Kindergarten changes

Next year, kindergarten is going to look and feel a little different at Ralph Witters Elementary as the kindergarten team will be switching from a focused learning classroom to a “play based” curriculum for 2019-2020.

That’s not to say the classrooms will be running amok with fingerpaints, dancing and all day games of tag.

Quite the contrary, actually as the children will be learning through things like make-believe play, block play, sand and water play, art activities and exploring the outdoors, all while learning the necessary reading, writing and arithmetic they need, all without realizing they’re actually learning.

The motivation toward play based learning comes from the kindergarten team finding intervention times ineffective with the little ones, extensive research that shows this kind of learning works and personal experience with their own children.

So how does this work?

As an example, a few children are playing “teacher.” They’re just having fun, but in reality they’re practicing writing their alphabet, learning to write words and social skills, all at the same time.

Studies have shown about half of the play scenarios children create contain math, patterns and shapes, numbers and quantities. No one hands them an assignment, the children discover these things all on their own during play.

The teachers will be setting a curriculum based on play and direct the student’s learning, of course, but the 15-minute blocks of play time will reiterate those concepts.

There are a lot of benefits to this type of learning including the elimination of behaviors, improvement of social skills and higher level thinking.

According to the book “Crisis in Kindergarten,” research shows children who engage in complex forms of socio-dramatic play have greater language skills than nonplayers, better social skill, more empathy, more imagination and more of the subtle capacity to know what others mean. They are less aggressive and show more self-control and higher levels of learning.

Another benefit for our students would be special ed services can be carried out in the student’s natural play environment. Teachers will receive modeling from the special ed providers to better serve the students.