This class size is crazy, right?

[Anonymous]

It's TWO teachers, guys. Ratio of 18:1. I'd say that's pretty good.

When DD was in 1st she had 28 kids in the class with one teacher. A number of those kids had IEPs and those were the well-behaved ones. There were several other kids who probably needed IEPs but have parents in denial and were acting out all the time. That was crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a kindergarten teacher and this fall I have 35 kids on my roster. No aide, no co-teacher, no help. I've had as many as 33 in the past. If we get to 40,they'll split the class, but it will likely take 6-8 weeks. 35 is not ideal but I have super strong classroom management and will ensure that 90% plus are reading by year's end. Of course I'll also need anxiety medication too but that's my district!

Whew! I don't know how you do it! Do you do a roster for parent helpers?

DD's K class was at 34 and like you said, the school (or maybe district?) wouldn't split until it was at 40 in one classroom. The teacher had no aide or helper but did have an almost constant rotation of parent volunteers/helpers in there.

She was extremely strict but had to be in order to maintain control with that many kids. I got to experience her again 3 years later when DS started K in a class of only 28 and it was like night & day on how she ran the classroom. Much more relaxed and not as strict. Very crazy how just 6 kids can throw everything off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a kindergarten teacher and this fall I have 35 kids on my roster. No aide, no co-teacher, no help. I've had as many as 33 in the past. If we get to 40,they'll split the class, but it will likely take 6-8 weeks. 35 is not ideal but I have super strong classroom management and will ensure that 90% plus are reading by year's end. Of course I'll also need anxiety medication too but that's my district!

Whew! I don't know how you do it! Do you do a roster for parent helpers?

DD's K class was at 34 and like you said, the school (or maybe district?) wouldn't split until it was at 40 in one classroom. The teacher had no aide or helper but did have an almost constant rotation of parent volunteers/helpers in there.

She was extremely strict but had to be in order to maintain control with that many kids. I got to experience her again 3 years later when DS started K in a class of only 28 and it was like night & day on how she ran the classroom. Much more relaxed and not as strict. Very crazy how just 6 kids can throw everything off.

Parents were not interested in helping in the past, to be quite frank. I will try again this year because things change year to year. And yes, just a few kids can change a class. One year I had the kid who got out of his seat and destroyed things dozens of times each day. Hit kids, ran into them like a linebacker on purpose. I nearly lost my shit that year. Then there was the year when I had 3 kids who appeared to be on the spectrum. Gotta love how it takes a year or more to get kids actual services. I am crossing my fingers that some of the 35 just don't show. Which happens. It is much easier at 28-29 and then much easier again at 25 or less. My best friend teaches in a nice suburb, and she has 16!!!!

[Anonymous]

That's insane. My kids were in elementary school in a different state, thank goodness. Class size was capped at 22 with no exceptions. My son's second grade class grew to 23. They added another full time, certified teacher to the classroom. The ratio was 1 to 11 his second, third, and fourth grade years. I see class size around here and do not understand why people tolerate it.

[Anonymous]

They are going to say with 2 teachers that's a 1:18 ratio and they're within the law. Which technically they are.

[Anonymous]

Get an eval and an advocate and make the school accommodate your child's requirement for a small class size

[Anonymous]

I’m surprised that they have identified 36 gifted 1st graders in one school at that early age. Is it a magnet school?

Size of class matters less than the quality of the teacher(s). My similar profiled child (gifted, adhd) was in a very small class and his teacher was terrible and he had a bad year. I wouldn’t discount the class simply based on size, it may be managed extremely well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a kindergarten teacher and this fall I have 35 kids on my roster. No aide, no co-teacher, no help. I've had as many as 33 in the past. If we get to 40,they'll split the class, but it will likely take 6-8 weeks. 35 is not ideal but I have super strong classroom management and will ensure that 90% plus are reading by year's end. Of course I'll also need anxiety medication too but that's my district!

Where is this?

+1 In DC and Maryland 35 would be way beyond the allowable caps for K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get an eval and an advocate and make the school accommodate your child's requirement for a small class size

They can accommodate it now, if OP will pull him from the gifted class and place him back in the smaller mainstream class. They can't create a second gifted class for this one kid though. So those are going to be her choices even with an iep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's TWO teachers, guys. Ratio of 18:1. I'd say that's pretty good.

When DD was in 1st she had 28 kids in the class with one teacher. A number of those kids had IEPs and those were the well-behaved ones. There were several other kids who probably needed IEPs but have parents in denial and were acting out all the time. That was crazy.

+1 Plus OP says they won't all be "crammed into a small classroom" together. I don't see this being problematic necessarily.