At One School, a Push for More Play Time

Play came in the form of “choice time,” a roughly 30-minute afternoon period during which each child chose what blocks or toys in the classroom to work with, and at recess, which was often truncated by the time it took for every child to calm down and form an orderly line back to class.
About a month ago, about half of the kindergarten parents signed a letter to the principal, Valerie Capitulo-Saide, asking for more unstructured time in the school day, an extra recess period and better procedures in recess. Ms. Capitulo-Saide gave them one extra gym period a week and no longer required students to form perfect lines at recess, one parent said.
P.S. 101 “is a high performing school,” Ms. Capitulo-Saide said in an e-mail. “Our collaborative decision-making process includes input from parents, teachers and administrators. As a result of our collaboration, we have added 30 minutes of additional physical education instruction per week for kindergarten students while maintaining strong instruction.”

Early childhood homework is another issue. Each Monday, the kindergartners get a packet of worksheets they are supposed to complete by Friday. There are generally 10 to 12 reading, writing and math worksheets each week. Parents are also asked to read to their children.
The School in the Gardens has a rigorous academic curriculum, and it is the sort of place where homework assignments by third grade can stretch to an hour.
About half of the parents support the idea of kindergarten homework, and about half do not, said one parent, Norberto Maio. Mr. Maio said his son, Francisco, generally came home tired, making homework difficult.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate for a 5-year-old,” Mr. Maio said. “At least not on a regular basis. They do have, like, 20 more years to do homework.”
Ms. Chin, the mother of 5-year-old Kristin, had no complaints about the homework. “It’s manageable,” she said. “They have to take the standardized tests soon.”
Asma Khan, another parent , said she saw both positives and negatives to a kindergarten focused on academics, especially when a talented teacher is getting results. Her daughter, Zainab, 4, has already learned how to read and would sit around writing all day if she could, Ms. Khan said.
Zainab, for her part, said she liked school just as it was: no more play needed.
And homework? No problem.
“I love homework,” she said. “I write my numbers and my A B C’s.”