With 60 students, there should be enough children to hire two teachers for each grade. Is this a public or private school? The current enrollment allows for about 15-20 kids per class, which is a good class size – both for the teacher and the students. More than 22-25 or so, and a lot of things can go downhill, for all involved. (The operative word here is “can”, not “will”.)

If it’s a public school, take it to the school board…though it sounds more like it’s a private school situation. If your son is in the split class, I would seriously look at getting him out of there – either get him in the non-split class, or pull him out and put him in public school, or homeschool him. I know it may not seem like the most supportive thing to do, but in the end, *his* education is what you’re responsible for. Try to get things changed, but if you can’t, do what’s best for him.

My mom teaches in a school with split classes, and I know the level of prep and training that goes into this. It works extremely well in her school, but they have the communication and staffing to handle it. Without those factors…ouch. Not good, and I honestly wouldn’t allow my son to stay in there. It sounds like they’re putting this together at the last minute, and I wouldn’t put my son through that. His education is more important than the school’s wish to lower costs.

My advice…get him out of that school, quick.

Just my 2 cents though 🙂

I started teaching a week ago and they wanted to give me a combo class of 3rd and 4th. “Technically” it is supposed to include high 3rd graders and low 4th graders. That way the 4th graders will benefit from the 3rd grade material and you arent throwing off the 3rd graders. Now in your case it should be high 4th, low 5th. Yet, at my school they were just throwing in kids at various levels that it would have been hard. Make sure they are doing it the other way so your son doesn’t not benefit. There is also material that combines lessons for combination classes in which it will all be direct instruction for each group at once. Dont be afraid to ask to sit in and watch to make sure that the teacher is confident.

I am new and felt too overwhelmed in which they just gave me 3rd graders. I felt that the other group of 4th graders wouldn’t have benefited.

Some schools who have not made the mandatory scores under th No Child Left Behind Act are required to have free tutoring or to allow student transfers depending on the number of years that they have not met standards. Check into this.

I would also bring this up at a Board of Education meeting and have a number of other parents there who believe as you do.

The good news is, millions of kids and teachers are in split or multi-grade classes. It will work out okay in the end. The teachers know how to make it work.

I think I turned out decently…at barely 17 I’m already pre-med in college with two majors applying to med school within two years.

Yeah, big classes are ok. 🙂

Just make sure to be supportive and help your son form good study habits. If he learns to learn on his own it will be a lot easier for him to cope with less one-on-one time with his teacher.

I know that if I didn’t have my mommy dearest with me every step of the way encouraging and motivating me, I would have probably turned out a lot differently.

Also consider having him get a study buddy. It helps to get different opinions from someone in the same class while doing homework or projects.

the 5th graders will be going slower and the 4th graders will have to speed up. both groups of kids will miss out.

if there are too many students in a class, it is really hard to get the teachers attention, and that too makes students miss out on what they are supposed to learn.

try to spend extra time with your sons on their homework and with reading comprehension, or find a tutor to help them with their studies if possible.

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If you are going to worry about it, send your son to another school. Otherwise, deal with it.