Anonymous wrote:Social emotional learning?!??! That has Dr. Starr written all over it.

Don't get me wrong, I think SE learning is important but I'm not at all sure that MCPS is where I want my kids to get it

Um, if you read my post... it's extra recess. They go to the playground and play. It was explained to us at orientation that because they get back from lunch and recess at noon, and have specials in the morning, it's a long afternoon for the students. I'm guessing calling it "SE learning" was the pretext for justifying the kids having some extra runaround time, which as I said, I wholeheartedly support. The teachers did say the counselor does lessons a few times a quarter about positive play, making friends, etc that the students could "practice" during SE time. But yeah, they're running around, playing, burning energy... alt the stuff five-year-olds should be doing.

Social emotional learning?!??! That has Dr. Starr written all over it.

Don't get me wrong, I think SE learning is important but I'm not at all sure that MCPS is where I want my kids to get it

My DD's K class in MCPS has 45 minutes of PE a week, 30 minutes of recess daily and 20 minutes of "social-emotional learning" on a smaller playground in the afternoon, weather permitting (I whole-heartedly support it, but they were careful not to call it "extra recess"). The 20 minutes block is new this year.

Anonymous wrote:DS started at a private K this week. Academics and most everything seem great ... except they have only taken the kids outside about 20 mins per day, including the aftercare program that goes from about 3:30-6:00. They say they follow MCPS curriculum so I am wondering if MCPS has a requirement for physical education -- number of hours per week? Any guidelines on this? My kid is there from about 9-6 every day and 20 mins seems like nothing but maybe this is typical for K. ???

I'd politely raise a ruckus about this if I were you. I think being outside and physical activity is, if anything, more important than "academics". In many European countries they don't even try to teach the kids much reading and math etc til 7.
Get them outside! Let them run around. Let them create games with their own rules. Give them play equipment that challenges them physically. (OP, I know you probably want that already. I'm just encouraging you to keep pushing it. Any changes in that direction will benefit all of us.)

Do they have good outdoor facilities?

My son's aftercare doesn't go out til about 4;45. They only have one teacher, so she keeps them all inside or all outside. I don't know if there is much you could do about the school day curriculum, but I would probably ask about aftercare and see if they have any flexibility there.

MCPS K and all other classes get 30 minutes of outdoor recess time a day and PE class once a week. Not sure about aftercare.

DS started at a private K this week. Academics and most everything seem great ... except they have only taken the kids outside about 20 mins per day, including the aftercare program that goes from about 3:30-6:00. They say they follow MCPS curriculum so I am wondering if MCPS has a requirement for physical education -- number of hours per week? Any guidelines on this? My kid is there from about 9-6 every day and 20 mins seems like nothing but maybe this is typical for K. ???