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Feature Stories (Vol. 110 No. 5--1/30/2008)

Students will make more progress with five-day kindergarten

By Caroline Downs

This story is Part 2 in a series about the expanded kindergarten schedule approved by the Kenmare School Board to begin in the 2008-09 school year.

Ask Jean Barnhart, kindergarten instructor at Kenmare Elementary School, about the plan for five-day kindergarten next year, and be prepared for an enthusiastic response. "I’m excited about it!" she said. "I know they can do it. We’re going to have to adapt. Yes, they will be tired the first couple of weeks of school. I’m tired then. The third graders are even tired then!"

According to Barnhart, interest in the five-day schedule was first raised three years ago, with a parent survey taken. At the time, students attended the equivalent of 90 days during the school year. Mixed reactions from parents led the Kenmare School Board to approve the current four-day, full day schedule, with students staying home on Wednesdays.

Barnhart said first grade instructor Linda Busch noted a difference in the skills between the students who attended the old 90-day kindergarten schedule and those who attended the four-day program. "With one more day each week, I’ll make even more progress with them," said Barnhart.

First graders have to hit the ground running when they begin school each August. In order to achieve the state’s benchmarks, based on mandates from the federal No Child Left Behind Act, Busch expects her students to read three-letter words on the first day of school and be ready to begin basic addition facts within a few weeks.

Barnhart believes the four-day kindergarten schedule has better prepared her students for first grade, and that a fifth day would only improve the situation. "When I had 90 days with the students, I rarely had one child who could read [by May]," she said. "By the end of this year, I’ll probably have fourteen readers, and three who are not ready developmentally."

She continued, "Now the curriculum and state mandates are demanding these guys have five days in order to be ready and be successful in first grade. If I have five days, I can get all that in and keep it child-centered."

A visit to Barnhart’s classroom reveals just how child-centered she is. Students combine music and physical activity with lessons to learn letters and numbers, then use art and writing skills to demonstrate the new facts and concepts. At the same time, the kids improve their own self-awareness and personal management abilities as they interact with other students.

In other words, the kids learn reading and math by dancing, singing, exercising, talking, and writing with everything from salt trays to crayons to pencils. Within a half hour period slotted for a particular lesson, Barnhart incorporates a variety of activities so students use animated movement as well as quiet thinking strategies.

The students are delighted to share those lessons. "I like to make sixes in here," announced one boy as he held up a salt tray displaying his careful work.

"Can we sing our ‘Fives’ song?" said another student. Before Barnhart could answer, a chorus of "Can we? Can we do our fives?" assailed her as the kids hopped in place, proud to show off their ability to count to 100 by fives.

Life in kindergarten isn’t all about classroom lessons, though. The students also participate in three recesses each day, as well as a milk and snack break and quiet time in the afternoon to draw or watch a video related to the classroom’s latest lessons.

Three times each week, the kids attend music and physical education classes for 30 minutes. Once a week, the students have a 30-minute session with the guidance counselor for Character Counts! activities, a 30-minute period in the library, and an art lesson with Judy Essler, who focuses on teaching shapes. Peer mentors from the high school also visit Barnhart’s room three times weekly to spend time assisting students.

Barnhart’s focus remains on the whole child, with all the lesson and activity components centered on allowing each one to develop his or her skills successfully. "Kids will learn if they’re ready to learn and if they have all the social, emotional, cognitive, fine motor and gross motor elements intact," she said.

When Barnhart starts a new concept or lesson with her students, she begins with a song, rhyme or story related to the idea, then holds a discussion time with the kids. Later, the students practice the lesson by drawing, painting or some other craft and then move to a writing or reading activity. Occasionally, the computer or some other form of technology is used, but Barnhart prefers kindergartners use all five senses for their lessons.

She reiterated Mueller’s observation that students are reluctant to leave their classroom. "Every day at three o’clock, when we start getting ready to leave, I have four or five or seven kids who say, ‘But I don’t want to go home,’" she said. "I have kids who ask to come on Wednesday. They love being here. They love playing to learn, and I feel fortunate if I get to be here five days so I can help them for five days."

Barnhart understands parents’ worries about the changed schedule, but she encouraged them to consider the benefits of the five-day program. "We’re trying to create happy and successful children," she said. She reminded parents of the school’s breakfast program available every morning and suggested that young children with early and consistent bedtimes will be ready to spend a full day at school.

"And any parent who wants to come in and observe to see what happens here is welcome," she said, adding her students welcome guests to their room. "I’m here to do what’s best for your child!"