25 Kids in K Class (Wayside)

[Anonymous]

I have a question. My daughter is in a MoCo public school in Potomac--Wayside with 25 kids in K and one teacher. Seems big but running ok. The teacher seems good. My daughter seems to like it. But, it still seems pretty busy in the room.

Furthermore, the privates are much smaller and seem to have better class sizes. we are talking about transferring in 1st Grade to private. Does anyone have any thoughts as to whether 25:1 is too much or am I being overprotective?

Just wondering

[Anonymous]

We are not in our neighborhood public, but they have 3 classes with 27 kids and 1 teacher each. Oh, and one aide for all 3 classes. I think 25 is the average for the county (someone please correct me if I am wrong).

[Anonymous]

so, same question. I understand that this is the norm but did it work ok with your kids?

[Anonymous]

I think with the right teacher it is fine...but some teachers lose control. I would recommend volunteering in your child class a few times to get an idea of how well the classroom runs..

[Anonymous]

I would volunteer in the classroom and observe what is really going on and how much learning is taking place. My DS is in Kingergarten (MCPS) and his class only has 16 students. One teacher and no aides. I observed the class and the teacher does a very admirable job keeping things going. But I did notice that when they are doing reading groups with her the other children participate in activitiy centers independently. With no aide in the class if there are any questions or problems that arise in these centers the students are very much on their own. The teacher also has to have her eyes and ears every where which must be difficult to simply focus on the task at hand. The teacher also has to be very organized and have a clear lesson plan for the day as they have very little time or energy to do much more than the basics. If your classroom does have an aide or even a regular parent volunteer that's one more set of eyes, ears and hands to help with the kids and that can make a big difference.

[Anonymous]

So im still new to this. I didnt know that volunteering in the room was even allowed. Is this common?

[Anonymous]

Our school relies on it...big classes no aides. I don't know what they would do without vounteers. The younger grade teachers try for one inthe am and one in the pm.

[Anonymous]

What do the volunteers do?

[Anonymous]

Keep the children who are working "independantly" on centers or worksheets on task and answer questions while the teacher works with a small group..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Keep the children who are working "independantly" on centers or worksheets on task and answer questions while the teacher works with a small group..

When I volunteered in my ds's class at Potomac Elementary, I would walk in and the teacher would say "OK you know the kids that we have to keep after". I barely had a chance to see what dc was up to because I was so busy trying to keep the unfocused kids on task. That said, if I wasn't there, there would have been no one to keep them on task.

[Anonymous]

Maybe that is because the "work" they are expecting K kids to do is inappropriate. I think a child who is 5 years old who can sit down and do worksheets in the midst of 24 other 5 year old talking is probably the exception rather than the norm. And many of the ones who are the "problems" are boys. I volunteer sometimes in my son's K classroom and even I have a hard time sitting down and working with a student on a worksheet b/c there are 24 other kids moving around and talking. It is distracting to me as an adult so I can totally understand why 5 year olds have trouble with it.

[Anonymous]

25:1 is the MCPS standard for K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe that is because the "work" they are expecting K kids to do is inappropriate. I think a child who is 5 years old who can sit down and do worksheets in the midst of 24 other 5 year old talking is probably the exception rather than the norm. And many of the ones who are the "problems" are boys. I volunteer sometimes in my son's K classroom and even I have a hard time sitting down and working with a student on a worksheet b/c there are 24 other kids moving around and talking. It is distracting to me as an adult so I can totally understand why 5 year olds have trouble with it.

I totally agree with you on this. We had Swedish neighbors that were shocked at how MCPS pushes kindergarteners to read. They said that in Sweden the kids were expected to read when they 7 or 8 years old. Five and 6 year olds should be learning socialization skills and a starting a second language. I wish that was the standard here.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you have way TOO much tmes on your hands pp and previous pp.

So you prefer not to walk and chew gum at the same time?

Learning to read and socialize are mutually exclusive activities? I'm glad you're not the Minister of Education.

[Anonymous]

We also had a fmaily visiting from Sweden in our neighborhood...this mom felt their home system didn't work either. You had the kids that learn to read at three on their own...who had been reading for years but then had to sit thorugh beginning phonics at age 7...and you also had the kids who were going to struggle no matter when they started and they don't have much time catch up.. No easy answer.