Should Rest Time be Allowed During Kindergarten?

1. Ok, so many parents of five year old childen would say their child does not need a nap, and under daily routine I will agree with most of these Kindergarten parents, however, many times parents tend to forget about the lack of excitment and anticipation these students look for being in a new place with new people learning new things. All these stressful situations can be very overwhelming for a new student making rest time much needed, that way the students can take a break from all that is going on and take a minute for themselves to stabilize.

2. Excitement

3. Prepared

3.1. Removing nap time from the daily schedule also prepares students for the rest of their academic career. There are no other grades that offer this time so I feel that it is best to equip students with this habit as soon as possible.

4. Parents

4.1. Research has shown that children that are between the ages of 3-5 need 11-13 hours of sleep each night. Although I completely agree with this I don’t think it’s the teacher’s responsibility to provide rest time during the day that a child doesn’t receive at night at home. This concept should be focused more on the parents and not the educator.

5. REASONS AGAINST IT...

6. REASONS FOR IT...

7. If, Then

7.1. If a stuent is given time to rest after lunch or whenever time is chosen by the teacher, and the student does indeed fall asleep, then obviously that child needed that time to rest to s/he could be ready for the 2nd part of the learning-filled school day.

8. HISTORY

8.1. In the United States kindergartens are usually part of the K-12 educational system. Children usually attend kindergarten around age 5 or 6. Kindergarten is considered the first year of formal education, although the child may have gone to preschool. It is not, however, considered a grade. There are many positive learning and social/behavioral benefits for children in kindergarten programs. At the same time, it is widely felt that what children are doing during the kindergarten day is more important than the length of the school day. Since kindergarten began, nap time has always been a part of the day.

9. Not teachers responsibility

9.1. It is not the teachers responsibility to provide rest time for the students. There is already enough pressure on teachers for their students to achieve high standards and worrying about a child's sleeping habits should not be added to this.

10. Instruction Time

10.1. Since there has been a higher demand placed on schools to achieve at a high standard, nap time has been eliminated and replaced with instructional time. The time that is often used for nap could be needed greatly for schools that are low-functioning at the academic level.

11. Environment

11.1. Eliminating nap time also creates a more studious environment for the classroom as center and free play have been eliminated also in some cases.

12. Gifted Students

12.1. If indeed as a teacher you are lucky enough to have gifted students in your classroom, this is a great time for you to work one on one with those students who want to learn more details that are too much to teach the entire class at once.

13. Effectivness/Efficency

13.1. When young children are sleep deprived, it plays a major part of the effects of their learning as well as behavoir. Since there is no way for a teacher to control how much down time the students receives at home, s/he must do so when she does have the studens so they can maximize the learning these students need. Giving children the chance to regroup quietly will allow for a more effective learning environment as well as learning effectivitness.

14. Behavoir

14.1. Rest time can and will increase the positive behavoir in student. Students begin to get reckless and rowdy the longer the day progresses, allowing a rest time for all students to relax and keep to themselves, will increase that productivity and good attitudes for students during the second half of the school day which teacher notice more often in the morning when students first arrive and are eager to begin their learning journey.

15. Re-Fuel

15.1. Re-fueling is a great term to call what the students do during this "rest time" that is so greatly needed, these students are overwhelmed after all they have been through during the first part of their day, that a re-fuel in required for them to be as ready for the 2nd part of the day as they were when they first arrived at school in the morning.