I am taking an online course and was SHOCKED to read that other teachers (kindergarten) have TV time built in their schedule...two 30 minute sessions! They see it as "giving the children a break from the school day." REALLY!? That's how I view singing/dancing and my other "fun" stuff! I can't imagine having "free time". I spend every minute teaching! If I have a free minute we are doing art, clay, watercolor, cut/paste, etc.! Not to mention my principal would flip! I usually show a PBS show once a year...when I have to complete progress reports/permanent records...and only for 30 minutes!!! So the question is, am I in the minority? Do you watch TV?! I'd be a little upset if my son came home and said he watched TV in school in KINDERGARTEN! I'm not talking about watching a movie after you have read the book, or taking notes while watching a documentary...I'm talking about everyday TV! That is insane! Okay...I'm stepping off my soapbox now...
We never watch TV in my class. Well, my class had a sub on the day of the royal wedding and I think the sub had them watch that. Every once in while we will watch stories that have been animated (not movies but the little short ones), science shows, or the reading rainbow show; but always recordings. Every once in a while we will watch a movie with our buddy class at the end of the year. I would never have the time to do a 30 minute break like that. My breaks are active play times, curriculum based games, free art, singing, calm down time, allowing them to choose what to do, and reading stories.
That is pretty ridiculous, especially given the insane amount of tv most kids already watch at home. The culture has changed so much just within the 15-20 years since I was a kid! When I was little, all the neighborhood kids would meet outside after school and play things like kickball, softball, ride bikes, etc. There were maybe 2-3 shows a week that I watched with my family. Now they all run off to their video games and tv shows all night! Anyway, yeah I can't believe that. I've been in many different schools and I've never seen the kids just watching normal tv unless it was a special day or lunch time prize or something. Our kinder classes definitely do NOT have "free time"- and they are even full day (I know some programs out there are still half day). If for some reason they did have extra time, they'd be doing a fun project or playing outside.
I've never heard of that either. We don't even have time for recess anymore with all the standards we have to cover-I can't imagine tv time. We don't even have televisions that we would have access to.
Could it be that those sessions are the equivalent of "indoor recess" when it's too cold or rainy and the gym is being used? Playing outside is great, but last winter we had several snowstorms, each bringing well over a foot of snow. And last week, temps hovered around 100-- too hot to allow kids out. I don't teach elementary, so I have no idea. And my kids don't watch TV in school (though I think it's a pretty fine line between that and the movies they WILL watch during the last few days of school... don't even get me started on that.) But I can see how it might provide an alternative plan for recess if the weather prevents the kids from going out-- one teacher could watch a lot of kids while they had that 30 minute downtime.
Perhaps they use it as either indoor recess or "nap"/quiet time. But even that would be a far stretch. No, I don't have time for all of that with what the curriculum wants us to cover nor do I think it is appropriate. I do, however, show short animated clips, etc. as part of my teaching. I think we should involve the digital age stuff but not just as a means of free time. Certainly nobody at my school does it.
Just because it's not mandatory doesn't mean we should tolerate anything but best practices from professionals. When I taught K, they watched 15 minutes of a PBS show as they arrived at school. All of the K students met in one room and there were just too many kids in there to have them do anything else.
I agree MissCelia, but who knows what the "curriculum" shows for those areas. It's the same with Pre-K. Some places use best practice and others view it as extended daycare (which is a shame unless it is daycare). In an academic setting, it would shock me. Otherwise I wouldn't be that surprised. Didn't say it was appropriate.
I remember when I was in K, we watched tv maybe twice the entire time. K was mostly about learning the basics to prepare me and the others for first grade. K is a pretty important time period in a childs growth. I think it is best spent learning ABC's, letters, basic sounds, numbers and basic math. I'm sure their is more to it but Ive never taught a K class. Surely though it would be fairly hard.
my sixth dressers get to watch tv exactly 3 times throughout the year (other than a few select videos we watch on educational topics). When we have holiday meals, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the celebrate spring cook out, we all bring our trays to the room and eat together. I let them turn on the tv while we eat. This years class was really into old black and white sitcoms. It was fun! But during class-that would be a huge no no. ETA: I forgot, we also turned on the tv to country music videos on the last day while we were packing up our desks. We needed motivation!
When I taught K, students watched the video that went with our reading program every day - it was a few minutes long but if we wanted to review it would take longer. I also used the Scholastic videos of books after we studied the stories. My team used some videos to introduce our themes or to reinforce ideas about the themes.
Sounds crazy to me! I have a tv with cable in my room and the only time I've ever used it is very rarely during indoor recess (we usually watch a rated G DVD via the computer/smart board big screen, but sometimes a movie isn't available) or to watch the news/weather occasionally before the kids arrive. I really don't even know why we have them in our classrooms?
That's crazy...My school has a subscription to Scholastic Bookflix, which is a website that has animated stories, and it also shows the words on the bottom. We use it for Listen to Reading time, but I also use it during my quiet time, as well. The kids lay on beach towels for about 15 minutes, and I put a Bookflix book on the Smartboard for about 7 minutes of that time. I guess that's the closest I come to "watching TV." My kids do get 30 minutes of free time at the end of each day. The learning that takes place during that time is truly incredible.
We aren't allowed to have t.v.'s in our Preschool programs. The parents spend big bucks to be in our program and we feel that t.v. has no place.
The ONLY time we've ever watched TV is during the Presidential Inaugration (sp). My kids earn Friday Movie Club during naptime on Friday. I don't use educational time for it. I do it with a co-teacher, those children who have earned it get to go & those who did not take nap. Other then that, it's all educational videos.
I should start with a disclaimer that I'm not 100% certain on this but I believe our K watches 30 minutes of TV a day as well. From what I've heard, it's Sesame Street or an equivalent (Bearenstain Bears, Thomas, etc.). This takes place during nap time. The TV is on in one corner of the class and if students choose not to take a nap, they may watch TV. I'm not sure what my opinion is since a.) I don't have children and b.) I teach far enough from K that I don't notice deficiencies in their K understandings.
