Find another school as soon as possible. It is not acceptable for kids this age to be expected to sit and do (probably) inappropriate work all day. Find a program where most of the day is spent in play, the kids are allowed to make lots of choices, and your child will feel challenged to use her imagination and develop appropriate skills. There should be a minimum of time spent in whole group activities . Adults should focus on helping kids expand their play.There should be a variety of hands-on materials to stimulate the senses and allow children to imitate what they see in the real world. There should be lots of books and materials to practice reading and writing. She should have opportunities to play with dolls, do puzzles play in mud and be a child.

I’m with EC Expert and Emily. Check out some different preschools. This is not developmentally appropriate for children this age. Your child is very normal to want to up and moving, and her preschool experience should provide lots of constructive moving, hands on experiences. Find a preschool that has a schedule for the children that allows for the most time doing free-choice activities. There should be some structured activity, but probably not more than about one 20 minute sit down activity, one 15 minute very active music and movement activity, and a 10 or 15 minute greeting circle for the whole group. There should also be some time for outdoor play everyday, even if it’s just going for a walk for 20 or 30 minutes. Materials should be available in the room that allow the children to explore and develop their own knowledge during their free-choice time.

Preschool programs generally do not consist of sit down work all day long, all though if there are pre-k aged children in the program, in addition to preschoolers, it may be possible that the teacher is preparing the pre-k aged children for kindergarten without breaking the class into groups (like he/she should do).

Generally, a preschool program would have the following:

Indoor circle/story time (sit down listening time)

Indoor craft/activity time (hands on sit down time)

Outdoor play time (move around time)

Indoor center/activity time (move from center to center; hands on time)

Nap/rest time (quiet sit down or lay down time)

As for getting a child to sit still for a long period of time and do their work, there is no easy way to do that, which is why preschool programs generally don’t require it of preschoolers. The average 3 year old has an attention span of 15-20 minutes at a time, and the average 4 year old 20-25 minutes at a time, so expecting much more than that is difficult.

I would talk to the child’s teacher about his/her plans for the class, it could be that he/she does not have enough volunteers for hands on activities that they would like to incorporate into the class. Generally when preschool programs resort to busy seat work, it is because of a problem, either financial, staff related, or otherwise. Be upfront with the teacher, approach the teacher, and ask if there is anything you can do to help, if you are interested in doing so.

No, It is not normal for a preschool program to expect or even want the children to sit down most of the day. I think you should look around at more preschools.

Preschool should be filled with variety — outside play, art projects, role playing, and seat work practicing numbers, letter, & colors. My son’s preschool does no more than 2 30-minute seat work projects per day. Preschoolers need to play, play, play. It’s the best way to learn. It sounds like you’re correct to be concerned. Maybe this isn’t a good preschool for your daughter (or most children, for that matter).