Medford, Ore. — Medford School District is evaluating its first grade students’ reading level after launching its first round of full-day kindergarten classes last year.
The move to full days was meant to help kids become more prepared for grade school.
The goal for these kids, give them more time in the classroom, so they can be better prepared for first grade.
It’s a long day for little ones, but educators said it’s worth it.
“They have breaks and recesses throughout the day and of course during regular instruction time, teachers run rotation where students do an activity for a short period of time and then they’re up and moving.”
Lynn Cataldo has been the principal of Hoover Elementary School for the past six years, and said increasing the length of the school day for kindergartners helps reading levels. But the advantages don’t end there.
“The benefit that we’ve been able to see though is with other subjects. because we can spend more time in math, we can go more deeply into subjects,” Cataldo said.
It’s an improvement Tymber’s mom has noticed, and one that came with just one complaint.
“I think her biggest complaint about it was no nap,” Kena Sampson said, Tymber’s mom said.
Hoover Elementary School alone hired two additional teachers to cover the full-day kindergarten classes. Medford School District will continue to assess the student’s reading levels, as well as other subjects like math, so it can say just how beneficial this program is.
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