A Little Background on my Experience Growing Up
When I went to school, it was at a small two-room school that included all grades from 1-9. I went there for all nine years before moving to a more traditional classroom. The class sizes were generally small and it was a nice "family" atmosphere in the school. Everyone knew everyone. The teacher would rotate us through our lessons one grade at a time. It was great for kids who were ahead, like me because my first year I was able to do reading class with the second grade class since I was not a beginner like most. Kids who needed extra reinforcement could also get help by doing class with the younger kids. It just seemed normal to me.
College Life
In college, I began my studies as an elementary education major. It was assumed that when I graduated, I would get a job for the same private school system I had gone to since first grade through college. This system is the largest parochial system (next to the Catholics) and has schools world-wide. Most schools are small one or two teacher schools with a few larger schools in big cities.
My First Teaching Placement
I began my teaching career at a small three teacher school in Delaware. That year I started with seven students (which grew to nine second semester). I taught first-third grades. I also had fourth grade for a couple of classes. My multi-grade teaching experience started right out of the gate and continued for most of my teaching career. There have been just two years that I have taught one grade level...second grade.
How do you Teach Multi-Grade?
If you are not used to it, this can sound like a super complex and even foreign concept. The secret is there are many schools that purposely use this model, including pricy Montessori, private schools, and even some public schools. So it is definitely NOT unheard of.
I currently teach a combo class of third-fifth grades and quite a bit about those levels goes together nicely.
First, there's the math. In my grade levels the curriculum basically follows the same plan. Students begin with place value & rounding, move to addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Then they go on to fractions, area/perimeter/volume, measurements and conversions, geometry, etc. The great thing is that I can teach the same topics for each grade level and just go a little deeper and deeper as the levels go up. Many classrooms use the structure of small groups and in multi-grade teaching that is a MUST. I give each math class about 20-30 minutes with me and then they move into independent work. That also means that I must have math centers that they can work at when they are not with me, or when they are done with their work or are waiting for their class. I have a whole post about math centers over here.
I do the same for reading. In a regular single-grade classroom, students do not read on the same level and so that is where reading groups come into play. Students are grouped according to level and taught for 15-20 minutes at a time while the rest of the class practices through the use of centers. The same is in play in a multi-grade classroom. It is great that advanced students can be bumped up to more challenging groups and students who are struggling can be placed in groups for remediation. It just works.
In writing, I teach one writing class, but differentiate the expectations for third, fourth, and fifth grade levels. I do not expect the same quality of writing out of a third grader that I would from a fifth grader. Spelling and handwriting activities are done generally independently. Third grade starts handwriting with me since they are learning cursive, but as the year progresses, it moves to a more independent activity.
For the rest of the classes, we do a rotation. One year students do 3rd grade Bible, social studies, and science. The next year they do the 4th grade and the final year in my room they do the 5th grade. The topics are similar enough that even if they do not finish in our system, they continue to circle back to many of the same topics year after year, and it is not a huge deal.
That's how it works. Not too bad. It is very similar to a regular classroom with just a few adjustments.
Benefits of a Multi-Grade Classroom
It is crazy to me how some people view multi-grade classrooms as somehow less than. It is completely a myth. There are actually many proven benefits to this system.
- Peer-to-Peer learning: Younger students learn more by listening to older students and older students are reinforced in their learning by listening to the younger students.
- Flexible Pacing: Students do not have to be held strictly to grade-level content. They can bump up if they are ready or get extra time if needed.
- Pre-Teaching and Re-Teaching: Students in these classrooms get continuous exposure to upcoming and past topics. This helps to build stronger comprehension.
- Strong Leadership: Older students mentor the younger ones. This boosts their confidence and sense of responsibility.
- Better Social Skills: In a mixed-age classroom, competitive pressure is reduced. There is a sense of family, and it is more cooperative.
- Reduced Anxiety: Students feel less pressure which can lead to a healthier emotional well-being. It can reduce behavior issues.
- Extended Relationships: Students and families get to work with the same teachers for multiple years enhancing the student/teacher/parent relationships and allowing a deeper understanding of how each child learns and what he/she needs.
- Real-World Environment: Classrooms mirror the real-world. Just as future jobs will have many people of different ages, students in multi-age classrooms have the opportunity to learn to work with other children of differing ages.
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