All Day Kindergarten Hours - What Are Your Child's?

We are 8:10-2:25. There are no recesses apart from lunch which I think combined is around 35 minutes. They have at least one special class a day but I personally consider all of that academic time.

My daughter's all day kindergarten was from 820 - 250.

She learned a lot on kindergarten I was amazed.

My son goes from 8:05-3:15. My mom teaches in FL and her school (K-8) goes 8:15-2:15. It does seem short--especially since school gets out before 2.

MR
The hours you mentioned do seem more like 1/2 day to me.

Our school (grades K - 4) goes from 8:20 - 3:10 every day. We have an early dismissal once a month where they get out at 2:20.

I can't believe how much my son has grown being in K this year. He's such a little boy now and I love it. I hope your experience is as good as mine as been.

I guess we start a little earlier than most. Kindergarten hours here are 7:45-2:25. Same as the rest of the elementary grades.

My son went to all day kindergarten last year and it is the same as the school hours (7:50am-2:40pm).

My son will also be starting Kindergarten in the fall of 2012 and his hours will be 8-3. For those families who need it, the school also offers extended care hours both before and after school. I believe they offer from 7am - 6pm.

Ours is 9:20-3:40, and just perfect! That does seem like a short day! What are the half days then? Our district is weird about half days, we actually do m/w or t/th all day and every other Friday, but the parents that do it hate it!

My kindergarten dgd here gets on the bus at about 8am - that gets her to school by a little after 8:30 so that kids that need breakfast have time to get it before school starts at 9am. She goes full day - meaning until 3:35! The school is K-5 and those are the hours for all.

Oh - and it isn't too early for fall 2012 - her school did registrations back in March for kindergarten for fall 2012! (that gives parents time to collect all the paperwork that's needed - dr appts, etc! So if you know that info now, do what I did w/her and make all those appts ASAP - BEFORE the rush later!)

Wow, these responses are eye-opening. My daughter's public school kindergarten hours are only 7:55 -10:25am (2.5 hours!). I thought that was short, but now I know it's VERY short compared to most other schools. The hours you mention do seem short for any grade after kindergarten though. Good luck!

Wow, that is short.
How the heck do they learn anything AND meet the State benchmarks on their academic curriculum?

At my Daughter's ' school: their day is from 8:00-2:15. All week. Except Wednesdays are shorter by 45 minutes.
This is for all grade levels from Kindergarten.

My daughter goes to Catholic school for Kindergarten and she starts at 8:00 and finishes at 3:30 pm. Your hours do seem to be a bit short. Kindergarten is not mandatory in Illinois so if your current preschool offers K, it might be something to look into. Good luck.

I would suggest sitting in on a class. My kids are in preschool for 3 hours right now, and it is amazing what they get done. Library, gym and computers is staggered so they do not have one on the same day also. But, really I actually found myself looking at the clock, not believing how much time we had left after the children had completed their major projects for the day. I think that at that age, they don't have a huge attention span, so they don't spend a ton of time on one thing but they also absorb stuff so easily, they are still really learning a great deal just by covering things in short amount of times frequently. We have the choice at our school to do 1/2 day or full day for kindergarten and I have been told by some of the teachers that the children are equally prepared when they get to first grade. But definitely if you are comparing schools/programs, I would just try to take a seat in on one and see what you think. Good luck!

A full day here in the elementary schools is 8:55-3:30.

Seems about right to me. It just doesn't match other school hours. Highschoolers are up later than little ones so it makes sense to start them later and little people have jet lag after lunch and snacks and traditionally that appears to be down time. I don't think those hours are weird, they are just inconvenient. Ah treasure the highschoolers, they usually don't have runny noses, tears in their eyes when someone looks at them funny and they are pretty self sufficient. On the other hand you have to often pry them off of eachother in the hallways and they can be whiney at times. And so it goes.

Hi MR.
Are you looking into CPS? I think those are their hours, which I thought seemed very short as well. I think most of the burbs are 9-2:30. I teach 2nd grade, and while our kinder. is still half day, our regular day is 8:50-2:50. Good luck with your search.

My son goes to a charter school, and his day is 8am-2:45, same as most schools in our area. Look at the National Heritage Academies and see if they have a school near you. Good luck!

My son goes from 8:00-2:15. His lunch is 20minutes and only one recess for 20 minutes. My older son only went from 8-145 but they changed the time this year for some reason. He learned everything he needed and was more than ready for first grade. Do they have art/music everyday? My son only has each once a week. They have gym twice a week and library once a week also. I don't think the classes are 45 minutes long but I am not 100% sure either. I think 2 recess periods is crazy but Im sure the kids don't! I bet the kids learn all they need to or the school couldn't have these hours.

That seems short to me as well for "full day" kindergarten. In our district, full day kindergarten runs from 9:05 - 3:35, which is the same length of day for all of the elementary school grades.

My son's kd will be the same as the rest of the school, 8:25-3:25.

I attended "Kingergarden Visitation" this week with my daughter and learned that there is currently an Illinois state law that requires every public kindergarden to offer a half-day option. But you mentioned your district doesn't offer a half-day option. Perhaps this abbreviated day is a round-about way to meet the state law??

That does seem short to me....my daughter is in kg now and her hours are from 8:45 to 3:05pm. No naps, but they have snack, half hour lunch, 15 min recess then work work work.....but fun work. I have had to chance to observe the class ad theydo a lot of different and fun things. Love her school!! Find out why the school operates like that...Does it run all year or something?Good luck...

I think you think it is short because it starts early in the day and ends early
in the day. IMO it is a normal day.

Our neighborhood kinder in elementary school is 7:45am to 2:45pm and there is after school care available for a monthly fee. The kids can stay until 5:30.

Wow where are you because in the school where I work. Lunch 20 minutes and recess, weather permitting once a day for about 20-30 minutes and recess is only for pre K and kindergarten. Gym, art and computer once a week. You are telling us that they have 2 recess periods daily, 30 minutes for lunch and art, music or PE daily. I want to work there. But back to the question, there should be learning going on through the day even during recess, and washroom breaks. There is definately learning going on during art, music and PE so don't worry about it. Learning should be going on throughout the day.

8:25 - 2:25 - we're just outside of Boston, MA. There is no half day kindergarten, but there is I think one early release day per month - dismissal at 11:55. Our son (first child) is starting K in Fall 2011.

i'm in Central Fl and in my area they go from 7:55-2:05. On most Wednesdays they get out an hour early. Middle school goes from 8:40 -3:40 and high school is I think 7:30-2:45.

we go from 720-240...

Our district has a standard half-day kindergarten that is from 8:00 - 10:50. This seemed short to me too since her preschool is the same length of time. We elected the full-day enrichment program which will include more arts, music, gym class and lunch at school and lasts until 2:15. I think what your district is offering is probably relatively standard and I'm guessing there are a lot of kids who maybe don't attend preschool who need to be transitioned into the longer days.

My daughter goes from 9:00-3:50.

My daughter will be going this fall and her school's hours are 8:20-2:20, which is about as long as I'd want to go for 5 year olds.

8:15-2:55 and one day per week they get out at 1:30

It seems a little short, but not much shorter than a lot of elementary schools. My daughter's school day is from 9.10-3.05. Your day is only 20 minutes shorter. My daughter is also in before and after school care (I'm an HS teacher too).

Are you sure about the lunch period and recess? Even in K, my daughter only gets 1 15 minute recess (which is ridiculous - I wish she got more). By age five, they aren't doing group trips to the bathroom. When they have to go they get up and go, so that doesn't take too much out of the day.

Also, don't forget, all that other stuff - art, music, PE is just as important at age 5 as the "classroom instruction." Kids are learning how to be students, not just curriculum at this point. There's so much evidence that the "creative" part helps kids be such better students as they get older (not to mention that they like school more too).

In her "short day" my daughter has learned to read, how to sound out words for spelling, all of her 3-d shapes, how to count by 10s, 5s, and 2s, how to add. She's learned about Martin Luther King and the Pilgrims. She can now write a story with details and draw accompanying pictures. And she loves going to art class, trying new things in gym, and singing and learning stuff in music.

So I guess the long and short is - don't worry. Aside from the before and after school care concern, I'm sure her day will be a perfectly fine length.

Our school offers an all day kindergarten program from 7:30-2:05. These are the same hours the kids in grades 1-8 have. The half day program is from 7:30-10:30. From what I understand, the all day class has a rest time in the afternoon and a lot more playtime/recess than half day. Half day is mostly learning with a short recess period.

My kindergartner has a half day. She gets on the bus at 12:15 and is home by 3:40. Her day is packed full of learning. They don't get lunch at school but a short snack break. Clean up times and bathroom breaks are quick and organized. There's a very strict schedule and they really do get a lot done.

If those were the K8 hours in our area, I would consider sending my son to awayschool! Whoops... 8-145 = almost SIX hours, not 3.5 (but I see you mean of actual instruction time). Yeah. That's soooooo more than enough time.

Homeschooling 3 hours a day we get through apx 2-3 years worth of curriculum each year. Which is pretty average. Most of us slow things down by doing lots of projects/fieldtrips/playdates/life stuff (until middle/highschool, when the kids want to hurry up and graduate already... you just budget 1 year for every 3 months worth of school). In awayschools there's lines, and moving about, and generally just a lot of "wasted" time (I don't think recess is a waste! But it's not instruction time), and it's group learning, not individual tutoring. So if a homeschooler can get through 1 year in 3 months at 3 hours a day... it would make sense that an awayschooler can get through 1 year in 9 mo at 3 hours a day. Which leaves an extra month for fieldtrips, sick days, PT conferences, etc. So it sounds about right to me.

In our area you have 2 choices for k & 1 choice for 1-6

8 -10:15 (TWO hours and 15 minutes!!! Yup. Total.)

8 - 355 (EIGHT hours... and only one 15min recess and one 30 minute lunch) With bus times, however it jumps time gone from 715-440... a freakin' 10 hour day. Nope. Not gonna happen. Not without tragedy sparking it. I would rather send my son to boarding school (we currently homeschool) than deal with that day schedule nightmare ever. again.

School hours vary REALLY wildly in our area (2 counties, and 8 districts within 1.5 hours). Those're just the hours my son would have to attend in our local school district. Ick.

Seems OK to me for K unless you really wanted al ALL day, not one with a lunch and two recesses in under six hours. Not great for K-5th. My daughter only went to half day K in public school (4 hours, one recess). I am really surprised that your day is not much longer. A quick tally showed that my daughter is in school 60 more hours per year than you are...almost two weeks of instruction. I'm sure you will figure out what is best for your family, you are obviously proactive.

Interesting because I am researching early learning centers for my daughter and I factor in all transitions to determine the amount of instruction she will receive. I don't expect for her to sit through a 20 minute class, but I'm curious when the facilities claim to follow an age-appropriate curriculum what it entails and how it's implemented. Most start 9ish-3. Typical school day is about 6 hours, unless it has extended after school classes/programs.

My niece lives in Co. She is all day kindergarten. I think its a long day. The bus picks her I think at 7:45am. She gets home around 4-4:30. Our school district is half day. My two older children already went thru kindergarten. They were picked up around 12:40. School started at 1 pm until 3:10.
Just wondering..Schools are required to be in session a certain amount of hrs. Since they have a shorter day is the lunch Shorten? How is it the students will not be making up the hrs Later?

My children went to Kindergarten half day from 8:55 until 11:40, so just under 3 hours. FIgure in arrival and dimissal, and it's more like 2 1/2 hours.

My grandson was in all day kindergarten last year at St. Peter's catholic school in aurora he went from 7:55 AM to 2:45 PM I nanny for a family and their son is in all day kindergarten now he goes from 9AM to 3:30PM they do have a rest time each day for half an hour as well as a mini snack break at 10am and lunch at 1pm

That seems short to me. My daughter is in Kindergarten this year, and she goes from 9:20-3:20.

That's actually about right. Our hours are 9a - 3:30p

Ours is 8-3:20 which is the same as all the other elementary grades.

My daughter's elementary school runs from 9:25 to 3:40.

my son goes to full day and it is the same as the rest of the school - 8:15 - 3:05. BTW, you are not crazy for thinking about it now. Around here they start registration right after Christmas break. My daughter starts next year and has been registered for about 3 months. The schools like to know as early as possible so they know how many teachers they can keep around.