Very OT- Anyone a primary public school teacher? Need advice. (long)

I need some info about the new "play based learning" programs that are run in the public school system.  A little background:

I am a grade one teacher at a fairly large private school in Toronto. We are a pretty traditional school.  There is large group instruction, but also a lot of small group, and one-on-one work with the students.  I have individualized reading and writing groups, and my math program is largely based in hands-on activities.  We use a smartboard in class and I have tried really hard to let these activities be child-led.  The students all know how the board functions, and how to create simple pages on their own.  The students take control of the Smartboard each day and lead the "Morning Meeting" on their own, without my help. 
Currently, my children come with me to my school.  Emily will be starting JK next year, and Olivia will start grade one.  Currently we commute about 45 minutes-1 hour, and the drive is killing me.  I have to get the children up really early, and we get home so late that there is barely enough time for dinner and homework, before they need to go to bed.  Consequently, I am thinking of  putting my kids in the neighborhood school. 

HOWEVER......

Last night we went for the kindergarten orientation, and they were explaining the "play-based learning" program that they are very invested in.  This concept is pretty foreign to me, and I don't understand it. I am not as concerned with the JK/SK program, but when chatting with one of the teachers, I asked about the math program in grade one, and she explained that the "play-based learning" concept is expanded to include grade one.  They have absolutely no workbooks for math or phonics, the writing program consists of paper and pencils at each center for children to communicate about their play.  What if my child doesn't gravitate towards writing, how do teachers in this environment keep track of how often she is visiting the writing center and if the center is being used properly?

I am not criticizing, I just don't understand it and am hoping someone can provide me with some good links to read about it, and/or a description of the concept from your personal teaching experience.  Thanks in advance.

At our school we have 'play based learning' in kindergarten but not to the same extent in Grade 1.  Basically the teacher teaches a lesson and then the kids go to centers to practice their skills, or do an activity that is related to the topic.  In kindergarten you are trying to develop their oral skills because that is the pre-cursor to reading and writing development.  However you can still teach the kids basic phonemic skils and how to hold a pencil properly.  At our school we are doing a phonemic reading program (pals- peer assisted learning strategies) with the kids.  My concern with your school program by the sounds of it, is that they are continuing with it in Grade 1.  It is imperative that in Grade 1 students know their sounds and can begin to start sounding out words.  If everything is play based, then where is the teaching?  We have a very limited window of opportunity to get kids to read and write before that gap is too big and students develop a low self efficacy about that subject.  
   As for math- everything should start with manipulatives- it does not depend on the grade.  From manipulatives you move into workbooks/math problems, or it is embeded into the teching with the manipulatives.  It is a great way to learn- I know from my own experience that I did not do well as a student in math because I did not understand the why of math.  I can plug in the numbers and get the right answers but have no ideas as to what it means.  With math manipulatives, it helps the students understand the why of math.
   Anyway hope this helps!  PM me is you would like to discuss further! 
 (PS- My second job is an AQ Course Instructor for Reading and Writing, and most of my reserach in the Masters Program at Queens has been in cognitive studies looking at reading difficulties)

I agree with what you are saying about the reading, and that is my major concern with the grade one program at this school.  My daughter is already reading fluently.  At the school where I work, our current jk/sk program continually produces fluent readers, and when I get them in grade one, they already have the mechanics of reading down pat (unless they are new to the school or have developmental delays), and I am responsible for enriching their comprehension skills.  All of my grade ones leave with a good understanding of how to make paragraphs and can write 3 paragraph stories (Begining, middle, and end).  I just don't think she will gain these skills in the program that has been outlined for me at the public school.

Math is most definitely best learned by the hands on approach, I agree.

It sounds like you have a great program running at your school, that is great.  I would be very concerned about the program that is being run at your daughters school in grade 1- kindergarten not so much b/c you can do things at home with them, but Grade 1- ugh!  You know yourself the demands, and how much those little ones move in one year.  Anyway good luck with your decision!

I can only speak to the Kindergarten component, and not necessarily the Grade One part here.  It sounds like they are gravitating towards small group learning and hands on learning rather than necessarily rote tasks.  The big push right now is towards knowledge economy -  the problem solving skills, the working together skills, etc and to me it sounds like they are integrating writing rather than it being an isolated activity.

I would assume if not using workbooks they would use reading folders or some other samples, porfolios etc.   It sounds to me like they are trying to include writing in every activity that they are doing (cross curricular) rather than there be just "writing time".  Sounds like they are trying to integrate it to ever centre and activity - meaningful writing.  I'm sure that the teachers must keep samples and work.  

Dawn

An interesting question. Not sure that this is the best place to ask it though. You might get a better answer by finding a parent group/forum who are very probably discussing this very issue, via google. I often send people here from other places on the net to get answers re bariatrics.

Yes, probably.  I just remembered from reading another post that there were quite a few teachers on here.