Good point Lori- In our district even the schools where they stayed half day feed the Ks a brunch and lunch. They eat lunch right before or after school. Since the length of the day must be a unified decision by all teachers at that school, in our district we have 3 out of 10 schools full day, 3 on extended day, and 4 half day. By the way, the data shows the students of all day kinder to have more growth. I say growth because our 2 "white schools" are on half day and often have better "scores", but not as much growth. Am I making sense?
On another note... At the school I worked at for 12 years, the primary teachers wanted more teaching time so they shortened the 20 minute last recess to 10 minutes -it came 55 minutes after lunch (which had a 20 minute recess too) and 1 hour before going home. We did this for 6 years. Then comes a new principal who didn't like our daily schedule and changes all of it. She found the extra 10 minutes and said we couldn't do it -we were out of compliance. We offered to sign a waiver but she says to us (after a supposed trip to the district office) the only way we could do that was if all schools agreed to do it. I STILL DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY SHE WAS SO STRONGLY AGAINST EXTRA TEACHING TIME. She took the extra time away and chopped up our day so horribly. We had an 1 hour 20 minute session and a 2 hour session (20 minute recess in between) then the 2 one hour sessions after lunch. She chopped the day into 1 hour, 45 minute, or 30 minute sessions. She was trying to fit the schedule to the Houghton Mifflin reading series and the California ELL mandate of 30 minutes a day. It was a miserable year. I was a coach and left the end of that year to coach in a much more pleasant place. The bad news is, this woman got her doctorate (after 1 more year at the school) and was promoted to the district office and is now in charge of assessment. We are now mandated to use her HM pacing guide and take the HM summative tests on computer each quarter. I of course, do my own thing... I could care less how my students do on those tests, except they do tell me what skills they still need help on (as if I didn't know). The tests take 2 hours minimum to take as there are 3 subtests. She has been talking dibles, but many are voiced against it. She almost had the superintendent convinced, but then the budget crunch hit. They put all coaches back in the classroom, and there were a few smart principals who said no coaches, no dibels either. Jan (who is sorry this was so long, but still harbors feelings I guess) Unless we reach into our students¹ hearts, we have no entry into their minds. -Regie Routman On 2/21/09 7:22 PM, "ljackson" <[email protected]> wrote: > Another important advantage it offers to the disadvantaged--a guarantee of two > meals a day. Take nothing for granted. > > > > Lori Jackson > District Literacy Coach and Mentor > Todd County School District > Box 87 > Mission SD 5755 >> In a message dated 2/21/2009 3:05:26 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, >> [email protected] writes: >> >> But what I wanted to say is, the difference I see between my half day and >> all day experiences is that the pressure is off. I felt that I had to cram >> in >> everything the all day K students were getting in a half day before. >> Now we all feel much more relaxed and it is reflected in their behavior and >> their learning. I hope that doesn't result in more curriculum being pushed >> down. But for now, even with 28, things are good. >> >> Nancy _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
