School Day

My second-grade daughter went to school the other day and made potions in her Harry Potter class. My son's class of fourth- and fifth-graders wrote movie scripts, filmed them and learned how to edit them on the computer. At their Alexandria public school, my kids have learned how to sail, designed entire cities in cardboard, built skyscrapers with toothpicks and marshmallows, performed in a musical and built and set off rockets on the front lawn. They've created passports and had them stamped after "visiting" countries...

THE DISTRICT D.C. schools extend academic year by a day The District's school system has extended the academic year by one day to make up for classes missed because of inclement weather, officials said Tuesday. The school year had been scheduled to end with a half-day of instruction on June 20. That will now be a full day of instruction, and classes will continue for a half-day on June 21. In addition, June 3 — previously scheduled as a parent-teacher conference day — will be a regular school day. Schools will make arrangements for the...

Regarding the Sept. 24 editorial "More time for learning" : In criticizing the Chicago Teachers Union for not embracing the idea of a longer school day, The Post revealed its ignorance of the reality of a school teacher's life. The "many" teachers who have agreed to the proposal are self-sacrificing to the point of martyrdom. I wonder if they have been cowed by incessant union-bashing into thinking, "At least I have a job. " To extend by 90 minutes time spent instructing students, an effective teacher would need at...

I have two boys who love their sports, and as they get older they spend more and more time on the playing fields. Practices run longer and later into the evening and occur more frequently each week. Many nights, one of my sons gets home after 8:30 p.m., without having eaten dinner. It seems like yesterday this was their bedtime! Needless to say, I find it trickier to feed them a sit-down, balanced meal every evening. I know I am not alone in this scenario; there are scores of boys (and girls)

School hours in the United States were developed during the 19th century, in part to allow students to help their families with farm work in the afternoon. We are no longer an agrarian economy, but most schools still get out around 3 p.m. It's time for a change: Schools should remain open until 5 or 6 p.m. The result would be better-educated students and less-stressed parents. A longer school day, especially if combined with other steps such as intensive tutoring and frequent feedback to teachers from administrators, could improve academic...

Regarding the April 24 Metro article about a longer school day in some Prince George's County schools [" A little more time before the last bell "]: While many people assume that teachers spend most of their day engaged in classroom instruction, many years of classroom experience have taught me that the opposite is true: Effective teachers spend most of their working hours outside the classroom. Why? Because the magic in the classroom is not magic; it's the result of hours of careful preparation.

LENGTHENING CHICAGO'S notoriously short school day is a linchpin of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's agenda to improve the city's public schools. Lining up behind the idea are parents, the city's political and civic leadership, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and — significantly — many teachers, who think it will help them and their students. The only opponent of this sensible plan is the teachers union. Upset that teachers at a growing number of schools are taking Mr. Emanuel (D) up on his offer of a bit of extra money for...

The noisy chatter associated with an elementary school assembly quickly came to a halt Friday afternoon as Manassas Ballet Theatre dancers emerged onto a small stage in Potomac View Elementary School's cafeteria. Dancer Vadim Slatvitskiy, dressed in white with a ballerina lifted onto his shoulder, glided with ease to center stage. Mesmerized, the students began the "oohs" and "aahs" as they got a sneak peek at the ballet company's rendition of the holiday classic "The Nutcracker.

At a time when home is not always a sanctuary and the streets are claiming so many of their peers, students have formed a prayer club at Ballou Senior High School, where they come together before the bell rings for breakfast and help from above. "When you wake in the morning and are mad and you are upset, you can come in and have some Gospel and some prayer, and have a happy day," said LaShell Frye, 17, an honors student who took part in the first gathering of the group last month.

Times are tough, particularly in our schools. We don't have the money, beleaguered education officials say, for every student who wants to play games after class. Some school sports have to go. Loudoun County is talking about cutting junior varsity lacrosse and all freshman sports. Fairfax County's proposed budget would end girls' gymnastics. Other teams are in jeopardy. The public high schools can't afford them anymore. And yet many people who reflect for a moment will remember their own school days and see this...

The District's school system has extended the academic year by one day to make up for classes missed due to inclement weather, officials said Tuesday. The school year was initially scheduled to end with a half-day of instruction on June 20. Now that will be a full day of instruction and classes will continue for a half-day on June 21. In addition, June 3 — previously scheduled as a parent-teacher conference day — will now be a regular school day. Schools will make arrangements for the parent conferences to occur at...

What started as a parent's request to add a bicycle rack outside Wolftrap Elementary School in Vienna has become a community-wide effort to increase the number of students walking or biking to school. "The origins were somewhat personal in that I wanted my kid to be able to lock up her bike at school," said Vienna resident Jeff Anderson, a father of three who has led the effort in town. "My oldest was a first-grader [in spring 2008], and I said, ‘Hey, can we get a bike rack, and [the principal]

At first blush, Julia King's middle -school classroom at D.C. Prep Public Charter School seems like any other middle school. Seventh-graders are busy reviewing math skills that they struggled with on a recent test. Walls are plastered with motivational posters: "Willpower, Improve, Never Give Up!" But look more closely. Something else is going on here — something that would have seemed more familiar to these 12- and 13-year-olds' great-grandparents. Fourth- through eighth-graders at this...

B y the thousands, people who thought they were uniquely clever called it March Madness, and just as many with long memories wagged their fingers with talk of some year in the past century when it snowed in April. But for most people in the Washington region, Monday's late-season snowfall was a pain in the tuchis. It felt like winter's afterthought, a belated delivery of something most people dread in the heart of the season and few were ready to entertain after three cold, dreary months bereft of ...

Six pedestrians, at least three of school age, were injured by vehicles in the Washington area during Tuesday morning's rain and gloom. None of the injuries was believed to be life-threatening. The incidents occurred on the second school day after the start of daylight saving time advanced sunrise to about 7:20 a.m. In the first incident, a woman was hit at 7:11 a.m. at 15th and L streets NW in the District, police spokesman Paul Metcalf said. The other incidents were reported by Montgomery...

Nine aspiring charter school operators have submitted applications to open in the District as early as fall 2014, according to proposals posted on the Web site of the D.C. Public Charter School Board. The proposals, which were due March 1, include three alternative high schools for at-risk young adults and two Montessori programs for younger children. They also include a Ward 4 middle school; an adult GED program in wards 5 and 8; a shuttered Ward 7 private school seeking to convert to public funding; and a...

Montgomery County's schools chief said Tuesday that he will form a work group to study later start times at public high schools, a move that comes two months after county parents launched a petition calling for opening bells at 8:15 a.m. or later. Superintendent Joshua P. Starr made the unexpected announcement at a county Board of Education meeting after parents delivered two thick binders containing 950 pages and more than 10,000 signatures supporting later high school start times.

At first blush, Julia King's middle -school classroom at D.C. Prep Public Charter School seems like any other middle school. Seventh-graders are busy reviewing math skills that they struggled with on a recent test. Walls are plastered with motivational posters: "Willpower, Improve, Never Give Up!" But look more closely. Something else is going on here — something that would have seemed more familiar to these 12- and 13-year-olds' great-grandparents. Fourth- through eighth-graders at...

The next D.C. teachers union contract will give principals and teachers greater flexibility to choose longer school days and a longer school year, Chancellor Kaya Henderson told the D.C. Council's Education Committee on Friday. The chancellor called additional class time a "key strategy" for boosting achievement and one that has been used at many high-performing public charter schools in the city. Committee Chairman David Catania (I-At Large) agreed that extended school time is necessary to...

Healthier eating could mean the end of soda vending machines in public middle and high schools in Fairfax County. According to school officials, soda machines are turned on only after school hours and during weekends and holidays. But parent advocates for healthier diets say having the machines in schools sends the wrong message to students. "Even if it is not available during the school day, it's still there, advertised all day," said JoAnne Hammermaster, president of the parent advocacy group...