split class

[who said?]

what do you guys think about a split class dd was in it last year. it was fifth and sixth. they all did the sixth grade things except for s.s. and science.

 

[lee]

Is the class made up of fifth and sixth graders, or is it a fifth grade class working on a sixth grade level for most of the subjects?

 

[who said?]

made up with both fith and sixth.

 

[daisyduck123]

I can't really speak for the grade your dd was in, but I taught 1st/2nd combination classes for several years & it worked out great for all involved. I mainly taught the 2nd grade curriculum to everyone. The class was made up of about 16 average 2nd graders & 10 really advanced 1st graders.

 

[who said?]

Thats what they did . they took advanced fifth graders and taught the sixth grade things.it is soooo much easier this year because she basicly is doing the same math and other things.

 

[daisyduck123]

Thats what they did . they took advanced fifth graders and taught the sixth grade things.it is soooo much easier this year because she basicly is doing the same math and other things.

I'm glad she's having such a good year!

 

[Luv Bunnies]

This subject is a hot button for me! Four years ago, my sons' school combined with another that had split classes. The first year, the kids were kept with the teachers from their original schools so my oldest son was in a straight 2nd grade class. The next year, the entire school adopted the split philosophy so my oldest was in a 2/3 class for 3rd grade and my youngest son started kindergarten in a K/1.

I really don't like split classes as a rule because I don't think they work for every kid. Some kids do fine in that environment and others flounder. I've talked to several of the teachers about it and they agree that it can be tough to keep all of the kids learning at the right level and juggling the work for each group. In our school, they share the classes frequently so that all of the 2nd graders from two classes have math with one teacher while another takes all of the 3rd graders. They also have break out groups for science and social studies.

We thought of moving to another school, but there are aspects of the school that we do like. Plus, the 4th and 5th grades have straight grade classes and the teachers loop, which I think is very beneficial. Looping means that the 4th grade teacher will also teach the same groups of kids for 5th grade. The kids have the same class and teacher for 2 years, but they're all in the same grade.

When I was in elementary school (in the 70s, yikes!), there were a few split classes in my school. But the kids were carefully chosen to be in these classes for their ability to handle it. The 5th graders in the 5/6 class were generally the smarter kids who benefitted from exposure to the 6th grade work. I think split classes can work this way. I just don't think they necessarily work for every kid.

 

[northriver]

My son did mixed age classes for years at Montessori and I thiink it is a terrific system. It works like the old fashioned one room schools, where the advanced/older kids reinforce their knowledge by helping the younger ones, and the younger ones pick up on the information that the older ones are learning. Of course in either situation - you have the key ingredient - SMALL class sizes! Sounds like maybe that is the problem the PP is facing, too many kids and/or not enough staff.

 

[barkley]

both my kids are in a multi grade class room, and have been (for ds) since kindergarten. our (small) school splits into 2 classrooms- k-2nd, and 3rd-8th. the kids work at the level appropriate to their 'grade' and receive instruction at that level for most subjects, but for some subjects (history, social studies, science) they are exposed to what the higher grades are being taught as well. the teacher may be discussing a general topic about say 'thanksgiving' and begin the topic with the younger kids (while the older ones are working on something else), as she progresses in the discussion the older grades are brought into the discussion (but the younger ones are free to continue listening in). as a result we've seen both our kids get a much greater understanding of particular topics (way beyond what their 'grade appropriate texts would have them exposed to) and choose for some assignments to do more than is required of them (the teacher will make a blanket assignment of say a 'report on the first thanksgiving'-for the younger grades it may be only one page and have to include a couple of historical facts (actual dates, name a real participant), for the upper grades, much longer-more historical facts, include quotes and foot notes from 2 books they select). the teacher will NOT allow the younger ones to do 'more' unless they can demonstrate that they have the foundation and ability to do so (so no getting praises for 'going the extra mile' and writing a multi page report that is full of misspelled words and bad grammer-until you can do the shorter required version right, you can't do the longer one).

in the k-2nd classroom i saw that it realy benefited my son to be working at grade level, but constantly overhearing the reinforcement of basic skills. this year he's in the upper classroom, and he's constantly coming home and telling us how some math concept he learned will 'someday when i get older' be used as a part of a much more advanced concept (he's seeing that the skills do build on top of each other and will be used down the line).

i'm going to be interested to see what happens next school year-we will be moving out of state and i know i'm unlikely to find a comparable type of schooling situation for my kids, and i know any school we put them into is going to want to test them for an appropriate grade placement. right now the only way we can 'guage' what grade level they are working at is by what grade text they are working in, and how they test out on the IOWA test each year (our school does them at the begining of the year to see where the students 'test out' as compared to schools both in our area and across the u.s.-for the most part all the kids test out as being at the end of the grade they are currently in (and the test is given the first month of the school year) or a couple of years ahead in some subjects (with reading way ahead). it will be interesting and challenging to find an approrpriate placement for them.

i agree blended classrooms are not for all kids-just as all teachers are not suited to teach in them. it realy takes a huge amount of organization to pull it off-and i have tremendous respect for dd/ds's teacher for successfully doing it (we have 2 teachers in the k-2 class, that way they can do group instruction at the same time or one can do group while the other is available for the ones doing desk work).

 

[who said?]

I know it seems hard to teach two are more grades at the smae time.

 

[disnutt]

As a homeschooler I think it is a great idea. There's more of an opportunity for kids to interact w/ others who don't happen to share the same birth year. Seems more natural to me.

My DH is a teacher and he teaches several classes at the high school level where grades are mixed. He's said it may be harder to develop class plans but that the class interaction seems better overall.

 

[who said?]

YEs i love the fact that they had older kids in the class