GILROY
– Naptime isn’t included in the busy schedule of Gilroy
kindergartners.
Although many of their parents likely recall the customary
class-time doze, young students today don’t have time for such a
luxury.
GILROY – Naptime isn’t included in the busy schedule of Gilroy kindergartners.
Although many of their parents likely recall the customary class-time doze, young students today don’t have time for such a luxury.
Instead, kindergarten teachers and students are intensely focused on reading, language arts and math – all packed into a half-day program.
Feeling like they were missing out on valuable learning time, five Rod Kelley Elementary School teachers decided to test out a full-day program next year. The extra two-and-a-half hours of class time is expected to give kindergartners a leg up in core subjects and even allow time for activities like science and art, which currently are omitted. But students still won’t get a nap.
“I think this time allows you to really go in depth into the curriculum and to really cover all areas,” said Julie Barros, one of the teachers. “So, it kind of gives you the time to apply the isolated skills they’re learning.”
Claudia Diaz, Judy Jones, Ruben Martinez and Carrie Pray are the four other teachers who each will take on a full-day class of 20 students. Currently, the half-day classes overlap, so the five teachers plan to rely heavily on each other next year.
“Being pressed for time in a half day is tough on teachers, and kids especially,” Principal Luis Carrillo said, “so this is another way to make up some of that time.”
The teachers said they’ve been thinking about a full-day program for a while, researching other districts that use it and digging up articles on its numerous benefits, including higher levels of social development, language skills and academic achievement, particularly in low-income students.
“It all depends what you do with that time,” Diaz said. “It will definitely give it a more relaxed atmosphere because then you can really take your time and be able to do more in-depth, than rushed like we feel now.”
“They’ve been bugging me about this for a couple years now, probably three years,” Carrillo said. “They were the ones who pushed it and I support it: Obviously, the longer our kids are in school, the better they’re going to do.”
Currently, all Gilroy Unified School District kindergartens operate on a half-day schedule, with the exception of Las Animas, which has a full-day program for students in English/Spanish dual immersion.
More class time is another way of approaching the differences in kindergartner’s skills when they enter the classroom, whether they have been through two years of preschool or none at all, the teachers said.
“No matter where the students are, we need to differentiate the instruction, ensure the curriculum is accessible to all of them,” Diaz said.
The Rod Kelley teachers’ plan to improve kindergartners’ performance comes at a time when the district already is seeing a solid – and, for some, surprising – boost in the young students’ writing scores. Yes, writing scores.
Three years ago, kindergartners’ writing was not being assessed because the districtwide test was only given to third- through eighth-graders.
“When I came to the district, we looked at it and thought what we really need to do is have it from kindergarten on up,” said Jacki Horejs, assistant superintendent of educational services. “When we first instituted it, there were actually teachers who were opposed to it, saying, ‘We’re expecting too much’… . What we found out was, with the hard work of teachers and some staff development, the writing is actually much better than we ever anticipated.”
At the end of the year, kindergartners are expected to be able to write a complete sentence. Barros said she personally has seen the improvement.
“We haven’t seen our scores from this year, but just even last year from the previous year, we have seen an improvement in the writing itself,” she said.
Horejs said she “absolutely” expects the full-day kindergarten will be successful in continuing that improvement.
“We really feel that the longer the students have in instructional time, the better their performance will be,” she said.
Superintendent Edwin Diaz told board members during a study session on student performance data that the improvement is now apparent at the first- and second-grade levels, too.
“I know I’ve been interested in researching (a full-day program) to see the result it could have on kids in our district,” he said at a recent board meeting.
The full-day schedule offers other benefits, as well: Parents won’t have children who are on two different schedules, classes will have time to go on field trips and kindergartners will be able to participate in schoolwide assemblies and awards.
The students will get time for enrichment subjects often left out of the school day in favor of reading, writing and math. Each afternoon, one of the five teachers will take all the students for activities in either science, art, computer lab, dance, physical education or drama.
“We’re spending a lot of time and effort with First 5 (state-funded child development) and this fits,” Trustee Jim Rogers said. “My concern is that we’re not offering it to everybody.”
After next year’s test run is complete, the school and district will evaluate the full-day schedule along with a kindergarten task force to decide if all GUSD kindergartens should switch.
“There’s a lot of other pieces of the puzzle we’ll have to take into consideration,” Horejs said, one of which is facilities and space for more kindergarten classes. Space isn’t a problem at Rod Kelley, but could be for other schools.
The school is planning a parent orientation for full-day kindergarten at 6:30 p.m June 9.
