By Brenda Sexton, The Courier-Herald

Westwood Elementary School kindergarten teacher LeeAnn Paschich said she would have been delighted if her students knew their upper and lowercase letters and a few "high-frequency" words before they left her classroom in June.

Last week her full-day students were stringing together written sentences and reading simple words.

"I'll never go back," the third-year kindergarten teacher said, commenting on the Enumclaw School District's switch to a districtwide, full-day kindergarten program. With the first six months under its belt, the district recently released statistics to support the change - statistics that show this year's kindergartners, academically, are ahead of their previous half-day counterparts.

Recent statistics from the district reveal nearly seven out of 10 kindergartners tested this fall met or exceeded the standard for recognizing letters and the concepts of print pre-reading skills, marking a 20 percent increase over last year and a five-year high.

The district said kindergarten teachers report nearly eight out of 10 students performing at or above grade level in reading and writing. Writing is assessed by a student's ability to demonstrate writing that includes letters, occasional known words, spaces between words or word-like clusters, and the understanding of writing from left to right and top to bottom.

Traditional half-day kindergarten programs celebrated students recognizing most letters, writing a few words, or labeling pictures by the end of the kindergarten year. At the mid-point of this school year, many kindergarten students in the Enumclaw School District full-day program are currently producing writing that includes a clear understanding of many consonant letters at the beginning and ending of words, one or more complete sentences, and some correctly spelled high-frequency words.

"Kids in kindergarten class are now doing what my first graders were doing," said Jennifer Longmire, a kindergarten teacher at Westwood. She has taught for eight years, most of them in first grade.

Longmire said she's seeing all levels improve. For example, even her students with language barriers are putting together complete written sentences. She anticipates every student in her class will advance to first grade with the ability to produce a sentence on paper.

The district is providing targeted instruction to those who may be struggling. Most of the students, district curriculum director Chris Beals said, are meeting or exceeding those targets. He believes the district has lifted every student.

"Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined seeing this level of reading and writing in kindergarten," Paschich said.

"I'm thrilled with the capabilities I've seen," she said. "I'm a mother and it makes me almost sad my kids didn't get to experience this."

Plain and simple, much of the success is due to more time with teachers. But it's not just a longer school day, it's been a change in curriculum. A curriculum geared more toward reading and writing.

"It's harder for the experienced teachers," said Sunrise Elementary kindergarten teacher Merla Jean, in her 26th year of teaching. Jean taught the district's former full-day, paid kindergarten classes. "For the teacher it's a whole new thought process."

"I can't imagine teaching a half day with this curriculum," she said.

The writing program includes model writing, where students help teachers put together sentences as a group concentrating on capitalization, letter and word placement, punctuation and spelling. Students also do independent writing where they write about things of importance in their lives.

In the reading program, for example, students match sentence blocks in patterns to tell the story already presented in pictures. Teachers also read aloud to students and students read independently with a "just right" book, that may include a simple word like "toy" and a picture.

Jean's counterpart at Sunrise Elementary, Jenny Sue Adams, agrees the curriculum would never fit in a half-day program.

"I really do think my kids are further along," said Adams, who has been teaching for 30 years. "It's amazing. I really do think this program's amazing.

"By the time they get to first grade it's going to be different," Adams said. "I'm really sold on the program."

"It will impact first grade teaching," Paschich said.

"The first grade teachers, they're going to see a different group of kids coming up," Jean said.

District officials are prepared. Assistant Superintendent Mike Nelson said the district will begin training sessions for first-grade teachers in March and again in June.

"It's fun to see them so excited," Adams said. "I never had kids writing like this at this time of year. I like the program and I like the writing.

"I think when the parents see it they'll be our biggest supporters because it's phenomenal."

Westwood parent Connie Nielsen is sold.

"It's amazing to me and I was against it," she said. "I did not want my kid going to full-day kindergarten. I didn't think he was ready."

Nielsen admitted at first there were days when her son would come home tired and crabby, but those are few and far between these days and she said the benefits are much greater.

"I'm just ecstatic at what he's learned," Nielsen said. She said there is no comparing the level her kindergartner is at now to her son who was a kindergartner three years ago. "I've been converted.

"It's hard for you to grasp. I thought they were going to teach the half-day curriculum and spread it out, and if that was the case, I'd rather have my son at home, but that's not the case."

She volunteers in class to gain extra time with her son.

"I still miss the time with him as a mom, but he's so excited to be here," she said. "I miss being with my child. I miss that age you don't get that back, but I'm getting a little more sold as we go.

"I'm still not sure if it's for everybody. They are awfully young," she said.

Some parents took the district's option to create a limited program.

Deanna Olney was one of a number of parents who asked the district to provide them with options to the full-day program. At one time the district was prepared to offer a half-time class, but the number of requests came up shy of filling it.

Olney and others came up with their own solution, keeping their kindergartners home two days a week. For them it's working out well. She said she appreciates the district's flexibility.

"Good communication with the teacher is vital," said Olney, whose son is at Westwood. "Our teachers have been very, very supportive."

Her son spends his days away from school with mom at home doing activities or spending time with his grandpa.

Olney and some of the other mothers said they didn't feel their children were suffering or behind academically missing two days a week.

Kindergarten teachers said their full-day charges are excited and enthusiastic, even as the day wears on. Most teachers gauge their young students and plan quiet times where they can rest, read quietly or listen to a story, but most teachers said "they don't need it."

The full-day configuration has other benefits as well. Teachers said they have more time to spend with students.

"I know my students so much better," Paschich said. "I have time to spend with them. I don't have 50 kids anymore."

Although classes are large, with several close to 24 students, the bond is much deeper, Jean said.

"The one thing I do really like is we don't rush through the day," she said. "We get a chance to catch our breath, spend time with them and get to know them."

Brenda Sexton can be reached at bsexton@cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/courierherald