Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve had a great experience in DCPS PK. Maybe we just lucked out but our teachers have been phenomenal. Our child was at a Montessori-based daycare before DCPS and we liked it but in retrospect it was MORE rigid than our DCPS PK.

And ours is definitely at least partially play based. Yes they have specials but the kids just think it’s fun— they play games in gym, make art, sing songs in Spanish, sing songs and play instruments in music. I have not found the math and literacy stuff to be too much— they spend 20-30 minutes a day in small groups where they work on stuff like letter writing or basic math skills. But I think our Montessori does something similar with their 4 yr olds too, so that they will be on a similar level with other kids in K.

The rest of the day is play, either structured or free play. They go outside 2-3x a day depending on weather (very similar to daycare). They do neighborhood walks, hang out in the school garden, do free play in the playground, which is nicer and bigger than our daycare playground.

I guess it depends on your daycare experience, but DCPS has been a step up for us. And we liked out daycare. But I’ve been very impressed with the caliber of the teachers and aids and the curriculum is largely play-based. And perhaps most importantly, my DD prefers it. She liked her Montessori well enough, but she’s really flourished in PK.

Zero regrets.

Can i ask what school this is? Well I can ask, you do not have to tell me obviously, haha. I am curious bc we just submitted our Pre-K3 application and I am wondering if it was one of our schools