At One School, a Push for More Play Time

Some kindergarten parents at Public School 101, a graceful brick castle in Forest Hills, Queens, wanted more free play time for their children; so they decided to do something about it. 

Gone were the play kitchens, sand and water tables, and dress-up areas; half-days were now full days.  Play came in the form of “choice time,” a roughly 30-minute afternoon period during which each child chose what blocks or toys in the classroom to work with, and at recess, which was often truncated by the time it took for every child to calm down and form an orderly line back to class. 

 The kindergarten parents signed a letter to the principal, Valerie Capitulo-Saide, asking for more unstructured time in the school day, an extra recess period and better procedures in recess. Ms. Capitulo-Saide gave them one extra gym period a week and no longer required students to form perfect lines at recess, one parent said.

P.S. 101 “is a high performing school,” Ms. Capitulo-Saide said in an e-mail. “Our collaborative decision-making process includes input from parents, teachers and administrators. As a result of our collaboration, we have added 30 minutes of additional physical education instruction per week for kindergarten students while maintaining strong instruction.” 

Time and space for imaginative play in city schools seem to be shrinking as the academic emphasis on reading and math grows, said Clara Hemphill, who researches the city’s schools.   

Some parents at P.S. 101 said they wanted to see a greater emphasis on play on days when children cannot go outside; now, they are sometimes plopped down to watch television cartoons.  

"We wanted something like board games or Simon Says"

The school also organized an effort to win money from an online competition to fix up a disused outdoor area into a garden it is calling a "kinder".

Victoria Zunitch, who recently withdrew her daughter from P.S. 101 to send her to a private school, said kindergarten homework ended up being parent homework because the children had trouble working independently. 

The School in the Gardens has a rigorous academic curriculum, and it is the sort of place where homework assignments by third grade can stretch to an hour.  

About half of the parents support the idea of kindergarten homework, and about half do not, said one parent, Norberto Maio. Mr. Maio said his son, Francisco, generally came home tired, making homework difficult.