Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 6, 1992 TAG: 9202060466
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NEAL THOMPSON EDUCATION WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
ALL DAY ALL THE WAY
SARAH Ayers waits outside Raleigh Court Elementary School for her daughter, Sarah, to finish her first full day of kindergarten.Not her first day, mind you. But her first "full" day.
See, the younger Ayers had been going to kindergarten since September. But Raleigh Court was one of four city schools that did not have all-day kindergarten, and Ayers went for just three hours at a pop.
Monday was her first six-hour day, as it was for nearly 200 others at Raleigh Court, Grandin Court, Monterey and Wasena Elementary schools.
The elder Ayers holds her sleepy-eyed son, Clay, in her arms and shifts him from one hip to the other as she waits and explains how inconvenient and unfair it was for Sarah to attend kindergarten just half the day.
"Not only because I think it's necessary, but because everybody else has it," she says.
"They were rushed" in the half-day program, she says. And it was inconvenient to parents who had to make arrangements for baby-sitting or day care for half the day.
Ayers had a friend pick Sarah up from school at noon each day and baby-sit until she got home from work at 1 p.m. Now she can pick Sarah up herself. "Now I can do it all."
At 3 p.m. Monday, Sarah skips out of her new classroom and toward her mom, who puts Clay down to greet his big sister. Sarah gives Clay a big hug, lifting him off the ground, and tells him how much she missed him.
"Maybe this'll be good for you. You've never done that before," Ayers tells Sarah.
"It was good," Sarah says.
That was pretty much the consensus on the first day that all the city's kindergarten classes lasted a full day.
The city School Board had added a few schools here and a few there in recent years but finally found $65,000 last month to fund full-day programs at the remaining four schools.
"We're getting to add a lot more things that we haven't had time for before," said Amy Mullins, a new teacher who took over Sarah's all-day class. (With the longer hours, the system had to hire a new teacher at each school.)
Half-day classes had kept a tight schedule and rarely had time for physical education, art and computer classes. Now they'll attend those classes on a more regular basis.
Raleigh Court Principal Clark Vandergrift said the only problem with the mid-year switch was "a few yawns and sleepy eyes" from pupils who were used to going home at noon.
At Monterey, Katie Haskins' class showed no signs of exhaustion near day's end. Popcorn littered the floor from an earlier art project, and Haskins had to keep reminding the children to be quiet when they reached a rowdy pitch.
At lunchtime, a few pupils had started to tire, asking: "When are we going home? Is it time to go home?" One girl asked about 20 times when she was going home, Haskins said.
"This is a real big adjustment for them," Haskins said. But she added that kids adjust quickly. In fact, after a short rest during afternoon "quiet time" - in which a few kids nodded off - class kicked right back in gear.
Haskins' pupils colored and then cut out pictures of groundhogs for Groundhog Day. Even though some of Haskins' 25 kids had been in a morning class and some in an afternoon class, they all meshed like old friends on Monday.
Kids adjust to anything, she said; "The parents are having a harder time adjusting."
Monterey Principal George Bell said a lot of anxious parents have called him asking about the program and promising that they would put their kids to bed a little earlier.
But the group consensus in Haskins' class Monday: all-day kindergarten is better.
Why?
Faith Franklin: "Because it's funner."
Ashley Farmer: "Because we can learn more things."
Sterling Arehart: "You get to stay in school and eat two snacks."
These kindergartners also get to eat in the cafeteria for the first time. At Raleigh Court, where they had pizza, salads and chocolate milk, teacher Mullins said: "They feel like big kids now."