Up until about 10 years ago, my district had a half-day kinder program only (I attended PM kinder as a student). For the past decade, we've had a full-day kinder program at all sites. What does kinder look like in your districts?
At my school kinder gets out 1 hour before other grades, except for Wednesdays when all grades get out at the same time.
Kindergarten here is a two-year program (Junior Kindergarten and Senior Kindergarten) and it has historically been a half-time program (either half day or full-day on alternate days). A few years ago, the program slowly transitioned to a full time program and by the end of the 2014-2015 school year all kindy programs were full time.
We have half-day kindergarten but will be moving to all day in two to three years. Right now we don't have the extra classroom space, so plans are being made to add rooms at each elementary building.
It's been full day for at least the 16 years I've been in my district. I taught full day in Catholic schools before this district. I can tell you the curriculum is more 'rigorous' than it was and the standards wouldn't be met in an appropriate way a half day setting. There's definitely no naps!
We have full day kindergarten and have for the 16 years I've worked here. We have a full day 4 year-old program and a bit-more-than-half-day 3 year-old program.
I went mornings when I was in school a long time ago! My neighbor I watched did whole days Monday & Wednesdays then half day Fridays that was 20yrs ago. Now they do whole day everyday.
Full day kindergarten for my district. I student taught elsewhere and it was half day. AM was for transitional kindergartens and students with essentially no prior schooling, PM was for students who completed TK the previous year or tested highly the fist few weeks. When I was in school, pre-k was AM/PM and kindergarten was full day. But my school offered pre-k on campus, I know others did not.
We have full day K and we have had it for as long as I can remember (going to show my age here but I started K in 1976 and it was full day back then). I am not sure when Pre-K started in my state but it is full day as well.
It's been full day Kindergarten since probably before I attended almost 30 years ago. We have full day pre-k as well although that initiative is slightly more recent (2 years) citywide. Although we did have full and half day pre-k about 10 years ago if schools had the space.
My district has been full day kindergarten since at least the late 70s when my older brothers went to K. Our district run Pre-K classes are also full day. I don't what I would if do if we all of a sudden went to half day. I already feel like there is not enough time n the day to teach the required skills in the 7 1/2 hours we have now.
We have half day, although I think it's actually more hours than half a day. Maybe more accurately it's partial day. We're doing a new schedule this year where the kinder teachers have 12 kids in the morning and 12 in the afternoon, with all 24 overlapping in the middle of the day. I really couldn't tell you the hours...I think maybe they're in school for 4.5 - 5 hours total (including lunch and two recesses)? So it's not really a true "half day." We have a separate TK class (you're in CA, so I know I don't need to explain that ) that ran 10:30-3:00 last year, and I think it's about the same this year. Wow, we don't even have 7 1/2 hours in the upper grades! Our school day is 8:30-3:00.
First few weeks of kinder are tough for all parties (teachers, students, and parents). The kiddos are in school from 7:40-2:10 and it's a long day for them. Everyone gets used to it after the first few weeks, though.
I counted the hours incorrectly. It's actually 7 hours for the kids, but still a long time. We have extra time built into our day so if there are snow days we don't have to make them up. It rounds out to about 5 snow days per school year that don't need to be made up.
It varies in my area. I live right where two districts meet and I worked in a third district. In my previous district, kinders attended a half day every other day. And the district just couldn't figure out why students were starting first grade without the necessary skills. Hard to get them ready for first when they are only attending kindergarten two or three half days a week. In my new district, kinders attend a half day every day, with full day tuition kindergarten an option. This is also how the neighboring "best" district has it set up.
I must say, I'm often a little wary of full-day kindergarten and preschool. Is that much structure and academic focus good for them? Or is sufficient playtime included in these schedules? Only at my school the full-day kindergarten is recommended only to the extreme poverty kids that otherwise would have no interaction.
