My daughter attended a progressive play-school during kindergarten and now that she is grade one, I enrolled her to a traditional school. From two and a half school hours, she will be spending eight hours in school now. What can I do to help her cope up with the sudden change of school environment and school hours.

Hi Jaymee, just like you. I did the same thing to my daughter. When she was in playschool her classes starts at 8am til 11:30am she ride the bus on the way home. I prepare her for this since she will be doing the same thing whe she enters grade school. During the first week of regular classes. It was very tough for her not to adjust from the time & time travel, but more on how can she manage the homeworks. Her classes starts at 7:15-1:10pm for grade 1. And at the third & fourth quarter there will be days her classes will be longer. For example on Tuesdays & Thursdays her classes will be from 7:15-2:00pm with 6:30am mass. She even take the bus on the way home and mostly arrived at 2:30-3pm the latest. She still has energy for playing and homeworks. Normally we never encounter problems in terms of the time as the school promise to us they will make our daughters enjoy the rest of the day without noticing the time. And indeed it's true! Believe me she will not notice it! Your daughter will enjoy playing with her classmates during break time. :) She will adjust. Although the moms are normally the most worried one. I feel that way too before thinking how can she survived her first year in grade school. But indeed she was able to survived with flying colors! Straight A's from first up to last quarter of the school year. :) Now we are in Grade 2 and her classes starts at 7:15-2:10pm. By the way she's only 6 years old turning 7 this year. :) I'm sure your daughter can too! :) Just encourage her and don't show her you are concern about the time. Encourage her that she will have plenty of friends and that means more play time especially during PE. :)