Hey amazing educators! 🍎 How do you think a 4-day school week would impact your teaching and your students' learning experiences? Do you teach at a school with a 4 day school week? Share your thoughts and insights below! Let's spark a discussion on how we can make education even more effective and enjoyable. 💬 #4DaySchoolWeekChat

My school has a four-day school week, and it is amazing! I was teaching here for the transition, so I saw the difference.

Unlike what most people expect, I found I was actually able to make it through more material with a four-day school week than I did with a five-day school week. For one thing, students came to school rested after a three-day weekend and did not beg for "free days." After all, my students have a day to catch up on any unfinished work and still have two days left of the weekend. For another thing, after the change, our schooling was not interrupted nearly as much by the travel schedule for football or track, which almost always included Fridays. (Small school--a large percentage of the student body in sports.) Yes, our school days are longer, but we are content having longer school days rather than more of them.

My school offers "Friday school" on two Fridays a week for students who want to come in to make up work or to make up missing "seat time." This is especially advantageous for our less advantaged students who need access to technology or tutoring in order to complete their work. We have the funding to pay a teacher who volunteers to be there for this.

For myself, it was nice to have the freedom to schedule appointments on Fridays instead of having to take sick days. (This worked until doctors decided that four-day work weeks were a good thing, anyway.) In addition, I could work on any extra grading and lesson planning on Friday and thus still have my two-day weekend to rest, most weeks. Before, with a five-day school week, I had found myself using a good percentage of my weekends to complete school work, especially when grading essays.

Once a month, we teachers are required to come in on Fridays for contracted in-service or "work days," but it is nice that these in-service days now do not interrupt the normal student routine.

Overall, I am very satisfied with the four-day school week, both for my own mental health and also for the improvement I have seen in my students.

Would love to have that be the norm. Even independent work for students on the friday or Monday.

I think I would be a more effective teacher with a 4-day school week. Two days is not enough to rest and feel refreshed and ready for a new week by Monday! 😔

I think it would decrease absenteeism of students and teachers

I would LOVE a 4-day work week! We could have more fun, even use art to support math or literature lessons, but right now we don't have time for that in our day. Plus, I could use the 5th day for planning and prep. I would get 2 days off - IMAGINE THAT! - 2 whole days off. My students would get a much happier teacher on their 4 days!

How do the elementary parents handle child care

I teach in a Catholic school. Parents pay high tuition to send their kids here. If we had a 4 day week, they would have to find childcare and pay that on top of tuition. I would LOVE a 4 day work week, but worry about the cost for our families. Some parents work extra jobs to be able to send their kids to our school. Add the extra cost of childcare and that would be harder for them.

We're doing year 'round school now, and I love it. We get three weeks off in the summer, but our other breaks are longer and more frequent.