MaryAnn: Our classes, K-12 are consistently 40 minutes in length. We
see the K-1's twice in a 4-day (A-B-C-D days) rotation, and grades 2-5
once a rotation.
I was not happy 4 years ago when our administration first made us
go to the longer periods w/ primary grades, but it has worked well. We
have to be creative with our planning, knowing the little ones cannot
focus for that length of time. We include several types of activity for
each period. On "Book Day" we also have story time and sometimes a
coloring activity to complement the story. On the "Language Arts" day
we have story time, finger plays and nursery rhymes (memorization
and/or "lining" the rhyme), seat activities, cut-and-paste and songs.
We have not only adapted, but enjoy having the extended time to do
more complex activities w/ our K's and 1's. It will be a change, but it
can be done, and done well.
Best of luck with it!
Barb
--- MaryAnn Karre <Karres@AOL.COM> wrote:
> Thank you in advance for helping us in a time of crisis.=A0=20
>
> Due to budgetary restrictions, one library position is slated to
> be=20
> eliminated from our Pre-K to grade 5 building next year.=A0 We just
> recently=
> =20
> merged schools, with one librarian teaching 30 minute classes twice a
> week t=
> o=20
> grades PreK-2, the other teaching one 45-minute class per week to
> grades=20
> 3-5.=A0 Next year, in order to reduce the staff to one librarian,
> the=20
> administration has suggested increasing class length to 45 minutes
> for all=20
> grades.
>
> My question to the group is: Does anyone have documentation that
> supports=20
> shorter (35 minutes or less) classes for primary grades?=A0 We feel
> certain=20
> that the younger children will not be able to handle 45-minute
> classes, but=20
> we need documentation to prove that this is too long for their
> attention=20
> spans.=A0 The children certainly do not focus on one activity for
> that lengt=
> h=20
> of time in a classroom. How long are your classes in the Pre-K to 2
> area?=
> =A0=20
> On what basis did you decide the length of the class?=20
>
> Any support you can give us will be appreciated. =20
>
> MaryAnn Karre, Librarian for now
> Chenango Forks Elementary School
> Binghamton, NY
> karrem@cforks.org
>
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B. Kane, K-12 LMS
Panama Central School, Panama NY
bhkane@yahoo.com
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