Anonymous
Post 08/06/2018 14:05     Subject: How much unstructured play time does your MCPS kindergartner have during the school day?
Anonymous wrote:We're in MoCo (districted to Rachel Carson, so closely watching the whole elementary school study set for this year, since that school is so overcrowded) with one daughter. She is still a few years away from kindergarten, but I wanted to get a sense of what kindergarten is like in MCPS. I've heard all sorts of horror stories about how "kindergarten is the new 1st grade" and "the kids have tons of HW and no play time." Obviously, play time is so critical for young kids' development, so that concerns me.

So for current/recent parents of kindergartners in MCPS: does your child have HW? if so, how much? how much does MCPS try to incorporate unstructured play time into the day (to the extent you can with a full classroom of kids)?

Thanks!


Helicopter mom - you just said she is years away from this, but yet you are already concerned. Just chill out and enjoy toddler and preschool years. MCPS will suck just as much then than now.
Anonymous
Post 08/05/2018 15:39     Subject: How much unstructured play time does your MCPS kindergartner have during the school day?
30 min recsss
15 min snack break in classroom where they were allowed to chat with friends
1 extra 30 min recess or free choice time on Friday’s
Reading rotations was 90 min but the teacher did a good job with some fun and more social rotation choices
There was no required homework

It’s definitely more academic focused than I would have liked but my child absolutely loved kindergarten.

This is in Bethesda..
Anonymous
Post 08/05/2018 15:27     Subject: How much unstructured play time does your MCPS kindergartner have during the school day?
He loved the bus stop and bus ride to school, so 8:30-9am was fun time. The school day is 9-3:25 and there really wasn’t much time for old fashioned play. Recess was 40 minutes. He loved the specials, especially PE. Then there are assemblies, school events like the run, Halloween and Valentine parties, fun art projects, gardening, etc. it’s realy not work/work/work. No homework.

He attended aftercare, so he had unstructured play after school until he got picked up around 5:30.

In sum, I really did not find K to be too hard on my kid.
Anonymous
Post 08/05/2018 13:20     Subject: How much unstructured play time does your MCPS kindergartner have during the school day?
Anonymous wrote:In my kid’s K class, there were no centers where the kids got to choose what to do like there were in PK. So it’s not like there were blocks, dramatic play, etc and the kids were able to go in and out.

There were stations that the teacher assigned so that kids were in different groups. There was no choice in the stations (kids could not wander in and out; they were assigned). The stations were academic-oriented. So not dramatic play and blocks. Instead, the stations involved some type of worksheet or a things like making letters out of play doh (my Kindergarter’s favorite). So could be “fun,” but always structured and with an academic focus.

When others say there was centers time, so you mean the unstructured centers common in PK programs? If so I’m surprised. That does not happen at all in our school at all, and when I asked the teacher she said that was not a part of the curriculum. (We are in a non-focus, non-title 1 school.)

They did do Go Noodle a few times away during transitions. That was basically the only non-academic part of the day (outside of lunch, recess, and specials).


PP here who described academic centers in her son's classroom. The centers were structured. Some were explicitly fun, like blocks during math. Some were fun learning activities, like dice games that involved adding two dice together (most students accomplished this by counting all of the dots on the dice). It really was a nice balance for my child.