To nap or not to nap? What do you think?
 

Time may be up for naps in pre-K class
Educators under pressure to make school more rigorous

James A. Parcell / The Washington Post
Nap time in Prince Georges County for prekindergarten kids may be stopped by school chief Andre Hornsby. Four-year-old kids at Hoffman-Boston Elementary School in Arlington, Va., prepare for their naps by putting mats down. Harit Krishan was one of the first to fall asleep.
By Nancy Trejos

Updated: 12:02 a.m. ET March 15, 2004After lunch and snacks, alphabet and story times, the lights go off. Sixteen tiny bodies sprawl on a sea of red foam mats, the sounds of classical piano coaxing them to sleep.

And there they stay, tucked under Spider-Man and Powerpuff Girls blankets, until teacher Chantay Wynn switches on the lights 45 minutes later. "Come on, get up," Wynn chides 4-year-old Steven Dieu, lifting him from his mat. "Open your eyes."

It's a daily ritual for the pre-kindergarten students at Hoffman-Boston Elementary School in Arlington, as it is at countless schools across the country. But in the increasingly urgent world of public education, is it a luxury that 4-year-olds no longer can afford?

By asking that question, a few leaders of Washington area school systems have begun to challenge one of the pillars of the early school experience: afternoon naps.

"Nap time needs to go away," Prince George's County schools chief André J. Hornsby said during a recent meeting with Maryland legislators. "We need to get rid of all the baby school stuff they used to do."

Hornsby wants to convert his pre-kindergarten classes into a full-day program. If he secures the funding to begin that next fall, there will be no mats or cots allowed, he said. In Anne Arundel County, where full-day pre-kindergarten is in place, Superintendent Eric J. Smith also has opted not to build nap time into the schedule.

Educators including Hornsby and Smith find themselves under growing pressure to make school more rigorous -- even in the earliest grades -- in the belief that children who are behind academically by the time they are 6 or 7 have a difficult time catching up. "The time is very precious," Smith said. "When they come into first grade or kindergarten for the first time, they learn within a few weeks of the school experience that they're not as capable, and that's a burden that is extremely damaging."

'They have to rest their minds'
Critics of eliminating school naps say the reality is that many 4-year-olds don't get enough sleep at home. There are piano lessons, soccer practices and other scheduled activities during the day, and many kids stay up past their bedtime because their parents come home late from work and want to talk or play.

"Kids are often kind of overscheduled even as toddlers, even as preschoolers," said Kenneth A. Haller, assistant professor of pediatrics at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

"We are a sleep-deprived society," agreed Stephen H. Sheldon, director of the Sleep Medicine Center at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

Typical 4- and 5-year-olds need 10 to 12 hours of sleep, and if they don't get that at night they will likely fall asleep during the day, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. The amount of sleep a school-age child needs decreases each year, and the need for naps diminishes after age 3, pediatricians say.


James A. Parcell / The Washington Post
Kids read for a few minutes before lights out.
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Most evenings, Adrian Moreno tries to get his son, David, to fall asleep by 9 p.m. The goal is to wake David at 7 a.m. to get him ready for pre-kindergarten at Hoffman-Boston, where administrators continue to support naps. But David, who recently turned 5, has a 3-year-old sister, and the two often keep each other awake playing games until 10 p.m. or so, Moreno said.

It's no wonder that on a recent rainy day, David was fast asleep soon after Wynn switched off the classroom lights.

"I think they need to sleep a bit," Moreno said. "They're small. They have to rest their minds."

Nia Baker, 4, wakes up around 6:30 every weekday to get ready for day care and later spends almost three hours in pre-kindergarten at Seabrook Elementary School in Prince George's, said her mother, Aisha Baker. Then she goes back to day care until 6 p.m., when Baker, a single mother and a cashier at a D.C. restaurant, picks her up.

The rest of Nia's evening usually goes like this: She eats dinner, reviews what she learned in school for about 20 minutes, plays a little, then watches TV for 10 minutes. Bedtime is 7:30 p.m.

"You get tired," Nia said, reflecting on her schedule.

Nia gets a 30-minute nap at day care, which her mother appreciates. "They need a break to take a nap and get rejuvenated," Baker said.

Education vs. child-care
But support of naps is hardly unanimous.

"Do all 4-year-olds need naptime? The answer is certainly no," said Ari Brown, a pediatrician in Texas and author of the book "Baby 411."

Smith, who came to Anne Arundel County in July 2002 from Charlotte, is a firm believer that pre-kindergarten students don't need naps. His teachers and principals urge parents to make sure the children get enough sleep at home. In place of nap time is "quiet learning time," during which students look at books or play with puzzles, said Barbara Griffith, coordinator of the county's early childhood programs.

If they do fall asleep, the teacher doesn't wake them. But the message is clear: "This is not a child-care program. It's an educational program," Griffith said.

In effect, kindergarten is becoming more like first grade, teachers say, which makes preschool more like the kindergarten of yesteryear. "When I was in preschool, I remember learning socialization skills," Wynn said. "By the time they get to kindergarten, they have to hit the ground running."

Wynn followed a recent "quiet time" -- what many schools now call any break in the school day -- with a rhyming drill. By the end of pre-kindergarten, Wynn's students have to master seven skills, from writing their names to memorizing words in a sentence to matching words that rhyme. She tests them each fall and spring to track their progress.

Zahava Johnson teaches two pre-kindergarten classes at Seabrook Elementary, each almost three hours long, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Johnson said her students stop paying attention to her lessons after 15 minutes. So she offers an occasional respite with fun activities, like singing a song about trains.

If she teaches a full-day class next year, she said, she wants the students to take a nap. Or at least take a break from the learning. "This is an introduction to school, and to have them work like a 6-year-old, I don't think that's going to work," she said.

Seabrook Principal Marvel Smith is more supportive of Hornsby's move to eliminate naps. "They can't be babied," she said. "These are young minds. We have to take advantage of this early stage when they grasp everything."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4529056/

Don't take away the babies naps! I have a real problem with extending their school day to full-time and taking away nap time. First of all, preschool is a big adjustment for them. Also, has he ever taught children that age?? Um, it's exhausting. The teacher needs a break and so do they.

I agree, Soror. I think it's foolishness.

Why does pre-K need to be more rigrous? This will be disasterous. They're just little kids, let them get some rest. :mad:
I never appreciated nap time when I was a child but I wish that it could be instituted on the adult level. :D

a great example of teaching to the test.v :rolleyes:
4 year olds NEEED naps.

I remember kindergarden being a full day (from 8 to 3) and we still had naptime as well as 3 recesses! :D This was during the early eighties.

We didn't have pre-k classes though (or not available in the public school)

The following quote in the original article bugged me:

But they ARE babies!! You can't make them grow any faster by extending their school day!!

Here's another one:
Doesn't this defeat the purpose of the full-school-day-without-rest idea?

I needed naps growing up, as did my cousins, etc. It had nothing to do w/ "overscheduling" and everything to do w/ being a 4-year-old.

IMHO, someone's getting a tad too ambitious down there in the wrong direction....

Adrienne
:)

Same here, expect I was in the mid-70s. I think we had 2 recesses.

I loved my little red mat!
 

We as adults even need to take naps during our busy days. So many studies have shown that taking time to rest during a work day ( adults and children) significantly helps our productivity and our personal health.
What "André " doesn't realize is that taking this away he will have more children missing school due to illness and even when they are in class they will not be paying attention anyway due to the lack of rest.

Pre-K (for 4 year olds) is already a full day in Georgia. It is available free of charge from private schools (including religious) and day care centers who meet certain requirements or public schools. The GA Lottery pays for it. I'm not sure if they have nap time or not, but I think they should. I am all for extending the day for ALL children.

On a related topic, I also think they need to bring back RECESS for kids. There was a bill up for debate in GA recently (that did not pass, BTW) asking for mandatory recess. Opponents felt it took away from academic time.

Girl someone in Congress needs to handle that.


Oh and I was in kindergarten in 1980, 1/2 day.

The babies need naps.

Let me ask this because I am not a parent. Is pre-K in public schools or is this still day care? If it is still day care, there are some babies who are there from 6 in the morning til 6 in the evening. They need at least 2 naps for a 12 hour day. Their learning attention span is not very long at all. Shoot most adults have like a 15 minute attention span.

Naps very necessary
 

I can remember back to 1967-68, when I was in Fleur de Lis nursery school in San Diego. I loved nap time. And I think I may have also gotten naps in 1969-70, when I was in kindergarten.

:D

^5. So true. Everybody is frettin' and sweatin' about childhood obesity -- wouldn't it make sense to have the kidpeople EXERCISE and run around? That's what I remember recess being about.

Re: I loved my little red mat!
 

and THAT'S precisely why i find time for naps!! man, i LOVE having a field job...:p :D ;)

Lawd have mercy yall old! I wasn't even born when you all were in kindergarten. :eek: ;) :p :o

Now you KNOW you ain't (yep, ain't) right fa dat!!!

I'm still CTFU at Dio's comment, though. I'm almost 40. I'm not skurred to admit it.
:p

Soon the government will be at your birthing bed to scoop up your child and dictate how they will live their lives from Day 1.

Now see.....
 

The children DEFINITELY need naps. I would hate to be picking up a cranky four year old after a full day of school. Heck everyone needs mandatory naps, right after lunch if I had my way. Doesn't make any sense to be running around all day cause we know we aren't sleeping well at night. That's just CRAZY. If they get rid of naptime I think the powers that be need to be responsible for handling a ROOM full of tired and pissed off children.

one of my good friends teaches kindergarten that is all day and he doesn't give them nap time. i was shocked when i heard htem say that. when i went it was half day and we had a small naptime/break thing. man, i wish i had naptime at work now!

They have pre-K in the NYC school system as well as in day care.

Let the babies sleep!!! Shoot, by 2:30, I'm begging for a nap.

A well rested child is a productive child.

What Hornsby seems to be neglecting (and I live in PG county, MD) is that children's minds, at that age, are not built to take in a lot of information without some down time. Without a nap, their little brains wont retain a good portion of what they've learned during the day. I would like to see what other developmental professionals have to say about this issue.

As a parent of a kindergartner, I say let the 4 year olds sleep. I did when I was in preschool. Shoot, I did it when I was in college.. lol.

Hornsby is my "super". :rolleyes: I can't believe his choice of words, "baby school stuff?" They are babies!!!

CT4, I know in my area (northern New Jersey), Pre-K is in the public schools. I know as the mother of a five year old kindergartener, she definitely needed a nap in Pre-K. She'd take a nap all day if it was up to me :D no, but I think we all need naps. Like someone already stated, kids' attention span isn't enough for them to take in a lot of information at once. I think they need a rest in between, especially if I feel I need a rest in between!

I've about had it with PG Public Schools.

Science experiment?
 

I am not a parent. But my "Soror Mom" is a Ph.D. in education and was an elementary school principal for many years... Based on her reading and her intepretations, children do need some time during the daytime hours to relax and they also need some time to rip and run.

To put different spin, University of Washington researchers just came out with research about the neurological development in infants to toddlers and how important caring and nurturing interaction is needed for a child to be "sane"--meaning without the use of narcotics to calm his or her ass down... Without that critical interaction, no matter how well the prenatal care was, neurological and psychological "general" development would be severely impaired. Meaning that at age 1.5 the kiddie outta be walking and talking...

The interesting view that I have is, wouldn't the kiddie be extremely tired without a nap when the parent picks them up from school? And as a parent, even though a kiddie would be cranky, at least by the time you'd get them home, they'ed be conked out for the night?

Basically, how fast does it take for these tykes to recharge their batteries??? 45 minutes??? So do you run them ragged before bed, or what?

I remember and appreciate those naps in pre-K and kindergarten. As evaclear04 put it, "...studies have shown that taking time to rest during a work day ( adults and children) significantly helps our productivity and our personal health".

So, why scrap nap? I think these measures are attempts on the part of the school systems to make up for their own failures (e.g. low test scores). Instead of employing better teachers and developing improved teaching techniques, these school systems are attempting a very risky 'short cut' and the children are being made to bear the burden of the incompetence of the administrations.

So was this guy successful in eliminating nap time?

Disclaimer: I'm not a parent or teacher. I also did not attend full-day pre-K or kindergarten; the school only offered a half-day program.

I'd think 4-year-olds would benefit from nap time. You can't expect a 4-year-old to sit at a desk for six straight hours doing drills. Nap time and recess break up the day. Nap time gives the kids a chance to relax and snooze and not have to process input for a few minutes. If there isn't an official nap time in a full-day program, there's probably going to be an unofficial nap time as kids doze off in mid-lesson.

I don't know, but he was successful at losing his job...

"Andre Hornsby left in late May under pressure from a federal investigation into outside contracts. When the new hire is made, it will be the county's third chief in six years. "

http://www.wtopnews.com/?sid=573478&nid=316

I used to be a Kindergarten Assistant. If we didn't do nap time - the kids would be crazy by the end of the day. Pre-K and Kindergartners need nap as well as snack time. Let them rest and most importantly - let them be kids. There's enough time to have to deal with the mess of this world.

Yeah, Hornsby was a piece of work. I've since moved to Va and its night and day, in terms of the school system.

I think every preschooler, pre k, and full day kindergartener needs a good nap. It works for them. Hell, it works for adults. I take a 20 minute nap when I get home, if I can. It helps to recharge me for the evening.. (Power nap, anyone?).

Bring back the nap!!

I had full kindergarten with recess and naps. We didn't do the cot thing but it definitely helped us. I know i would have been in the corner sleep somewhere if they didn't. And I went to a kindy class that had homework (writing letters , numbers, words) so even though we played, we did work (more than what some of my friends did @ the time) and we needed the nap!


It has been my personal mission to get 45 min nap time incorporated into the work day. Every job i have been in I have asked that. Yeah they look at me like I am nuts but they wish for it too :D