My son had kindy at a public charter last year. They had no homework, few worksheets, lots of free time to play in class, no card pulling/sticker charts (teacher is an Alfie Kohn fan, and it seems to be pretty standard for his school). The discipline I've observed involved discussing with kids what happened, teaching kids to be assertive with other kids, community building (because they believe that strong communities sort of self police), negotiating compromise between children, allowing kids who are bouncing off the walls and distracting others to have extra physical activity (usually involving them in a helpful "job" than needs to be done like sweeping the floors or something - not in a punitive way, though), etc. It's not a very common find, but I think it's one of the better school environments I've seen.
post #21 of 21
4/18/08 at 11:50pm
