The more dramatic and universal shift, teachers and experts say, is the mixing of academics with play time. Where once children spent much of the day in unstructured play with the aim of improving social skills, today kindergarten classes pepper play with literacy and math lessons. It's a lot more structured. So, for example, kindergarteners playing house might be given pads of paper to take phone messages with, or perhaps for making a grocery list. When they play with blocks, kindergarteners are now urged to write signs for buildings or streets.
Some experts worry about overly prescriptive playtime.
They need to have opportunities to explore, discover and let their curiosities unfold. In Mrs. Singleton's classroom at Gorrie Elementary School, the mixing of social skills learning and academic rigor is evident. There are still cubby holes, still crates of blocks. But every bit of matter, including the cubby holes and blocks, is labeled, the better to speed word recognition. And signs posted around the room explain the purpose behind activities like blocks, once viewed simply as toys.