There have been questions raised about the amount of time kindergarten students are scheduled for reading and language instruction. Bancroft-Rosalie kindergarten students are scheduled for 120 minutes of uninterrupted reading and language instruction. Parents of two kindergarten students spoke to the school board last Monday expressing concerns about this schedule.
School board members said that from what the parents told them, they believed that the students are required to sit straight in a chair with their feet on the floor for the entire two hours without any opportunity to move or interact with others and that this has led to students not liking school. I have looked in on the classroom on several occasions and had never personally seen anything like this happening. To be on the safe side, I spent Tuesday morning in the kindergarten room for the entire reading block. I brought along my stopwatch and timed each of the three reading groups. I have become skilled at the use of a stopwatch after years of timing forty yard dashes, although some athlete’s claim that their 5.1 time is really is a 4.9, but I believe my results to be accurate.
I found the kindergarten class to be just as I expected. The classroom was filled with students actively engaged in learning. Mrs. Slaughter did an excellent job teaching reading skills, Mrs. Headlee and Mrs. Polenske (Mrs. Knuppel was gone that day) worked with the students on language skills, and students were taught using a variety of instructional techniques. Students moved from chairs to tables and from group to group smoothly. Students were focused and attentive, some needed an occasional reminder. They looked happy and eager for me to see what they could do. One girl gave hugs to each para at the end of the lesson. Each group demonstrated good behavior, so they received a treat before they moved to the next instructor.
The students were divided into three groups based on their current reading/language skills. Mrs. Slaughter had each group for 35 minutes of reading instruction. The first group spent 17 minutes in chairs receiving direct reading instruction from Mrs. Slaughter, 5 minutes practicing reading a sentence together (Wednesday’s sentence for one group was “he had a hut”), and then moved to their tables where they spent 14 minutes on independent work, like drawing a line between the two words that are the same.
The second group also had 17 minutes of direct reading instruction, spent 14 minutes doing their workbooks (this group was further along in the program), and 5 minutes at the tables doing independent work. The 35 minutes was up before this group completed the independent work.
The third group had 22 minutes of direct reading instruction, 7 minutes reading together, and 4 minutes for independent work. They also did not finish.
When they are not with Mrs. Slaughter, the groups are with one of the para-educators working on language skills. Approximately 20-25 minutes they are in chairs with the para’s directing instruction and for 10-15 minutes they are doing independent work, which involved some coloring (which is really an art activity, not reading). At the end of each lesson, the students listen to the para read a short story tied to what they learned.
I checked Mrs. Slaughter data and found that the language groups are each completing one lesson a day. The reading groups are averaging about 8 lessons per week. The goal is to have all three of Mrs. Slaughter’s reading groups through kindergarten reading (160 lessons) by the end of the year.
So I have to ask myself, where could we cut 30 minutes without hurting reading instruction? The teacher spent 17-22 minutes with each group on direct reading instruction. I don’t see cutting that. Should we eliminate the independent work? Or should they take it home or do it at another time in the day? When we had the 90 minute block, Reading First did not allow any independent work during the 90 minutes so all independent work occurred outside the 90 minutes. That is how most schools with 90 minute reading blocks handle it.
What about cutting computer time? The students spend 25 minutes each day on computer activities. Could they do their independent work during that time?
At this point, I am pleased with the reading and language instruction in kindergarten and I do not anticipate making any changes, although I will continue monitoring the class data each week. Last year, 15 of our first graders were taught using the same 120 minute reading block schedule. I encourage parents of kindergarten students, or any parents for that matter, to personally talk with me if you have concerns about the education of your child.
