28 students in K?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a teacher shortage, and that’s a huge issue. I’d be grateful your kid has an actual teacher. My child has never had a permanent teacher this year because the school can’t find one. Her class is small, but will now be staffed by a long term sub who never stepped foot in a classroom before. That is worse to me than 28 kids in a class. I’d much prefer my daughter be in your child’s situation.

Mcps had the teachers. In the spring they forced a lot out. They have a spending issue and said they were raising class sizes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For a wealthy school it’s a bit high but not by much. We prefer small classes for our kids, so we chose a focus school. 16 kids in kinder and no more than 18 in first and second grades (and that’s after the class size expansion this year). It never made sense to me to pay an extra $100k to live in Bethesda to have huge classes.

Only 100k? If most of the kids are at the same level and they do breakout groups for reading it can work. If there is a wide spectrum of abilities and a couple problem kids even 16 can be too many. That said K kids are more alike than different no matter the SES. Differences really start manifesting about 3rd grade, by middle school it’s quite apparent the differences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a wealthy school it’s a bit high but not by much. We prefer small classes for our kids, so we chose a focus school. 16 kids in kinder and no more than 18 in first and second grades (and that’s after the class size expansion this year). It never made sense to me to pay an extra $100k to live in Bethesda to have huge classes.

Only 100k? If most of the kids are at the same level and they do breakout groups for reading it can work. If there is a wide spectrum of abilities and a couple problem kids even 16 can be too many. That said K kids are more alike than different no matter the SES. Differences really start manifesting about 3rd grade, by middle school it’s quite apparent the differences.

In the richer schools, often parents of struggling kids will put them in private or they have the money to hire an attorney to advocate for a different placement. Many of the lower cost areas housing has gone way up so some of the housing cost more than Bethesda now. All the schools have issues.

[Anonymous]

How does one start volunteering at MCPS? I have Master's in Education from a European country, can I volunteer in order to get teaching experience?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does one start volunteering at MCPS? I have Master's in Education from a European country, can I volunteer in order to get teaching experience?

Volunteering won't get you teaching experience that will count; they are not typically left in charge of classrooms, just given jobs to help out around the school.

You could become a substitute, to see if you like teaching in the US, or if you got hired as a permanent paraeducator, you could earn your teaching certificate for a greatly reduced rate through the incentive programs MCPS has.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For a wealthy school it’s a bit high but not by much. We prefer small classes for our kids, so we chose a focus school. 16 kids in kinder and no more than 18 in first and second grades (and that’s after the class size expansion this year). It never made sense to me to pay an extra $100k to live in Bethesda to have huge classes.

Thanks. You do you. Along those lines, we could have chosen a house (or even two houses!), elsewhere and a focus school, but did not. It made sense to us.

[Anonymous]

I'm in a different public school district. Our kindergarten class has a maximum of 15 kids, and each teacher has a TA to help. Twenty-eight kids in kindergarten would be challenging because their needs at that age are so different. The top 25% are reading up to chapter books, and the bottom 25% don't know all their letters yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in a different public school district. Our kindergarten class has a maximum of 15 kids, and each teacher has a TA to help. Twenty-eight kids in kindergarten would be challenging because their needs at that age are so different. The top 25% are reading up to chapter books, and the bottom 25% don't know all their letters yet.

What's interesting with all this is MCPS is one of the highest funded school systems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in a different public school district. Our kindergarten class has a maximum of 15 kids, and each teacher has a TA to help. Twenty-eight kids in kindergarten would be challenging because their needs at that age are so different. The top 25% are reading up to chapter books, and the bottom 25% don't know all their letters yet.

Trying to understand, why a kindergartner should read before starting school? What school is for at 5 years old?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm in a different public school district. Our kindergarten class has a maximum of 15 kids, and each teacher has a TA to help. Twenty-eight kids in kindergarten would be challenging because their needs at that age are so different. The top 25% are reading up to chapter books, and the bottom 25% don't know all their letters yet.

Trying to understand, why a kindergartner should read before starting school? What school is for at 5 years old?

Some kids naturally learn to read themselves, some kids learn it via parents or day care/nanny. Why is it surprising kids are reading young? Mine were.

[Anonymous]

Because there is so much more to do being 5 besides learning alphabet and reading. Also some kids start school in their very early 5.
It’s fine if they did it themselves, but to prepare them for K purposely..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because there is so much more to do being 5 besides learning alphabet and reading. Also some kids start school in their very early 5.
It’s fine if they did it themselves, but to prepare them for K purposely..

Like what? It’s not kids who learn to read at 4/5 are not also doing art, playing outside, learning sports, etc etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because there is so much more to do being 5 besides learning alphabet and reading. Also some kids start school in their very early 5.
It’s fine if they did it themselves, but to prepare them for K purposely..

Like what? It’s not kids who learn to read at 4/5 are not also doing art, playing outside, learning sports, etc etc.

Exactly. Spending 15-30 minutes a day on academics to give your kid a good transition to K is a positive thing. It's not an all-day thing.

[Anonymous]

What is a purpose of Kindergarten?