Besides preparing the young students for elementary school academically, the full-day program will also enhance the youngsters' social skills, according to a written statement issued by the Sunnyvale Elementary School District Board.

"The board felt that lengthening the school day was an important part of a child's educational progress," said Erika Tukeman, principal of Cherry Chase Elementary School in Sunnyvale.

Board members also took into consideration that a majority of the children in district kindergarten classes spend the afternoon in a day care program.

"We felt that instead of babysitting them, we should teach them," Tukeman said.

According to Sandra Skinner, assistant superintendent of learning and curriculum for the district, the board looked at both social and academic issues before making a decision.

The kindergarten program has historically had a shorter school day than the grade school program. According to Skinner, many disagree about how long a five-year-old child should stay in school each day. Despite differences of opinion, however, the teachers and principals unanimously supported the decision, she said.

"All the teachers were on the same page on this issue," Skinner explained.

Elementary school principals and teachers underwent extensive preparation and training to make the transition as smooth as possible. The school district made the decision three years ago to lengthen the school day, then formed a kindergarten committee made up of Tukeman and three other teachers to explore different aspects of the change.

"The district has bent over backwards to make this work," Tukeman said.

Academic preparation was just one facet of the full-day kindergarten schedule that concerned the committee members. Since pre-kindergarten is not a required or offered program in the district, many of the kindergarten students are attending a regular school for the first time.

"A lot of research was done to see how the full-day program works," said Joy Haas, kindergarten teacher at Cherry Chase, "and how to make it as developmentally appropriate as possible."

Haas added that extending school time by several hours each day for kindergarten-aged children, who are sometimes as young as 4 years and 9 months, should be a worthwhile effort. While she said that other states do not admit children so young, the state needs to look at social development at such an early age.

Some Sunnyvale schools started using the full-day program for part of the last academic year to teach some new skills to the kindergartners and to implement the committee's plans. Although the rest of the schools stayed with the half-day program at that time, all Sunnyvale elementary schools will be making the change to the full-day kindergarten program on Nov. 18.

All 80 San Miguel Elementary School kindergartners began to stay in school until 2:25 p.m. from January to June 2002.

"These kids had to learn a lot of new skills," Principal Brenda Guy said.

For these students, even going to the cafeteria for lunch was a new experience, she said. They were taught how to stand in line, get their food and be able to walk to a table holding the food-laden tray and seat themselves.

"We had volunteers and aides to help the teachers out," Guy added.

Besides learning to reinforce basic skills, teachers attended weekly staff-development meetings and high-scope training and workshops during the summer and school year to brainstorm classroom organization and strategies, Tukeman said.

After two years of training and development, the kindergarten teachers are ready to begin their new, full-day curriculum. A full day will provide a lot of opportunity for in-depth learning, Haas said.

"Now we have math one day and science the next day, " she said. "But on a full-day schedule we can do both of them every single day."

There will be downtime soon after lunch, including a read-aloud time, to provide the students a break during the day, Haas said. Although Haas has a futon and pillow in her classroom, she said resting is not encouraged, though it might be allowed if a child really needs it.

Art projects are extremely popular with the kindergartners. Haas said she has more artwork than her classroom walls can handle. However, she looks forward to having more time for art projects.

Music is another favorite among the young students, and the district has hired a music teacher for the kindergarten program. A combination of music and physical movement will be incorporated into the physical education program, Tukeman said.

"Kindergarten is a place for fun and learning," Haas said. "We want to encourage that and do more of that."