Surely the teacher would prefer careful, neat work, to rushed mess?! Sounds like you need to negotiate a deal with the teacher so that he can take unfinished work home, if it really needs to be finished, rather than lose out on play- a 5-year old shouldn't be punished for being careful and neat, and certainly shouldn't be losing their play time!
I also wanted to clarify -- the play time is inside their classroom with blocks & legos & such, that he is losing out on (not recess time). I have told the teacher to send the work home (and she has been doing that, though reluctantly), but she also says that he should learn to complete it in class, "within the time given and not make everything into a project" (her words). I've repeatedly asked her to try differentiating (my son seems very bored when he is asked to do worksheets like word families) -- but she says unless he can prove that he can do boring worksheets consistently, she will not give him engaging work. He has been assessed by the school district (through the WJ -III at the beginning of K) and his scores puts him easily at the end of 1st grade level.
He has been asked to work through playtime and work at home, if it is not complete. 4 other people in his class also seem to have similar issues (not completing work, losing out on playtime etc). That does mean though that the majority of the class (about 13 or 14 of them is able to get the work done, even if it is not done neatly)
He is much more engaged when reading a book or discussing a book or an idea or a math concept or just talking about bugs/whatever else the other person is interested in.
Tell the teacher to stop wasting your child's time with this ridiculous busywork.
Also, don't let anyone try to persuade you that your child has some kind of disorder just because your child is not conforming with someone's unreasonable expectations.
Yes, a lot of it is busywork. I am not sure how to tell her that without sounding disrespectful. I tried to bring it up once, but she said she has to complete the curriculum and that he has to learn to do the busy work. Sometimes, the teacher sends notes like "____ had a difficult time today and was not focused......". My son reads the entire note during pack up time (his reading speed is very good as well) and tells me on the way back home sadly. He also says he was focused, but is now thinking he is "slow". This breaks my heart, but I am trying to approach it more objectively.
