Hermosa Beach kindergartners had a long day today, and they’ll have more long days next year.
This year’s pilot program at Hermosa View School — which extended kindergarten’s old half-day to about six hours, complete with lunch and recesses – is being met with parental praise. And almost all the parents of 123 kids signed up for next year’s kindergarten classes want the longer school days.
About two thirds of the nation’s kindergartners are putting in longer hours, and California schools are increasingly extending the traditional kindergarten day as well.
Chief reasons for the change, and its popularity with parents, are twofold: increased enrollment in preschools has made 5-year-olds more prepared for kindergarten, and the old, shorter day leaves just enough time to teach a state-mandated curriculum, leaving little time for the social and emotional development of the students.
Kids in the pilot program “have additional opportunities to develop socially with their peers and other students on campus,” said View Principal Sylvia Gluck. “The half-day program allows for students to have one snack-nutrition [break], and the students do not interact with other first or second grade students on campus during non-instructional minutes, whereas students in the [extended day] program have more opportunities for social development with a morning recess, lunch, and afternoon recess.”
The extended-day kindergartners also have time for extracurricular lunchtime activities such as a social “Friendship Circle,” and for participation in social-skill groups taught by school counselors, Gluck said.
“The longer day allows more opportunities for instructors to teach academic content in a pace that is not limited to time constraints,” she said. “The extra minutes within the academic school day allow teachers the opportunity to re-teach lessons or enrich lessons as needed, because more time is available throughout the day.”
The longer day also allows teachers to better get to know each child, and gives harried parents a little extra childcare.
The ongoing pilot program, consisting of six extended-day classes, is well received by parents, Gluck said.
“They are pleased that students have the option to attend school a full day with their siblings, and have additional minutes to be exposed to the kindergarten curriculum,” she said.
“Students are becoming more independent both socially and academically as a result of the full day program. Both programs continue to be based on California content standards, but students in the full-day program have more opportunity to delve deeper into the standards, and more time for social interactions with other students.”
Gluck pointed out that parents of next year’s kindergartners “have overwhelmingly requested that the school district continue with a full-day program.”
Alan Rasmussen, interim superintendent of the Hermosa Beach City School District, said the pilot program’s day will be cut about 20 minutes for next year, when extended-day kindergartners come at 8:15 a.m. and leave at 2 p.m.
“The input we got is that the day could be a little long for the kids,” he said.
Many preschoolers have four-hour schooldays, and some kids have had two years of preschool by the time they hit kindergarten.
District officials are watching next year’s kindergarten enrollment, and have yet to figure out what to do with a fast-shrinking demand for shorter kindergarten. Earlier this month, when 114 kindergartners had been signed up for next year, the parents of only four kids were seeking half-day classes, and the parents of one other kid were undecided, according to a report by district officials.
