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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=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. 
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I have children at RCES. Our new principal seems very nice and I have definitely noticed that a number of new policies have been implemented this year to improve things from school employees’ perspectives. That seems to be the difference between our new principal and the previous one; he was primarily interested in the kids, while she seems to be making a genuine effort to boost employee morale. The only change that seems to benefit the kids was that homework was modestly reduced for lower grades this year. Otherwise, the changes all seem to benefit staff rather than students  - but don’t take that the wrong way because nothing adversarial has happened. I certainly don’t blame the principal for trying to win over the staff first, before making changes that will really affect the kids. It’s a smart strategy.

Back to the OP’s question...there is very little unstructured play time. Last year there was a new initiative at RCES to have each home room teacher give her class extra unstructured free play time on the one day a week that the class had no specials. The idea was to give teachers and students a chance to see each other in a new light in a relaxed setting and get to know each other better. I was a fan because there is so little of that. I’m realizing that I haven’t heard anything about it this year, so maybe they’ve discontinued it? I think kindergarteners have more free play than any other grade because they still have centers. Today’s kindergarten is what first grade was 30 years ago. First grade is now actually quite rigorous. I wouldn’t say that kids have tons of homework, but yes, they will have some, even in K. Recess and lunch are each 35 minutes for all grades. RCES may become much less overcrowded. While there are 7 classes per grade for 2nd - 5th, this year, for the first time in years,  there are only 6 classes per grade for K and 1st.[/quote]

Thanks, that's super helpful! Do you know why the number of classes went down for K and 1st? Is it a peculiarity of this year's kids, or something structural? My understanding is that we're still several years away from splitting some of the kids off to go to Dufief. [/quote]

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