in the first week of school for kindergarten students, teachers schedule the children to come in a staggered entry so that small groups of students are in class the first week.
Durant Road Elementary Principal Teresa Winstead says staggered entry benefits students, teachers and parents.
Students experience the first day in a small group going through the full schedule learning the classroom culture and meeting new friends. In dropping their children off for the first day, parents have time to make sure their child feels comfortable. Teachers have time to become acquainted with the new students and assess what they know.
Click to listen to The First Days of Kindergarten Are an Instructional Starting Point
This is a 9 minute mp3 file.
You can also hear some of the discussion between teachers and students below:
Click here to listen to an excerpt of an assessment of literacy. This is a 40 second mp3 file.
Click here to listen to an excerpt of an assessment of alphabet. This is a 43 second mp3 file.
Click here to listen to an excerpt of an assessment of counting. This is a 2:25 minute mp3 file.
Teresa Winstead is principal of Durant Road Elementary.
You can read more about this story here.