I am doing the same. This will be my first year with a 2/3
but I have taught a 3/4.

Look in to the Daily 5 for reading. It will give the kids
some independent choices while you work with the other group.
I did the Daily 5 this year and it worked really well.
Kids would read alone, read with a partner, listen to books on
tape (I also added the computer to mine) and I would work
with groups. I never did the word study stuff with the Daily
5, because we use a different program. If you have leveled
groups, you will probably have overlap and the kids will be in
groups based on ability and level, not on their grade. So
kids reading at a level M-N will be in a group together,
regardless of their grade. But if you have basal readers for
each grade level, then you will just have to pull one grade
and do the lesson while the other grade does their
independent reading and partner reading or books on tape.
Practice A LOT in the beginning of the year and it will pay
off, even if you get behind in your lessons at first, you
will catch up!

In math, I have done a math workshop style. They have some
things they do each day while I do the other groups lesson,
then I switch. It moves slowly at first but as the year
progresses, they get a lot of learning in, and in my 3/4 class
we finished all the curriculum ahead of time, even though it
seemed to move slowly at first. You don't necessarily teach
each group a new lesson each day but it works out.

For example: Divide the kids into their groups and this is
what it would look like...

DAY ONE

Grade 2- teach lesson A, followed by activity that you
monitor, then they do independent practice activity. When
they are done, they play a game that reviews other skills.

Grade 3- begins doing workshop which includes problem of the
day, math fact drill (independently done or with pairs
alternating and timing one another) play a game, etc. They
have to be told what to do

While the grade 2 kids are doing their independent activity,
you go get the grade 3 kids and review the lesson from the
day before and add to it briefly or check in and give them a
short review or something like that. Do a few problems with
them.

DAY TWO

Grade 3- New lesson that follows the previous lesson. They do
an activity that you monitor, followed by independent
practice and then a game when they are done.

Grade 2- while you are doing the lesson, they do the problem
of the day (or some routine) math fact drills, games, etc.

When grade 3 is working independently, you check in on the
grade 2's.

I actually don't normally like this kind of thing, but I did
create worksheet packets for the kids. It was something they
could do that reinforced some skills and they really enjoyed
them. They all included riddles and things like that. They
would work on those while the other kids did their work. Not
EVERY DAY, but often enough... I also made sure that at the
beginning of the year I taught them lots of games. Sometimes
I would spend a whole period introducing 3 new games for them
to play relating to a unit and then we would rotate and play
that game in centers. That way, they would all know the
games and they could teach it to the other kids next time.

I also suggest aligning your curriculum so that you teach
units at the same time. Even if it's out of sequence. It
doesn't make sense for the second graders to do measurement
while the 3rd graders do geometry. That way, they can play
the same games and the centers that you have out can be the
same for both groups!

On 6/25/09, Tammy wrote:
> I am going to be teaching a 2/3 combination class this
> coming year and would love any advice from those who have
> done it or are currently teaching it. Each grade has their
> own reading and math program which I think, after reading
> other posts, may make it more difficult. Any suggestions
> will be helpful! Thank you!

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