\nDallas Morning News Home<\/p>\n
\tLocal Voices <\/p>\n
\n\tCarolyn Festa: Less math, more play for our youngest students <\/p>\n
\n\tPublished: 20 March 2015 06:03 PM<\/p>\n
\tUpdated: 20 March 2015 06:03 PM<\/p>\n
\n\tJane has some candy. She gets four more pieces. Now she has seven pieces of candy. How many candies did Jane have to start? Sounds like a second-grade math problem, right? Wrong! Try kindergarten. I have been teaching these kinds of math problems to my 5-year-olds for three years now.<\/p>\n
\tIn the teaching world this is referred to as a \u201cstart unknown\u201d word problem. Well, it is aptly named \u2014 because my kindergartners have no clue where to start to solve this problem. We begin teaching math word problems around the third week of school. And the reality is that these students simply aren\u2019t ready to tackle them.<\/p>\n
\tTo think through this math problem requires an understanding of the complementary operations of addition and subtraction. These burgeoning mathematicians aren\u2019t even sure that seven is more than four.<\/p>\n
\tReading standards apply the same pressures and assume that all kindergartners enter on the same level playing field, ready to read by week three. Reality couldn\u2019t be further from this assumption. <\/p>\n
\tThe pressure to prepare students for the third-grade standardized tests has pushed the teaching of literacy, numeracy, critical thinking and problem solving so far down the grade levels that kindergarten students and teachers are feeling the pressure. With such laserlike focus on these skills, the social, emotional, physical and cognitive development needs of these young learners are being ignored. <\/p>\n
\tWhat should we do instead? Play. <\/p>\n
\tElizabeth Graue, University of Wisconsin professor and associate director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, agrees: \u201cPlay, which once served as the core of kindergarten, is pushed out to ensure each classroom has accomplished the required numbers of minutes of content per week. It does not make sense to squeeze the life out of kindergarten to cram content required by the state\u2019s third-grade test.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe pressure to build the necessary problem-solving and critical-thinking skills needed for a third-grader to pass the STAAR test leaves little to no time for kindergartners to follow their curiosity \u2014 build with blocks; explore with sand, water and magnets; assemble a puzzle; or act out a problem. These types of free exploration are exactly the activities that build critical thinking and problem solving within a 5-year-old. The trickle-down approach is squelching the very outcome it desires. <\/p>\n
\tThe National Association for the Education of Young Children is so concerned about the pressure to prepare students for third-grade standardized tests that it adopted a position on play in the classroom: \u201cMany young children now lack the ability to play at the high level of complexity and engagement that affords so many cognitive, social and emotional benefits. As a result it is vital for the early childhood setting to provide opportunities for sustained high-level play and for teachers to actively support children\u2019s progress toward such play.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tNot convinced yet? Here\u2019s another irony. The Alliance for Childhood published a report in 2009, \u201cCrisis in the Kindergarten,\u201d citing research that directly links \u201cplay to children\u2019s ability to master such academic content as literacy and numeracy, and contributes to advances in vocabulary, language comprehension, imagination, concentration, curiosity and problem-solving strategies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tPlay is the work of kindergartners. The tools necessary for this work are curiosity, imagination and creativity. And if they aren\u2019t used, they are lost. In a typical full-day program the average kindergartner spends five times as much time on reading and math activities as she does on play. No wonder we aren\u2019t churning out critical thinkers and problem solvers. <\/p>\n
\tSo all the policymakers out there, hear ye, hear ye: Let\u2019s stop robbing our young learners of vital play learning experiences. And let\u2019s restore a developmental approach to kindergarten.<\/p>\n