ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 5, 1996 TAG: 9610070031
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ARLINGTON (AP)
SOURCE: TARA MACK THE WASHINGTON POST
CHRISTINE WYSOR, an Arlington kindergarten teacher, says the extra time pays off for students, who are learning things now that are usually taught in November.
Christine Wysor sits in a child's chair at a child's table and writes the word ``the'' on six little sticky papers. In a few hours, her 22 squiggling kindergartners will use the sticky papers to find and mark the word ``the'' in a big picture book with a turtle on the cover.
Last year, Wysor's students wouldn't have done this activity until November. This year, for the first time, Wysor is teaching an all-day kindergarten class.
She began teaching a full-day class when Arlington's Oakridge Elementary School converted three of its seven kindergarten classes from half-days to full days. She eagerly volunteered to switch.
After the first 31/2 weeks of school, she said, her students were doing more advanced reading activities than their counterparts did at this point in previous years.
For the last five years, Arlington has been shifting gradually from half-day to full-day kindergarten as part of a national trend toward longer school days for 5-year-olds.
From 1970 to 1993, the percentage of kindergarten students in all-day classes more than tripled, from 13.4 to 44.8. The change is fueled by research showing that kindergartners in all-day classes are better prepared academically and socially when they reach first grade - and by requests for longer school days from the increasing numbers of two-career or single-parent households.
But some educators say they are having enough trouble keeping up with rapidly rising enrollments and that converting to full-day kindergarten, which requires twice the space, teachers and resources as half-day, would compound the problem.
During Wysor's first week of school, she said, a few children started crying around lunchtime when they realized they weren't going home. But the longer days gave the children extra time to get to know her, and they quickly became more comfortable.
``After 31/2 weeks, I know these children better from a skills standpoint, from a personality standpoint, from a family situation standpoint,'' she said.
Last year, she had only three hours a day with her students. Each day, it took a total of about a half an hour for them to unpack and settle down in the morning and repack and leave in the afternoon.
Art, music, library or physical education took up another half-hour. After giving the children an hour to play house or use the computer, she said, she barely had time to squeeze in a math or reading lesson.
Now that Wysor's students are in school all day, they have more time to peer through the large magnifying glass or play with geometric shapes. She has started combining classes with first- and second-grade teachers so that they can divide the students by skill level rather than grade level and tailor the lessons to their needs.
``Greater learning takes place when the children are given time to discover things for themselves,'' she said.
Dianne Rothenberg, director of a clearinghouse of elementary education research, said children in all-day kindergarten not only develop stronger academic skills but also become more comfortable with school routines because they spend less time shuffling between school, day care and baby sitters.
``You often find that kids feel better about school when they've been in a full-day kindergarten program,'' she said. ``It's a less fragmented program if it's done well.''
But cost is a major obstacle. Budget constraints have forced Arlington to slow the pace of its conversion to full-day classes.
Adding four all-day kindergarten classes this year cost the district an additional $151,400, and it will take five more years to finish the process.
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