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Does kindergarten in Germany mean the same thing as in the US? In the US, kindergarten is the first year of school (sometimes called "pre-school"). Students sit at a table and learn lessons. They don't play all day. The year before kindergarten is called "nursery school". (Kids are 3 or 4 years old there.) Even there, there are structured activities. Kids learn to follow directions and complete small projects, using glue, colored paper, cardboard, or matchboxes. They do drawing projects, learning to use crayons, watercolors, scissors, and other art materials. They don't play all day. There is also nap time, when they're required to lie down and be quiet. If they can't sleep, they're still expected to rest quietly.
This system you're in sounds like a nightmare! How old are the children? Most 4 and 5 year-old kids should be able to sit quietly and focus their attention on learning skills (alphabet, writing numbers) for 20 minute periods or 1/2 hour. In my kindergarten, we also had French lessons, and we colored in a French language coloring book that had vocabulary words below the pictures we colored. This is what kids should be doing in kindergarten: learning to write letters and numbers, coloring, listening quietly to stories, painting. In fact, I'm told that these days, kids are already learning to read in kindergarten. It's more advanced than it used to be.
Kids also need breaks for playtime. You can organize games for them, whatever the traditional children's games are in Germany. Singing songs as a group works well, too.
No, children in kindergarten in the US do not spend the day at tables and no schools I know of have nap time in kindergarten. Kids do have some activities at tables, but they also have circle time and stations. The stations are play, but directed to specific kinds of play that involve learning.
Although our kindergarten program has been created with a core academic focus (reading, writing, and math), kindergarten teachers recognize the importance of play as another crucial area for young children. During structured play times in the classroom, children are able to work in cooperative groups as they share materials, create structures, play games, etc. As children play and work with each other, they are formulating social skills that will last a lifetime. Negotiating the social arena for many children is just as important as learning to read because these social skills will support and enhance the success they have in the academic areas in subsequent years in school.
No, children in kindergarten in the US do not spend the day at tables and no schools I know of have nap time in kindergarten. Kids do have some activities at tables, but they also have circle time and stations. The stations are play, but directed to specific kinds of play that involve learning.
I didn't say there was nap time in kindergarten. That's nursery school.
The kindergartens I and my friends attended had us setting at tables doing many of the "station" activities in your link: language-related (alphabet, etc.), math-related, drawing, learning shapes, etc. Sitting on the floor didn't happen. Kindergarten was prep for 1st grade, after all, where kids sit at individual desks.
But the basic point you and I are making is the same; kindergarten in the US is structured, and it's a place of learning. It's not day care where kids are left to their own devices and allowed to run amok.
I didn't say there was nap time in kindergarten. That's nursery school.
The kindergartens I and my friends attended had us setting at tables doing many of the "station" activities in your link: language-related (alphabet, etc.), math-related, drawing, learning shapes, etc. Sitting on the floor didn't happen. Kindergarten was prep for 1st grade, after all, where kids sit at individual desks.
But the basic point you and I are making is the same; kindergarten in the US is structured, and it's a place of learning. It's not day care where kids are left to their own devices and allowed to run amok.
In elementary school, that is dependent on the district. My grandchildren did not sit at individual desks in k-4, they sat at tables in groups of 4. I agree that it is structured, but it may not be structured in the way you imagine it is.
The attachment is what my grandson's 4th grade classroom looks like.
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