Movies at School???

[kimellett]

Just found out that ds (5) was shown a movie today in kindergarten because it was raining and they couldn't go out and play. DS doesn't watch tv, and has only seen a handful of movies, and we always watch along with him to answer questions and discuss.

I plan to talk to the teacher to see if this will be a frequent occurrance, as it will probably rain a lot this winter. I want to be as diplomatic as possible, tho. Ideas? Suggestions??? I don't mind a movie here or there, but I suspect it will happen more than I'd like. I also don't want to have her find an alternate activity for ds...don't want to draw attention to him, make him feel embarassed, etc.

DH commented that the logic of cancelling recess (when kids get energy out!) and plopping them in front of a tv is severely lacking....

[SunshineJ]

Good luck to you. That's one of the many things we're delighted to leave behind at our old school! We are tv friendly, but not real Disney movie friendly. I cannot tell you how many movies my son was shown last year in kindy. I mean, I literally have no idea. We were NEVER told about them. Made for a rather sucky Christmas in a couple of things - we always get the kids a couple of new movies and here he is "I've already seen that one at school". Pfft! Plus, really, you can take up on average 30 min a week with fundraiser junk, fill up their time with movies (not just rainy recess but days close to a break when they didn't want to try to get the kids to focus) but you can barely give my son 15 min to eat lunch?? DH and I were not very impressed at all either. Hopefully you can get somewhere!

[~Charlie's~Angel~]

Is he in School like Kindergarden or daycare? Honestly, I was in daycare/school my entire life, and so was my sister. Both my children are in daycare, and they sometimes watch 45 mins or so of something maybe once every couple of weeks in my toddlers room. I don't see anything odd about it, or harmful. If you limit your sons TV viewing at home, then its probably safe to say he wont be getting any long term damage from the little bit he is viewing at school. But if you are seriously worried about him seeing any tv at all, I would take him out if school all together and get him into homeschooling. Because I dont know of any main-stream daycares or public schools that are 100% TV-less. kwim?

[mamazee]

They do this at dd's school when recess is canceled due to weather, too. At her school, the gym is being used for gym class for kids who aren't having lunch at that time. There isn't another indoor play area.

They try to get them outside for recess as much as possible, though. We have to dress them for the weather because it has to be pretty darn bad for recess to get canceled.

[hermionesmum]

I've never heard of movies being used to take up a rainy playtime. It's one of the reward options the class can earn as an end of term treat at our school, and as they get older school use some recorded programs for schools in class, and both of those are okay by me.

I don't think it would do any harm to ask the teacher how often she plans on doing that/what else has she got up her sleeve for wet weather or ask to vet what she plans showing. Good luck

[mommy2two babes]

It really bothers me but not for the same reasons.
DD is really scared of alot of movies.
The few times that they watched movies in her class last year she was so scared that she ended up wandering the hall with her teacher while the class watched. Another time she was given a book to look at in the dark

I know it is supposed to be a treat for the kids but I really don't think it belongs in the school.

[mamazee]

In my daughter's school, it isn't a treat. Teachers don't work over recess. That's their lunch time. If the kids can't go outside due to the weather, they have to do something. It isn't ideal but my dd's school anyway is just dealing with it in the best way they have at this time.

[AbbieB]

I think it completely unreasonable to expect that your child will not see a movie at least once a month in public school.

Activities get canceled, kids earn a movie treat, and sometimes teachers are out sick and subs play them.

We had laser disc installed one year (so totally outdated even at the time it was installed) and I can not tell you the pressure we got to use it. Our school was always coming up with ways to use the TVs and "technology" more. You scored big points, both brownie and evaluation wise, when you used the TV during a formal observation.

As a K/1 teacher we occasionally saw a film related to a book we read (James and the Giant Peach) or as a holiday party treat.

It never occurred to me to "inform" the parents. It was just part of that particular day's lessons and activities.

Sometimes I would play Reading Rainbow or a 15 minute Scholastic short (based on age appropriate picture books) as a treat while the kids ate lunch. FWIW the kids were eating lunch in the classroom to give them time to eat in a peaceful environment, the cafeteria was Lord of the Flies at our school.

[cyncyn]

Originally Posted by SunshineJ

Good luck to you. That's one of the many things we're delighted to leave behind at our old school! We are tv friendly, but not real Disney movie friendly. I cannot tell you how many movies my son was shown last year in kindy. I mean, I literally have no idea. We were NEVER told about them. Made for a rather sucky Christmas in a couple of things - we always get the kids a couple of new movies and here he is "I've already seen that one at school". Pfft! Plus, really, you can take up on average 30 min a week with fundraiser junk, fill up their time with movies (not just rainy recess but days close to a break when they didn't want to try to get the kids to focus) but you can barely give my son 15 min to eat lunch?? DH and I were not very impressed at all either. Hopefully you can get somewhere!

DDs school last year was like this. I don't even know how many movies her K class saw and the ones I know about (disney mostly) would not have been approved by me for watching at home. Worst was that she felt guilty for watching them. She didn't even want to tell me that she watched them as she knew I wouldn't approve. Some she didn't even want to watch. I talked to the teacher and dd was allowed to sit in the hall with a book if she didn't want to watch the movie. I didn't want to ban movies outright but I wanted dd to feel comfortable choosing to watch or not. They were frequently kept inside for recess if it was wet at all and it was a movie or duck duck goose in the gym.
She is at a new school this year where they earned a movie with a responsibility jar last week. It was a documentary on oceans mama approved.

[suabel]

I'll answer as a public school kindy teacher. I teach half day kindergarten. We are stressed to the max trying to fit in all of the instruction in 2.5 hours (totally another pet peeve, but another post--I don't write curriculum or standards of learning; I just teach). I nearly never show any video that isn't directly correlated to instruction. I just don't have time. If we can't go outside for recess, we play a game inside that supports our curriculum. However, I will say that I get a 30 minute lunch between AM/PM K, so it's not like the kids need an activity to soak up time.

My disclaimer is that the ONLY movie my kids were shown this year so far is "The Great Pumpkin" or whatever that Peanuts special is. The whole K team showed it as part of our pumpkin day celebration, while the kids enjoyed their popcorn. They had already done various science and math activities about pumpkins. This was the end of the morning. Parents knew ahead of time it would be shown. No one complained.

This week I'm showing a ten-minute kid-friendly video on Squanto before our activity where we teach the kids about planting corn. I don't have any notion that I ought to warn parents about that.

[pauletoy]

This is one of the pitfalls of having your child enrolled in a school. If you don't like the way they teach or care for your child, then change your situation. Homeschool or find another school that more closely agrees with your parenting style. If tv free is that important to you, then it is up to you to find a tv free alternative.

I really do not intend to this to sound harsh. I apologize if it comes across that way.

You see, My kids are in public schools. I don't always agree with the school system 100% but I do not expect them to change the way they do things for my child only. Our school watches movies on rainy days because the gym is used for PE and there is no other location inside the school for physical activity.

[nextcommercial]

Originally Posted by mamazee

In my daughter's school, it isn't a treat. Teachers don't work over recess. That's their lunch time. If the kids can't go outside due to the weather, they have to do something. It isn't ideal but my dd's school anyway is just dealing with it in the best way they have at this time.

Yep. Our schools rarely miss recess, and it almost never rains. But, it's not like there are a lot of other options for filling that time when the kids would normally be outside. They do the best they can.

I remember in the 70s, parents would come in on rain days and play games with us in the classrooms so the teachers could have a prep time. It's hard to find parents who can or will do that now. If the parents are at home, they usually have other kids at home and can't come take over recess.

Does anybody else remember the Jiminy Cricket movies that they played in schools? "I'm no fool, no siree.. I'm gonna live to be a hundred and three".

LOVED those things!

[spottiew]

I never would have seen a movie in Kindy... the first real movie (something other than a science film) I remember at school was about 4th grade and it was for a holiday party. If I ever was kept in for weather or other reasons, there would be organized things like 'Heads up, 7up'- actual play activities.
Maybe it's cause I live in Portland, OR, but I can't imagine recess cancelled due to rain... my preschooler has a full rain gear set complete with pants and they go out daily, even in the snow last year. Seems odd that a 2yo can do it, but not older?

[Rosebud1]

school time should be valuable learning time!

I was a Kindergarten teacher before I had my DD. Movies were extremely rare in my classroom. If they occurred, they were very short (15 minutes or less), related to the curriculum, and a big treat.

If you live in an area with rainy, inclement weather, I would be concerned. I personally would not be happy with constant movies either. Movies are "easier" in that you do not need a trained teacher to show them, and they give the teacher a break. But there are other alternatives -- kids can play board games, sight word bingo, etc etc. These things just take more initiative and aren't the (I have to say it) lazy way out in terms of supervision.

PS One thing I have noticed in children's movies today is sexual innuendo. I guess they want to appeal to the adults sitting in the audience with their kids, and they figure the kids won't get the joke anyway. Still think it's yucky.

[cyncyn]

Originally Posted by spottiew

Maybe it's cause I live in Portland, OR, but I can't imagine recess cancelled due to rain... my preschooler has a full rain gear set complete with pants and they go out daily, even in the snow last year. Seems odd that a 2yo can do it, but not older?

I know, we are out in all kinds of weather as a family. If we didn't go out in the rain, we would never go out lol. But at dd's school last year, the reason given for so many inside recess days was that many of the students did not have appropriate clothing for the weather. I know for a fact that several students in her class did not have a coat, even through the winter. Very sad, and I empathize with staff having to deal with no-win situations.

[mamazee]

Originally Posted by Rosebud1

These things just take more initiative and aren't the (I have to say it) lazy way out in terms of supervision.

I don't think it's fair to call it laziness. If the teachers aren't working at that time, then there are other people paid to supervise the children during recess, and not necessarily enough to supervise board game play, which I can say from experience takes a fair bit of supervision. Kids fight over board games like crazy, and you have to have quite a few board games going for the number of kids who would be involved at my dd's school at recess time. In her school, there are six classes of children in recess at a time.

[Rosebud1]

Just to clarify, the children in my school were sent back to their own classrooms in inclement weather. Teachers understood that they may not have use of their own classrooms during breaks in these circumstances. Teachers did have some resource materials set aside for their own classes. It just took a little extra planning and organization. Students benefited as a result.

IM(very humble and possibly wrong)O, if someone is not capable of supervising board game play, they are probably not capable of providing satisfactory playground supervision.

[WC_hapamama]

Originally Posted by Rosebud1

IM(very humble and possibly wrong)O, if someone is not capable of supervising board game play, they are probably not capable of providing satisfactory playground supervision.

Has it ever occurred to you that it could be a manpower issue?

I'm a noon supervisor at the local elementary school. During inclement weather, each class spends recess in their own classroom. At any given time during indoor recess, 1 adult is monitoring 3-4 classrooms at once. Since most of us can't clone ourselves or see through walls, being able to supervise board game play can be difficult.

It's much, MUCH easier for me to monitor 75 kids on a playground than it is for me to monitor the same 75 students split between 3 classrooms.

[Rosebud1]

WC_hapamama, thank you, you have a valid point. There may be very good logistical reasons for this decision.

I guess I am a little cynical because I have seen other teachers use movies excessively for the wrong reasons -- so they don't need to create a valid lesson plan for when they are absent, so they can work on something else prepatory during class time...

Commercial movies in the classroom in my mind are a time waster, and should be used sparingly.

[Deir]

I totally sympathize. My son has probably seen a total of 10 hrs of movies/tv his entire life. But his kindergarten class has does on occasion watch. I know this is accepted policy for rainy days at most schools (except Waldorf) I am trying to be ok with it and know that the 20 minutes of screen time here and there is still a drop in a the bucket to what the average kid is watching. I think people would stare blankly at me if i even broached the topic at Myles's school.