Combined grade classes: any parents had experience with this? Talk to us!

[Anonymous]

Due to budget cuts, our elementary will need to have a combination class at some level, likely grades 3/4. Pros and cons? Only cons? Did it work out?

[Anonymous]

This is going WAY back but I was in a 3rd/4th grade split back in the 80s. It was about half 3rd graders and half 4th. I have no idea what the ideal way to do a split class is but I remember it being kind of weird. The teacher had 2 rows of desks for us (3rd graders) facing the 2 rows of desks for 4th graders. She would stand in the middle and turn to face whoever she was teaching. So the other group would make faces, gestures, etc behind her back to try to get us to laugh. I went to a different math teacher so maybe she had just 4th graders for math but I don't remember. She would work with us a bit and then write independent work on the board for us while she taught the 4th graders. I spent a lot of time listening to what she was teaching the 4th graders and sometimes raised my hand by accident. I turned out fine. No harm done but I have no idea how it should work. GL!

[Anonymous]

They are proposing this at our school as well. Personally, I can't see how this can possibly work. If it worked so well in the 1980's why did they abandon the concept? I feel like it is simply a way for the school to make do until budgets get back to normal, at the expense of our children.

[Anonymous]

I had this in elementary school and I had it again when I was in college (undergrad and grad students were in Latin classes together). In college, it was totally fine because we were reading/translating/analyzing this same works. In elementary school, I would say it was mixed. In hindsight, I can see that it would not work well with the younger classes. It would also not work well if you've got some ADHD kids in the class (full disclosure: 2 of my kids have ADHD). In our class, like the PP, the class was divided by grade and the teacher spent half the class working with one group while the other worked independently. On one hand, having instruction in the smaller group is my better than in a large group but on the other hand, you have a lot less time for instruction.

[Anonymous]

It hasn't been totally abandoned. Many schools still do it. I know of a couple FCPS elementary schools and a few private schools that do it as part of their regular offerings, not due to enrollment issues.

I was in several in elementary school and I have no recollection of it being a bad thing in any way.

[Anonymous]

There's a big difference when it's being done as part of a planned lesson and when it's done because of budget reasons.

[Anonymous]

But as long as they plan for it and do an adequate job prepping for it, what's the difference? It's one thing to scramble to throw something together in September (and I have heard of that happening), but it's May they have time to do a nice job putting a good class together.

[Anonymous]

Capital City Public Charter School does this for the entire lower school. It is a model that works well for the school for a variety of reasons. It is a very small school with ~25 students per grade. By doing this they are able to vary the class make-up over the years.

This is one part of the school model that they developed the entire school around - not a reaction to budget cuts. They also have 1 teacher and 1 teaching fellow for each class which supports the differentiate learning that might be needed.

[Anonymous]

Combination classes have been in use in schools I taught at 15 years ago up till today -- it isn't necessarily in reposnse to a budget problem.

IN schools I have taught at parents are usualy wary of their kids being in a combo class and principals know this. So generally they select their strongest teachers for the class; often a very popular one, often one who taught the kids who will be the older kids in the class. So if there will be a 4/5 combination, the principal might ask the strongest 4th grade teacher to move up to 5th grade with some of her students.

The students picked for the combination class usually are able to work well independently and don't have a lot of special needs or behavior problems. Generally ther combination class is full of students with solid average to high academic skills, and it is a pleasant class. Usually language arts instruction can be taught to the whoel class, with some reading/writing workshops to focus on grade specific skills. A regular classroom teacher might differentiate things like spelling lists anyhow -- perhaps ruunning three spelling lists at one time. If the class is picked carefully, a combon class won't have any greater range in LA than a single grade classroom would -- especially if the class has no ESOL or LD chidlren.

Math is usually a bigger problem. It is pretty hard for a teacher to teach two levels of math in the same 60 minute period. Science and social studies, to the etxent that they are taught, can pose simlar problesm because the content is different for different grades nowadays -- you can't just choose to teach everyone 4th grade science or 5th grade science. This might explain why combo classes are becoming less prevalent after about 3rd grade, when people seem to feel that science content really matters.

In the most recent school I taught, we had a science specialist who taught everyone over grade 3 science. In this schoo., the teacher of grade 4/5 combo would send her 5th graders with another 5th grade class to the science specialist, and keep her 4th graders to teach them math. THen she'd send her 4th graders to the science specialist with another 4th grade class, and keep her 5th graders to teach them math. The kids would get a large class for Science ... maybe 38 kids! but would have very small math classes, and woudl not have to occupy themselves with busy work while the teacher was presenting a different lesson to each half of the class.

[Anonymous]

I was in a combined 3/4 classroom a LOONG time ago. It was filled with all high performing students. The instruction was basically seperate between the two groups. I think in the end parents thought it was more beneficial for the 3rd graders than the 4th. The teacher was very old and grumpy..that is my biggest memory. I don;t think they did it for another year. It was just to reduce lass sizes..which no one seems to care about these days.

[Anonymous]

Back in the 80s, I too was in combined classes. A 2nd/3rd grade combo and a 3rd/4th grade combo. I was technically in the younger grade both times. Kids in my half of the class stayed the same both years. Don't recall any concerns and was able to stretch learning beyond what was technically assigned to that class. Those were back in the days of the SARS reading programs too (color coded lessons). There was a lot of independent learning.

[Anonymous]

I was in a combined class (2/3) as a second grader. I enjoyed it because the teacher had more flexibility with teaching. For math and reading, independent pace was encouraged and she taught at the lowest point. However, for those who had the capacity could test out of chapters and go ahead. She was a highly capable teacher and later taught at a gifted school.

[Anonymous]

I was in one in 3rd-4th grade (isn't it funny how these educational ideas come and go?). It was fine.

My child is in a Montessori school and all she has ever known is multi-grade classrooms. I think it's been really good for her. She's a leader now and gives lessons/reads to younger kids. I'm not opposed at all to multi-grade scenarios.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was in one in 3rd-4th grade (isn't it funny how these educational ideas come and go?). It was fine.

My child is in a Montessori school and all she has ever known is multi-grade classrooms. I think it's been really good for her. She's a leader now and gives lessons/reads to younger kids. I'm not opposed at all to multi-grade scenarios.

It works in Montessori because the kids work so independently and the teacher is able to teach in small groups. My kids are in Montessori now and it definitely works for them but I wouldn't want them placed into a traditional school mixed grade class. Many, many years ago I was in a 3rd/4th grade mixed class as a 3rd grader. I think it worked out well for me because 1) we had a really awesome teacher 2) there was no standardized testing insanity back then so the teacher had so much more flexibility in how to teach us 3) they mixed the advanced 3rd graders with the slower 4th graders so that there wasn't a large difference in abilities. It probably was better for the 3rd graders who were exposed to more challenging material than it was for the 4th graders.

[Anonymous]

Back in the 70s I was in a combined 2/3 class as a third grader. It was definitely related to declining enrollment for my post-baby-boom age group. (The entire elementary school closed after that year.) The third graders were generally those of us with later birthdays (mine is late Nov; the state cutoff was Dec 1), and then there was a straight third-grade class.

I remember that I was DEVASTATED the day that class assignments came out right before school started -- I was in a 2/3 class, IN THE SAME CLASSROOM where I had had 2nd grade, and it felt like I had failed a grade. It turned out that I loved the teacher and that it was generally a positive year from my perspective, but I also remember that my mother felt like I had not been academically challenged enough. I don't know if that was right, but I know that's what she thought.