Reply to "No" playtime in MoCo K's?

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Reply to ""No" playtime in MoCo K's?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We're in another school district and have free play indoors for about 20 minutes a day and also have two short recess periods. I think all DC schools have this as well through their Tools of the Mind program. The reason this time is needed in K is because a lot of these children don't know each other and [/b]need to learn to work together and get along[b].  One on one playdates aren't the same thing. Also, these materials are a way of learning by doing. Sometimes my child would build something with legos based on a lesson that morning. [/b]They also learned to negotiate with each other, share, learn new activities, and win/lose at games with each other[b]. We had kids reading at a 2nd grade level too, so I didn't feel like the academics was lost.[/quote]

THIS!!  This is what is lacking in children's experience these days.  They can't get it at home w solo or 1-on-1 play dates, and they can't get it in structured adult or coach-led sports and activities.  It's where their minds do some of their most advanced work, creating, decision making, negotiating, planning.  Executive function and self-regulation are fostered through this type of play. This is one of the primary reasons most child development experts bemoan the loss of free play, recess, and lack of after school large group (neighborhood- wide, not 1-on- 1 play date) activities where kids make the rules, not directed and coached by adults.  The academics are great and fine, but not at the expense of this.  Elementaries in the Far East nations often have more hours of school, but not more hours of academics per day - they use that extra time for these essential activities during the school day.[/quote]

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