This Issue:

Table of Contents

Cover Story

Cover Story - Spanish Version

Mini-Lesson

Comprehension Quiz

Teacher's Guide and Worksheets

More Time for School

Spanish Translation

It's 3:00 p.m. at the Martin Luther King, Jr. School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. First graders are making English-muffin pizzas. Fifth graders are painting water lilies in the style of artist Claude Monet. The King students have been in school for seven hours. They still have one hour to go.

Simple Addition

Most U.S. students spend about six hours in school each day. King students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade spend two extra hours.

"Kids need time to achieve," says Christopher Gabrielli of Massachusetts 2020. The group helps schools start extended-day programs. So far, 19 schools in the state have longer days.

The Need to Succeed

Some schools feel pressure to lengthen the school day because of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law. Under NCLB, students must be tested each year. Schools that continue to fail can be closed.

In order to raise test scores, teachers have spent more class time on the tested subjects: reading and math. Art, drama and gym have been dropped from many school schedules.

But teachers at the King school are no longer squeezed for time. They teach math through cooking. They teach science through gardening.

Fifth grader Aleysia Smith weighs the good and the bad. "Sometimes, at the end of the day, I feel tired and grumpy," she told TFK. "But I'm learning a lot. And it's not boring." That sounds like time well spent.

Next: Imprints of The Past