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Ashland, Oregon HOME Valley & State Sports Nation & World Opinion/Editorial Classifieds Business Columnists Local Issues Obituaries Weather Archive Revels Etcetera Backpage Hot Topics Most Viewed Forum Photo Galleries Video Readers Polls O-Zone Online Games Movie Preview Special Sections Real Estate Guide Menu Guide Shakespeare Subscribe Contact Us Rate Card Place an Ad November 26, 2005 Parents enjoy after-school time for kindergartners Non-academic program gives students a taste of their first-grade schedule By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings Lila Goldman doesn’t mind staying after school. The 5-year-old at Helman Elementary School likes the chance to spend more time in the school library and on the playground through the after-kindergarten program. “We get to do ironing beads,” Goldman said, while she and three other kindergartners played Animal Candy Land — a game they invented — on top of a jungle puzzle they pieced together. Gabriel Kraft, Ian Rinefoot, behind, Lili Smith, center , and Lila Goldman play Animal Candy Land board game. These 5-year-olds at Helman Elementary School spend more time in the school library and on the playground through the after-kindergarten program. Orville Hector | Ashland Daily Tidings Between seven and 10 kindergartners stay at Helman once their classes end just after 11 a.m. They have lunch together and spend the afternoon for games, crafts, outdoor play and free time to choose their own activities under the supervision of Kari Smith, a certified teacher. “It’s less structured,” Smith said. “It’s more free choice.” Smith has run an after-school child-care program for first- through fifth-grade students there for two years and she taught kindergarten at Helman last year. Just after classes started this fall, she decided to extend her child-care service to include kindergartners in the early afternoon. The four-day-a-week program gives parents another child-care option: Kindergartners can stay through the rest of the school day, then mix with older students after school is out. “This year, there were several parents who just asked,” Smith said. More time at, not in, school Carly Bradley, 5, spends two days a week in the program. “The leap to five full days in first grade is so big. I thought this would be a way to ease her into that transition throughout the kindergarten year,” said Jennifer Bradley, Carly’s mother. It also gives Bradley a chance to work — she operates a consulting practice from home — and means she can pick Carly and her first-grader up from school at the same time. “It enables Carly more time to connect better with a small group of kids, which has resulted in her feeling more comfortable and connected in the larger class in the morning,” Bradley said. “I think this makes Carly feel more like a member of the larger community of Helman School.” Some parents, including Bradley, have asked the school district to increase the class time for kindergartners in Ashland because they believe the half-day — between 2 1/2 to 3 1/4 hours per day, depending on the school — does not adequately prepare their children for a full day of first grade. “Most of these kids have been in high-quality preschool programs for the same time or longer as their kindergarten schedule, and they are ready for more time with these talented teachers we have in Ashland and more time for age-appropriate curriculum,” Bradley said. However, the after-school program at Helman does not act as more kindergarten instruction for kids. “That’s one thing that we’re pretty focused on,” said Smith, emphasizing that her class is not a school program. “It’s not extended kindergarten.” Staff writer Jennifer Squires can be reached at 482-3456 x 3019 or [email protected]. --> Copyright © 2006 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers. All Rights Reserved.