or understanding what is developmentally appropriate? Same with so much screen use so early in DCPS?

The big picture is that I don’t trust DCPS to know what is best for my kid. They obviously are not following best practices. I mean it doesn’t get any easier than ECE. If they don’t have best practices for this, there is little confidence IMO that they will for higher stakes in upper grades.

And the majority of parents on here at T1 schools who are actually making excuses and supporting this are not telling you is that they are playing the lottery every year for better schools. Things get worst past ECE.

Oh FFS. I very much doubt it's 1-2 hours. Maaaaaybe 1 hour, total, over a day in PK4 when-- remember-- most of the kids are 5 years old by the end.

T1 parents are not playing the lottery *because* of this. I was a T1 parent and I was 1000% fine with my kid learning letters and numbers, and I thought our T1 preschool was terrific in part because they taught some of the kids to read. I was playing the lottery for a better middle school.

No one I know that has played the lottery has done so for ECE, we have people coming in for ECE and K, it's entirely for MS and HS.

Two of six hours is just lunch/recess/nap and another hour or so is specials usually. So that assumes the spend 2/3 of the remaining time sitting at tables doing worksheets and if teachers can get four year olds to sit still for two straight hours I mean bless them I guess.

Absolutely you can. It’s never 2-3 hours straight. It’s broken into chunks.

Please provide a schedule that includes the mandated amount of time for lunch and recess, plus specials and a 90-minute nap, and all transitions, and still includes 2-3 hours of seat work. Don't forget potty breaks!

Eh, I’ll humor you.


8:20 -8:45 Breakfast + writing practice (5)

8:45-9-15 Morning meeting and read aloud/whole group lesson (20 min)
9:15-10:00 Centers and small groups
(15- 25 min per kid/ 10-15 min with each teacher). (25)

10-10:30 Recess

10:35 -11:05 - whole group math lesson (30)

11:05 - 1:50- Centers and small groups again (25)

11:50-12:20 Lunch
12:20-1:50 NAP
1:50 -2:00 Heggerty (10)
2:00-2:05Snack
2:05- 2:20 Literacy Whole Group (15)
2:20-3:05 Specials


There’s your 2+ hours. Also FYI my old school didn’t give the real schedule to parents in terms of how long small groups were and whole groups.

Bathroom is in centers. Nope no transition times except recess. And PK 4 the literacy block is 30 min longer. Yes snack was really 5 minutes.

Wow where is the play time??? Just at the centers if kids are not in a small groups. That is it?

This is horrendous.

I'm genuinely asking, have you see most DCPS PK classrooms? What other play are they doing? Our kids went on walks when it was nice and had a lot of extended recess also when it was nice, but 18 kids in a classroom is not going to allow for a ton of large active play.

If you are asking this question then you don’t realize that kids can play all day in a classroom. I’m the PP with the older kid who couldn’t read till 1st.

Our ECE classrooms had 4 centers on the periphery of the classroom and the kids would spend 40 minutes or so playing at the centers. Then they rotate to another center and play for 40 minutes. Sometimes they get to pick what centers they wanted. During this time, the teacher would walk around, observe, make some suggestions or ask questions maybe. Above was maybe 1/2 the day. So lots of times, the kids at each centers had to work together and share and play together because the teacher couldn’t be at every center every second.

They also had a few tables in the middle of the classroom with 4 chairs and a long table with lots of chairs where kids would draw, color, paint, do kinetic sand, do art. There was a reading area and kids could sit and just look and flip thru books. Then there was circle and story time.

There was also whole class fun projects like they all worked to build an aquarium (construction paper, tracing animals and coloring) when they were learning about the ocean and animals in it. They set up a broadcasting station and made cameras and mics. They interviewed kids and their thoughts about a topic and made videos for parents. They went outside to look at clouds and draw their own clouds and talked about rain. The school also had a garden so the kids did gardening and planting. One project the kids did was a family tree so we sent in pictures and the kids made a collage and then went up to do a talk and presentation about their family.

Above are just a few examples but you get the point. No one was sitting down doing worksheets or being drilled additions. There was no math or literacy block. There was no pulling kids out in small groups from centers to do what? The teacher incorporated content and letters, numbers into the projects and what they were playing with at the centers. Some centers I remember was kitchen, magnatiles, ice cream stand selling ice cream, etc…

Those 2 years was just so much fun and my kid was fortunate to have it. He has lots of great memories from then and I pictures.

Sorry to burst your bubble but this sounds very similar to our Title 1 DCPS experience. They just also did 10 minutes of Heggerty.

I never said that my experience was unique. Someone asked and I gave examples of how it is easy for the day to be all play based. If you had a similar experience then good for you.

But it sounds like central is giving top down orders to DCPS teachers now about a lot of academic requirements, and I find that really sad for the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not 10 minutes of academics. It is a couple of blocks so 1-2 hours?

Why are the adults running the show not looking at the research or understanding what is developmentally appropriate? Same with so much screen use so early in DCPS?

The big picture is that I don’t trust DCPS to know what is best for my kid. They obviously are not following best practices. I mean it doesn’t get any easier than ECE. If they don’t have best practices for this, there is little confidence IMO that they will for higher stakes in upper grades.

And the majority of parents on here at T1 schools who are actually making excuses and supporting this are not telling you is that they are playing the lottery every year for better schools. Things get worst past ECE.

Oh FFS. I very much doubt it's 1-2 hours. Maaaaaybe 1 hour, total, over a day in PK4 when-- remember-- most of the kids are 5 years old by the end.

T1 parents are not playing the lottery *because* of this. I was a T1 parent and I was 1000% fine with my kid learning letters and numbers, and I thought our T1 preschool was terrific in part because they taught some of the kids to read. I was playing the lottery for a better middle school.

No one I know that has played the lottery has done so for ECE, we have people coming in for ECE and K, it's entirely for MS and HS.

Two of six hours is just lunch/recess/nap and another hour or so is specials usually. So that assumes the spend 2/3 of the remaining time sitting at tables doing worksheets and if teachers can get four year olds to sit still for two straight hours I mean bless them I guess.

Absolutely you can. It’s never 2-3 hours straight. It’s broken into chunks.

Please provide a schedule that includes the mandated amount of time for lunch and recess, plus specials and a 90-minute nap, and all transitions, and still includes 2-3 hours of seat work. Don't forget potty breaks!

Eh, I’ll humor you.


8:20 -8:45 Breakfast + writing practice (5)

8:45-9-15 Morning meeting and read aloud/whole group lesson (20 min)
9:15-10:00 Centers and small groups
(15- 25 min per kid/ 10-15 min with each teacher). (25)

10-10:30 Recess

10:35 -11:05 - whole group math lesson (30)

11:05 - 1:50- Centers and small groups again (25)

11:50-12:20 Lunch
12:20-1:50 NAP
1:50 -2:00 Heggerty (10)
2:00-2:05Snack
2:05- 2:20 Literacy Whole Group (15)
2:20-3:05 Specials


There’s your 2+ hours. Also FYI my old school didn’t give the real schedule to parents in terms of how long small groups were and whole groups.

Bathroom is in centers. Nope no transition times except recess. And PK 4 the literacy block is 30 min longer. Yes snack was really 5 minutes.

Wow where is the play time??? Just at the centers if kids are not in a small groups. That is it?

This is horrendous.

I'm genuinely asking, have you see most DCPS PK classrooms? What other play are they doing? Our kids went on walks when it was nice and had a lot of extended recess also when it was nice, but 18 kids in a classroom is not going to allow for a ton of large active play.

If you are asking this question then you don’t realize that kids can play all day in a classroom. I’m the PP with the older kid who couldn’t read till 1st.

Our ECE classrooms had 4 centers on the periphery of the classroom and the kids would spend 40 minutes or so playing at the centers. Then they rotate to another center and play for 40 minutes. Sometimes they get to pick what centers they wanted. During this time, the teacher would walk around, observe, make some suggestions or ask questions maybe. Above was maybe 1/2 the day. So lots of times, the kids at each centers had to work together and share and play together because the teacher couldn’t be at every center every second.

They also had a few tables in the middle of the classroom with 4 chairs and a long table with lots of chairs where kids would draw, color, paint, do kinetic sand, do art. There was a reading area and kids could sit and just look and flip thru books. Then there was circle and story time.

There was also whole class fun projects like they all worked to build an aquarium (construction paper, tracing animals and coloring) when they were learning about the ocean and animals in it. They set up a broadcasting station and made cameras and mics. They interviewed kids and their thoughts about a topic and made videos for parents. They went outside to look at clouds and draw their own clouds and talked about rain. The school also had a garden so the kids did gardening and planting. One project the kids did was a family tree so we sent in pictures and the kids made a collage and then went up to do a talk and presentation about their family.

Above are just a few examples but you get the point. No one was sitting down doing worksheets or being drilled additions. There was no math or literacy block. There was no pulling kids out in small groups from centers to do what? The teacher incorporated content and letters, numbers into the projects and what they were playing with at the centers. Some centers I remember was kitchen, magnatiles, ice cream stand selling ice cream, etc…

Those 2 years was just so much fun and my kid was fortunate to have it. He has lots of great memories from then and I pictures.

Sorry to burst your bubble but this sounds very similar to our Title 1 DCPS experience. They just also did 10 minutes of Heggerty.

I never said that my experience was unique. Someone asked and I gave examples of how it is easy for the day to be all play based. If you had a similar experience then good for you.

But it sounds like central is giving top down orders to DCPS teachers now about a lot of academic requirements, and I find that really sad for the kids.

Does this school you’re describing still function this way today? Curious if trending differently. Also wish people would name schools but I get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not 10 minutes of academics. It is a couple of blocks so 1-2 hours?

Why are the adults running the show not looking at the research or understanding what is developmentally appropriate? Same with so much screen use so early in DCPS?

The big picture is that I don’t trust DCPS to know what is best for my kid. They obviously are not following best practices. I mean it doesn’t get any easier than ECE. If they don’t have best practices for this, there is little confidence IMO that they will for higher stakes in upper grades.

And the majority of parents on here at T1 schools who are actually making excuses and supporting this are not telling you is that they are playing the lottery every year for better schools. Things get worst past ECE.

Oh FFS. I very much doubt it's 1-2 hours. Maaaaaybe 1 hour, total, over a day in PK4 when-- remember-- most of the kids are 5 years old by the end.

T1 parents are not playing the lottery *because* of this. I was a T1 parent and I was 1000% fine with my kid learning letters and numbers, and I thought our T1 preschool was terrific in part because they taught some of the kids to read. I was playing the lottery for a better middle school.

No one I know that has played the lottery has done so for ECE, we have people coming in for ECE and K, it's entirely for MS and HS.

Two of six hours is just lunch/recess/nap and another hour or so is specials usually. So that assumes the spend 2/3 of the remaining time sitting at tables doing worksheets and if teachers can get four year olds to sit still for two straight hours I mean bless them I guess.

Absolutely you can. It’s never 2-3 hours straight. It’s broken into chunks.

Please provide a schedule that includes the mandated amount of time for lunch and recess, plus specials and a 90-minute nap, and all transitions, and still includes 2-3 hours of seat work. Don't forget potty breaks!

Eh, I’ll humor you.


8:20 -8:45 Breakfast + writing practice (5)

8:45-9-15 Morning meeting and read aloud/whole group lesson (20 min)
9:15-10:00 Centers and small groups
(15- 25 min per kid/ 10-15 min with each teacher). (25)

10-10:30 Recess

10:35 -11:05 - whole group math lesson (30)

11:05 - 1:50- Centers and small groups again (25)

11:50-12:20 Lunch
12:20-1:50 NAP
1:50 -2:00 Heggerty (10)
2:00-2:05Snack
2:05- 2:20 Literacy Whole Group (15)
2:20-3:05 Specials


There’s your 2+ hours. Also FYI my old school didn’t give the real schedule to parents in terms of how long small groups were and whole groups.

Bathroom is in centers. Nope no transition times except recess. And PK 4 the literacy block is 30 min longer. Yes snack was really 5 minutes.

Wow where is the play time??? Just at the centers if kids are not in a small groups. That is it?

This is horrendous.

I'm genuinely asking, have you see most DCPS PK classrooms? What other play are they doing? Our kids went on walks when it was nice and had a lot of extended recess also when it was nice, but 18 kids in a classroom is not going to allow for a ton of large active play.

If you are asking this question then you don’t realize that kids can play all day in a classroom. I’m the PP with the older kid who couldn’t read till 1st.

Our ECE classrooms had 4 centers on the periphery of the classroom and the kids would spend 40 minutes or so playing at the centers. Then they rotate to another center and play for 40 minutes. Sometimes they get to pick what centers they wanted. During this time, the teacher would walk around, observe, make some suggestions or ask questions maybe. Above was maybe 1/2 the day. So lots of times, the kids at each centers had to work together and share and play together because the teacher couldn’t be at every center every second.

They also had a few tables in the middle of the classroom with 4 chairs and a long table with lots of chairs where kids would draw, color, paint, do kinetic sand, do art. There was a reading area and kids could sit and just look and flip thru books. Then there was circle and story time.

There was also whole class fun projects like they all worked to build an aquarium (construction paper, tracing animals and coloring) when they were learning about the ocean and animals in it. They set up a broadcasting station and made cameras and mics. They interviewed kids and their thoughts about a topic and made videos for parents. They went outside to look at clouds and draw their own clouds and talked about rain. The school also had a garden so the kids did gardening and planting. One project the kids did was a family tree so we sent in pictures and the kids made a collage and then went up to do a talk and presentation about their family.

Above are just a few examples but you get the point. No one was sitting down doing worksheets or being drilled additions. There was no math or literacy block. There was no pulling kids out in small groups from centers to do what? The teacher incorporated content and letters, numbers into the projects and what they were playing with at the centers. Some centers I remember was kitchen, magnatiles, ice cream stand selling ice cream, etc…

Those 2 years was just so much fun and my kid was fortunate to have it. He has lots of great memories from then and I pictures.

I'm the PP and that's our T1 experience. The person I respond to said it's terrible there was no play but centers. What you're describing are centers.