Adding a year in elementary school

[Anonymous]

I don't know, I guess I'm still just failing to see how 6th graders benefit from an extra year of MS, when in reality, MS is so miserable for alot of kids. I'm not trying to prevent my kids from growing up, I just don't want them to grow up quicker than they have to. But, then again, k-6 amd k-8 worked great for my sibling and i.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know, I guess I'm still just failing to see how 6th graders benefit from an extra year of MS, when in reality, MS is so miserable for alot of kids. I'm not trying to prevent my kids from growing up, I just don't want them to grow up quicker than they have to. But, then again, k-6 amd k-8 worked great for my sibling and i.

So you do not yet have kids that are MS age, whether that is 6th grade or 7th grade? I’d be curious to hear your assessment when your kids get to the end of 5th grade, maybe then you will be able understand some of the benefits that other PPs have pointed out and why they are benefits.

[Anonymous]

Kiddo is in 5th grade and alot like me, so it will be interesting to see what they think.

[Anonymous]

I'm the parent of a 5th grader, but from what I see of friends with older kids, kids have a pretty big shift in development as they get closer to 11 years old.

[Anonymous]

I just read something a while ago that alot of educators are pro 6th being in elementary. That it was better for the kids all around, academically, socially, behavioral wise. What are some of your experiences?

[Anonymous]

As someone who works in a school with every grade level I think 6th grade in middle school is ok. They have a ton of changes in 5th grade and seem worlds away from 4th graders. My own child just started middle school and they were ready.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:As an FCPS parent, I hated having 6th grade in ES. 7 years with the same kids was too much, the kids had physically outgrown the school, and the staff was not at all equipped to deal with the issues and drama of 6th graders.

I was in an elementary school that had K-6 and my kids did K-5. While I did have initial apprehension about my 11 year olds going to middle school for 6th, after seeing it both ways, I vastly prefer 6th in middle school.

The comment above about ES not being able to deal with social drama of 6th is spot on. 6th grade was my worst year of school. I did much better with a brand new group of kids and kids in different classes when I finally got to middle school in 7th.

Don't you feel like 6th grade in middle makes the kids grow up a little bit faster than they have to though?

No, I don't, especially if the schools do a good job supporting them.

Really, how so?

what's your question?

Why you don't think that MS starting in 6th or MS in general doesn't male the kids grow up quicker than they have to.

Perhaps it would be helpful if you explained why 6th grade in a building with 7th and 8th forces them to grow up faster than being in a building with K-5th graders. What is it specifically that is done differently in the different building scenarios that forces such tremendous maturation in one year?

Well, first of all they seemingly take all the fun out of school. When I got to 6th grade, no more recess. I was 11 years old of course I still needed and wanted recess. Kids maybe able to do without class parties, but still it would be nice for kids to have one last year of school being fun. Also, once in MS adults start telling you that you are "too old" for kid stuff. MS also has way more homework and extracurriculars are pushed, kids are meant to keep busy, not alot of time to go home and play/ hang out with friends anymore. I loved my k-6 I didn't feel pressured by anyone to give up being a kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just read something a while ago that alot of educators are pro 6th being in elementary. That it was better for the kids all around, academically, socially, behavioral wise. What are some of your experiences?

Did they only survey middle school teachers?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an FCPS parent, I hated having 6th grade in ES. 7 years with the same kids was too much, the kids had physically outgrown the school, and the staff was not at all equipped to deal with the issues and drama of 6th graders.

I was in an elementary school that had K-6 and my kids did K-5. While I did have initial apprehension about my 11 year olds going to middle school for 6th, after seeing it both ways, I vastly prefer 6th in middle school.

The comment above about ES not being able to deal with social drama of 6th is spot on. 6th grade was my worst year of school. I did much better with a brand new group of kids and kids in different classes when I finally got to middle school in 7th.

Don't you feel like 6th grade in middle makes the kids grow up a little bit faster than they have to though?

No, I don't, especially if the schools do a good job supporting them.

Really, how so?

what's your question?

Why you don't think that MS starting in 6th or MS in general doesn't male the kids grow up quicker than they have to.

Perhaps it would be helpful if you explained why 6th grade in a building with 7th and 8th forces them to grow up faster than being in a building with K-5th graders. What is it specifically that is done differently in the different building scenarios that forces such tremendous maturation in one year?

Well, first of all they seemingly take all the fun out of school. When I got to 6th grade, no more recess. I was 11 years old of course I still needed and wanted recess. Kids maybe able to do without class parties, but still it would be nice for kids to have one last year of school being fun. Also, once in MS adults start telling you that you are "too old" for kid stuff. MS also has way more homework and extracurriculars are pushed, kids are meant to keep busy, not alot of time to go home and play/ hang out with friends anymore. I loved my k-6 I didn't feel pressured by anyone to give up being a kid.

There is always going to be "one last year would be nice" no matter when you break the grades.
Middle schoolers are still able to go outside (theoretically and if it's not under 60 degrees ) and run around/play during lunch. They aren't using slides and monkey bars anymore; but they toss footballs around, kick soccer balls, just walk around, etc.
Rest assured, APS is not stealing any childhood away from 6th graders with homework - or 7th or 8th graders, for that matter. And extracurriculars are meant to be fun, to be a time to hang out with friends and make new friends. And as kids reach these ages, it is good to keep them busy and help them begin to find activities of interest. Look what happens when kids are bored: they fill their time finding other kids with nothing to do and experiment with vaping and drugs, stealing Ronald McDonald, breaking into and burglarizing schools, having sex, getting pregnant. Even 6th graders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just read something a while ago that alot of educators are pro 6th being in elementary. That it was better for the kids all around, academically, socially, behavioral wise. What are some of your experiences?

As younger elementary kids, we hated and feared the "big" kids.
As a 6th grader, we were the big shots. Then you're back to being the little siblings in 7th grade.
Doesn't matter if you're 5th or 6th, going on to "the big middle/jr high school" with a bunch of kids you don't know is a source of anxiety and nervousness.
I really don't believe where you place 6th grade, in and of itself, is all that important. What's important is how you treat those kids. Your rules and discipline should allow for their increasing age and maturation if they're in an elementary school; and they should have some boundaries and support if they're transitioning to a middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just read something a while ago that alot of educators are pro 6th being in elementary. That it was better for the kids all around, academically, socially, behavioral wise. What are some of your experiences?

Did they only survey middle school teachers?

I assumed it was just middle school teachers, but I don't think that it was. I'm not sure though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an FCPS parent, I hated having 6th grade in ES. 7 years with the same kids was too much, the kids had physically outgrown the school, and the staff was not at all equipped to deal with the issues and drama of 6th graders.

I was in an elementary school that had K-6 and my kids did K-5. While I did have initial apprehension about my 11 year olds going to middle school for 6th, after seeing it both ways, I vastly prefer 6th in middle school.

The comment above about ES not being able to deal with social drama of 6th is spot on. 6th grade was my worst year of school. I did much better with a brand new group of kids and kids in different classes when I finally got to middle school in 7th.

Don't you feel like 6th grade in middle makes the kids grow up a little bit faster than they have to though?

No, I don't, especially if the schools do a good job supporting them.

Really, how so?

what's your question?

Why you don't think that MS starting in 6th or MS in general doesn't male the kids grow up quicker than they have to.

Perhaps it would be helpful if you explained why 6th grade in a building with 7th and 8th forces them to grow up faster than being in a building with K-5th graders. What is it specifically that is done differently in the different building scenarios that forces such tremendous maturation in one year?

Well, first of all they seemingly take all the fun out of school. When I got to 6th grade, no more recess. I was 11 years old of course I still needed and wanted recess. Kids maybe able to do without class parties, but still it would be nice for kids to have one last year of school being fun. Also, once in MS adults start telling you that you are "too old" for kid stuff. MS also has way more homework and extracurriculars are pushed, kids are meant to keep busy, not alot of time to go home and play/ hang out with friends anymore. I loved my k-6 I didn't feel pressured by anyone to give up being a kid.

There is always going to be "one last year would be nice" no matter when you break the grades.
Middle schoolers are still able to go outside (theoretically and if it's not under 60 degrees ) and run around/play during lunch. They aren't using slides and monkey bars anymore; but they toss footballs around, kick soccer balls, just walk around, etc.
Rest assured, APS is not stealing any childhood away from 6th graders with homework - or 7th or 8th graders, for that matter. And extracurriculars are meant to be fun, to be a time to hang out with friends and make new friends. And as kids reach these ages, it is good to keep them busy and help them begin to find activities of interest. Look what happens when kids are bored: they fill their time finding other kids with nothing to do and experiment with vaping and drugs, stealing Ronald McDonald, breaking into and burglarizing schools, having sex, getting pregnant. Even 6th graders.

I mean I guess that some middle schoolers are doing those things. My friends and I never did. I think if they are, it has to be something bigger than boredom. Because if you're a kid out playing with your friends, which I think they should be, presumably you wouldn't be bored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an FCPS parent, I hated having 6th grade in ES. 7 years with the same kids was too much, the kids had physically outgrown the school, and the staff was not at all equipped to deal with the issues and drama of 6th graders.

I was in an elementary school that had K-6 and my kids did K-5. While I did have initial apprehension about my 11 year olds going to middle school for 6th, after seeing it both ways, I vastly prefer 6th in middle school.

The comment above about ES not being able to deal with social drama of 6th is spot on. 6th grade was my worst year of school. I did much better with a brand new group of kids and kids in different classes when I finally got to middle school in 7th.

Don't you feel like 6th grade in middle makes the kids grow up a little bit faster than they have to though?

No, I don't, especially if the schools do a good job supporting them.

Really, how so?

what's your question?

Why you don't think that MS starting in 6th or MS in general doesn't male the kids grow up quicker than they have to.

Perhaps it would be helpful if you explained why 6th grade in a building with 7th and 8th forces them to grow up faster than being in a building with K-5th graders. What is it specifically that is done differently in the different building scenarios that forces such tremendous maturation in one year?

Well, first of all they seemingly take all the fun out of school. When I got to 6th grade, no more recess. I was 11 years old of course I still needed and wanted recess. Kids maybe able to do without class parties, but still it would be nice for kids to have one last year of school being fun. Also, once in MS adults start telling you that you are "too old" for kid stuff. MS also has way more homework and extracurriculars are pushed, kids are meant to keep busy, not alot of time to go home and play/ hang out with friends anymore. I loved my k-6 I didn't feel pressured by anyone to give up being a kid.

There is always going to be "one last year would be nice" no matter when you break the grades.
Middle schoolers are still able to go outside (theoretically and if it's not under 60 degrees ) and run around/play during lunch. They aren't using slides and monkey bars anymore; but they toss footballs around, kick soccer balls, just walk around, etc.
Rest assured, APS is not stealing any childhood away from 6th graders with homework - or 7th or 8th graders, for that matter. And extracurriculars are meant to be fun, to be a time to hang out with friends and make new friends. And as kids reach these ages, it is good to keep them busy and help them begin to find activities of interest. Look what happens when kids are bored: they fill their time finding other kids with nothing to do and experiment with vaping and drugs, stealing Ronald McDonald, breaking into and burglarizing schools, having sex, getting pregnant. Even 6th graders.

I mean I guess that some middle schoolers are doing those things. My friends and I never did. I think if they are, it has to be something bigger than boredom. Because if you're a kid out playing with your friends, which I think they should be, presumably you wouldn't be bored.

I didn't do any of them, either. And I can say the same for high school. Some do/will regardless. But I also think there are those at-risk of falling prey if they're just left to their own devices or have one rebellious friend influencing them. Perhaps being kept busy via school "saves" them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an FCPS parent, I hated having 6th grade in ES. 7 years with the same kids was too much, the kids had physically outgrown the school, and the staff was not at all equipped to deal with the issues and drama of 6th graders.

I was in an elementary school that had K-6 and my kids did K-5. While I did have initial apprehension about my 11 year olds going to middle school for 6th, after seeing it both ways, I vastly prefer 6th in middle school.

The comment above about ES not being able to deal with social drama of 6th is spot on. 6th grade was my worst year of school. I did much better with a brand new group of kids and kids in different classes when I finally got to middle school in 7th.

Don't you feel like 6th grade in middle makes the kids grow up a little bit faster than they have to though?

No, I don't, especially if the schools do a good job supporting them.

Really, how so?

what's your question?

Why you don't think that MS starting in 6th or MS in general doesn't male the kids grow up quicker than they have to.

Perhaps it would be helpful if you explained why 6th grade in a building with 7th and 8th forces them to grow up faster than being in a building with K-5th graders. What is it specifically that is done differently in the different building scenarios that forces such tremendous maturation in one year?

Well, first of all they seemingly take all the fun out of school. When I got to 6th grade, no more recess. I was 11 years old of course I still needed and wanted recess. Kids maybe able to do without class parties, but still it would be nice for kids to have one last year of school being fun. Also, once in MS adults start telling you that you are "too old" for kid stuff. MS also has way more homework and extracurriculars are pushed, kids are meant to keep busy, not alot of time to go home and play/ hang out with friends anymore. I loved my k-6 I didn't feel pressured by anyone to give up being a kid.

There is always going to be "one last year would be nice" no matter when you break the grades.
Middle schoolers are still able to go outside (theoretically and if it's not under 60 degrees ) and run around/play during lunch. They aren't using slides and monkey bars anymore; but they toss footballs around, kick soccer balls, just walk around, etc.
Rest assured, APS is not stealing any childhood away from 6th graders with homework - or 7th or 8th graders, for that matter. And extracurriculars are meant to be fun, to be a time to hang out with friends and make new friends. And as kids reach these ages, it is good to keep them busy and help them begin to find activities of interest. Look what happens when kids are bored: they fill their time finding other kids with nothing to do and experiment with vaping and drugs, stealing Ronald McDonald, breaking into and burglarizing schools, having sex, getting pregnant. Even 6th graders.

I mean I guess that some middle schoolers are doing those things. My friends and I never did. I think if they are, it has to be something bigger than boredom. Because if you're a kid out playing with your friends, which I think they should be, presumably you wouldn't be bored.

Some of that can be chalked up to the fact that being a “kid out playing with your friends” is what we all did growing up, but this generation of kids have really not experienced that in the same way. There are lots of reasons for that, but you do not have the same “neighborhood kids roaming in packs playing until dark” thing that many of us had back in the day. Extracurriculars and club sports fill those gaps now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. It’s more wishful thinking on my part. We love our elementary school and wish that both kids have an extra year in it. But yes I recognize that 6-8 makes more sense.

Kids start taking highschool classes in seventh grade. It’s good to have a year prior to that where they can get used to being in middle school without it tanking their highschool transcript. Especially since they got rid of grades in elementary school. Also moving sixth grade to elementary school would limit the advanced math track since you couldn’t have pre algebra in sixth grade then.

I know this is not the FCPS forum but about 25% of the kids in 6th grade at ES in FCPS are taking pre-algebra in 6th grade. We call it Advanced Math. A Decent chunk of those kids will test into Algebra in 7th grade. MCPS and Loudoun County have similar programs. It is more then possible to teach pre-algebra in 6th grade at an ES. You simply have a math class or classes that are filled with kids taking pre-algebra and other classes that are taking the regular sixth grade math.

DS’s school is K-6. They prepare them for MS by having the kids rotate to different Teachers for each subject. Each class has a different group of kids. They are working on using a planner for homework assignments and the Teachers asked the parents not to sign it until the student has checked off that they did each assignment. They have guidelines for how to email a Teacher and we were asked to allow our child to be the one sending emails to their Teachers so that they get practice for MS and HS. All of this at an ES.

Sorry but this isn’t relevant for Arlington— Arlington has a policy of no explicit differentiation in elementary school. So no advanced classes in elementary school. Only push in services.
They have a similar planner arrangement in fifth grade and fourth grade at aps. It’s still very different from getting letter grades (and seeing the consequences of missing assignments) that they have in sixth grade. Realizing that you now have a b in a class because you forgot to turn something in is a good lesson to have before the b actually counts for something. They can’t do that in elementary school because aps has a policy of standards based grading in elementary school. You still get the same grade in elementary school even if you never turn in work, and they can’t change that because it’s the county level policy.
They could change that, but APS is more likely to just eliminate the advanced math track starting in sixth grade. They already really limit access to it.