Last year I taught a 3/4 class and it was great. In math I used both the 3rd and 4th grade TERC Investigations books, depending on the lessons I found engaging and interesting in each strand... It worked well, and kids who needed more challenge were able to work in small groups together, working with larger numbers (like in multiplication) while others would work with me in small groups or have math choice...
This year I have a 2/3/4 split and am only keeping 3 kids (who will be 4th graders)and am also getting more 4th, so they aren't the only ones... due to some staffing changes I am not keeping as many students as I thought and am getting many much younger.
Any suggestions for teaching math across 3 levels??? I am a little worried about how to do this. I am going to start the year with a 4 week science/math simulation game that will get everyone involved and I can use it as assessment (it's a 2-4 program) but beyond that, when I go back to the Investigations--- what on earth should I do!
On 8/16/06, mhugs wrote: > I'll have just 1st in AM for math and language arts in the > afternoon 2nd gr joins us for health, history, science, > Spanish. > > Any good suggestions for blending the two groups. I will be > teaching one lesson. > > Afraid first will think that it is THEIR room and 2nd is > invading... > > Any suggestions appreciated
Instead of focusing on the curriculum in the beginning of the year, try focusing on team building activities. Mix the seating up as much as possible, and have the kids work in mixed groupings. Two books, "The First Six Weeks of School" and "Designing Groupwork" are very good for this. Try to integrate the curriculum as much as possible, such as science and health, history and spanish (?) if possible. What kind of History are you teaching to first grade? Perhaps you can do a culture study on S. America and Mexico and integrate the Spanish language into it. Also, from the first day, set it up as this is THEIR class, meaning both groups. They are just with different teachers part of the day... This sounds tricky, but doesn't have to be. Also, if you design the room in such a way that they use math and language centers, that can be their area for that only. Then you can have space for everything else. If they have desks for the end of the day, and work on the floor and at tables for LA and Math, it might also make the spaces seem more important and theirs, if it is a little different. That way, they won't feel like someone is taking over their class.
Lately I have been putting my social studies facts to music and the kids not only love it, they remember so much more tooo! I went to songsfor.com to get the songs that line up with my curriculum. Highly reccommended!!!!
I just got hired for a K/1 combination. K is for 1/2 a day. I'm not sure how to set up my classroom. Can anyone give me any ideas on a structure to follow? I have only a week plan!!!
I'm a k/1 combo also with the K's for only 3 hours. I just started last Thursday and I'm still getting the balancing act under control. I have round tables and have set it up with K's and first graders at each table ( 2 k's and 2 1st). I have 10 k's and 10 first graders. I'm doing morning calendar first thing, and then whole class shared reading. With the shared reading the K's will be locating leters and first graders will be looking for high frequency words and chunks. As a whole class we will be discussing the elements of the story. This next week in Houghton Mifflin is Nursery Rhymes for Kinder and I'm doing that whole class and having the first graders do extensions with this. In the afternoon I'm doing first grade Houghton Mifflin, writing and Math(the directed lesson). No doubt that a K/1 is one of the hardest especially with the K's only 1/2 day. I'm totally stressed and tomorrrow will only be day 3!! Keep in touch. My email at school is [email removed]
On 8/20/06, Nan Wilkinson wrote: > On 8/18/06, Melanie wrote: >> I just got hired for a K/1 combination. K is for 1/2 a >> day. I'm not sure how to set up my classroom. Can >> anyone give me any ideas on a structure to follow? I have >> only a week plan!!! > > Hi Melanie. I teach k,1,2. Of course you want the desks in > the middle and a nice area rug for circle time. I set up the > rest of my room in centers. Think if a preschool class. > Theres the reading area, block area, math area, etc.. The > most important thing, I think is to make sure that no matter > where you stand, you can see the entire room. Little ones > love to hide. As for a teacher's desk, stick in the corner. > You won't use it anyway ;) Hope this helps.
On 8/20/06, Nan Wilkinson wrote: > On 8/18/06, Melanie wrote: >> I just got hired for a K/1 combination. K is for 1/2 a >> day. I'm not sure how to set up my classroom. Can >> anyone give me any ideas on a structure to follow? I have >> only a week plan!!! > I have been doing k1 for 6 years. I call the 1st "olders" and the K's "youngers" they sit at desks and I have them in mixed groups. I teach LA and Math split by grade level and then we do SS and Art and science together. It is soooooooo stressful! good luck
I posted this question on the primary board but someone suggested I also try here. Here goes:
I'm starting at a new school in a week and a half (First day with students is August 30th). I will be at a very small school with a Kindergarten, Grade 1/2/3 class (my class) and a Grade 4/5/6.
What I'm struggling with is how to run the room. It wasn't advertised as "multi-age" and has been run as a "split" class in the past. I prefer the philosophy of the "multi-age" as opposed to a split. The teacher for the past several years completely ran it as a split class. Students lined up according to their grade. Grade 1 and 2 students sat at tables while grade 3 got desks. A token economy type system was used but students were just given money at the end of the week and the amount they got was based on their grade level.
I believe that this creates 3 very separate groups within the class setting and I'm trying to create a classroom community. I'm not sure how I should address this or how to set up my day.
I would love some advise from those of you to know of or have been in similiar situations.
Hi Paula! I use specific word banks for content areas, for example rocks...which we are studying now. On the actual word wall I add sight words gradually (now they are very "beginning of first grade") from the most common 100 words list, and if the word is on the word wall, they are responsible for spelling it correctly in their writing. I will put a little "ww" under it in their journal or writing pieces. The words that can be used phonetically to spell other words, like "can", have a red star by them, and I give my beginning readers center activities that use rhyming words to build phonetic spelling patterns using them. Have a great week! Lynn
What a lovely, informative response you gave. I look forward to looking up the books you cited and would love to communicate with you further.
I'm a combination teacher in Northern California, and I absolutely love the position. I've been doing quite a bit of reading on combination (multi-level) classrooms lately, and I really appreciate your input.
Adrienne
On 9/09/06, Patty Montgomery wrote: > Paula, > I have been teaching a 1-2-3 multiage classroom for 16 years. I use a > constructivist approach to teaching. We begin our day with writer's > workshop. I use Lucy Caulkin's "Units of Study for Primary Writing: A Year > Long Curriculum" as well as Ralph Fletcher's "Craft Lessons". Katy Ray's > ideas from "Wonderous Words" has been a great help in setting up my > workshop. You might want to try "Units of Study for Teaching Writing 3-5 > Grade" by Caulkins. > > For math I split my students into two groups. The younger students work > with my Instructional Assistant. ( I know having an IA is a luxury and not all > teachers have this kind of help.) I work with the older children. We use > Mathland, I can't remember the publisher, sorry. The lessons are mostly > designed by Marilyn Burns and uses a project approach where children > construct their knowledge through experiences. I also use supplemental > units by Marilyn Burns as well as timed tests and math games. My room is > full of math manipulatives. > > For reading I run a reader's workshop using Debbie Miller's "Reading for > Meaning". The children choose their books from my class library which has > been leveled, color coded, and placed into tubs. This provides easy access > for all kids. They write in lit logs and keep a reading log. After reading they > choose a project that helps them build skills and encourages them to go > back to the book. I got the projects form a Scholasticbook called > "Idependent Reading Projects". I conference individually with children as > well as take running records on the book they are reading. I also do shared > reading and read aloud daily. I use poetry and song books to get them > reading right away. Many of the younger children read the same book over > and over as they grow into fluent readers and the older children are > reading from both picture and chapter books. You might want to check out > "Mosaic of Thought" by Ellen Oliver Keene. Her ideas will help with > scafolding learning for your older readers. > > Often younger children are paired with older children for various activities > and I pull children with like abilities for small group teaching. The children > do many activities in small groups with the more proficient readers and > writers, collecting ideas from the others to share out in large group. > > Karen Smith ran a wonderful intermediate multiage classroom at Herrera > Elem. school in Phoenix, AZ years ago. You may want to Google her and > see if she has anything out there to help you. > > You may also want to read Ralph Peterson's "Life in A Crowded Place". He > talks about his experiences with being placed in a multiage room without > knowing quite what to do and finds some encredible new ideas about > building a learning community. > > Jim Grant has much on multiage teaching and Sandy Stone out of NAU in > Arizona runs a multiage institute in the summer and a multiage > conference. This year the conference is at Northern Arizona University in > Flaffstaff, AZ on October 7th. > > Whatever you do my suggestion is to hang in there. It is so rewarding to > watch children over a two or three year span as opposed to only having > them for one year. Also, the history that you and your students will build > together is an incredible part of spending years together. > > When describing a multiage I like to use an analogy from Ralph Peterson: It > is like a parade; The older children, who are usually the more established > class members, who already know the classroom rules and procedures, go > first, the younger, newest class members follow. This way we as teachers > have more time to devote in teaching skills and facilitating learning. > > Welcome to the world of multiage! > I wish you all the best with this wonderful new endeavor! > > Patty Montgomery > Primary Multiage Teacher > Gilbert Elementary School > Gilbert, Arizona > > On 8/21/06, Paula wrote: >> I posted this question on the primary board but someone >> suggested I also try here. Here goes: >> >> I'm starting at a new school in a week and a half (First >> day with students is August 30th). I will be at a very >> small school with a Kindergarten, Grade 1/2/3 class (my >> class) and a Grade 4/5/6. >> >> What I'm struggling with is how to run the room. It >> wasn't advertised as "multi-age" and has been run as >> a "split" class in the past. I prefer the philosophy of >> the "multi-age" as opposed to a split. The teacher for >> the past several years completely ran it as a split >> class. Students lined up according to their grade. Grade >> 1 and 2 students sat at tables while grade 3 got desks. A >> token economy type system was used but students were just >> given money at the end of the week and the amount they got >> was based on their grade level. >> >> I believe that this creates 3 very separate groups within >> the class setting and I'm trying to create a classroom >> community. I'm not sure how I should address this or how >> to set up my day. >> >> I would love some advise from those of you to know of or >> have been in similiar situations. >> >> Thanks
I have a 2/3/4 this year instead of a 3/4.... I never divide kids up by grade, instead focusing on where they are at developmentally, but am worried about having this much of a gap between my youngest and oldest. I will need at least 3 math groups if not 4 (for those who are advanced above the 4th grade book.)
The other problem is I have a lot of gifted kids, but also some with disabilities and very few in the middle. I feel like math is going to be my biggest challenge this year, that and getting the oldest to befriend the youngest... any suggestions on the math issue?
I group by level and teach together in most everything else, but math is the one thing we always divide out by grade. There are too many grade specific standards and skills built upon others for me to do it any other way. I also feed into another school when my children leave, so I need to use the same math program which spans through grade six (I have 1st 2nd and 3rd).
We have an immediate opening for a K-3 teacher (10 students) in a remote ranching community: Denio, Nevada. Experience a plus! Full time instructional aide and 1/2 time ESL aide available to help you. Experienced 4-8 teacher next door. Housing available. Nevada salaries in top 10 in the nation. Hard-to-fill positions also qualify for retirement bonus.
As a result of some changes to our numbers, my grade seven is becoming a 6/7 split. I'm already having nightmares! How do I deal with two divisions (junior/intermediate) which means two different divisional policies, grade six teaches Social studies while grade seven splits it into two different subjects (History/Geography), the grade 6 report card uses letter grades while grade 7 uses percentages, not to mention all the other subjects!!! Anyone have advice or tips to help keep me sane and give me some idea how to start? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I am so gald to see that this board is working again! .... I am in my second year of our one-room school adventure. This year I have 15 students; K-8, however no students in either 1st or 2nd. We start next Tuesday, so it's crunch time! ~ Donna
Note: This post best understood when Tom Petty's "Free Falling" is played while reading.
Talk about a change of pace: here's a high school English teacher who's about to become the sole teacher to eight students in a one-room K-5 schoolhouse in a seriously rural area of Maine. Am I nervous about the upcomig year? Yeah, a little bit. But I sort of like being anxious, for it encourages me to be more prepared than I think I need to be. I remember feeling like this as a kid when I first learned how to dive off the high diving board.
"And Im free, free fallin Yeah Im free, free fallin."
On 7/30/07, Bassanio wrote: > Note: This post best understood when Tom Petty's "Free Falling" > is played while reading. > > Talk about a change of pace: here's a high school English teacher > who's about to become the sole teacher to eight students in a > one-room K-5 schoolhouse in a seriously rural area of Maine. Am I > nervous about the upcomig year? Yeah, a little bit. But I sort of > like being anxious, for it encourages me to be more prepared than > I think I need to be. I remember feeling like this as a kid when I > first learned how to dive off the high diving board. > > "And Im free, free fallin > Yeah Im free, free fallin."
On 9/01/06, Shelley wrote: > I'm teaching a combined class (grade 1/2) for the first > time. I'd love to know your most valuable tips for > teaching a combined grade.
At our school we are introducing a combined Grade 5/6 for the first time. I would welcome any advise as to how to present this in a really positive way as there is a lot of negative feeling towards a combined class.
On 8/16/06, mhugs wrote:
> I'll have just 1st in AM for math and language arts in the
> afternoon 2nd gr joins us for health, history, science,
> Spanish.
>
> Any good suggestions for blending the two groups. I will be
> teaching one lesson.
>
> Afraid first will think th...See More