How does your district/ school system break down what grades are in each school. Right now in our town we have k-3 in one school 4-6 in another 7-8 in middle school 9-12 high school They want to move 4th and 5th to the school I work at so it will be a k-5 school and move the 6th graders to middle school. I thought it was a good idea to move the 6th graders on. But parents are having a fit about it. They dont' want their kids in middle yet. They also, don't want their 6th grader riding the bus with high school kids. Anyway just wondering what everyone else does.
In the district I work in its: Prek-3rd in 3 elem schools 4-5 in two intermediate schools 6-8 in two middle schools 9th grade center 10-12 in one high school There is one school that houses Prek-5th. In the next two years one of the elementary and intermediate schools will become two elemenary schools Prek-5th grade. The other elementary and intermediate schools will be harder to re-align because of zoning. The district I went to school in and did my ST in had: 1 Prek-kinder 1 1-3rd 1 4th-6th 1 7th-8th 1 HS with 9-12 Now its 1 Prek 1 elementary- K-2nd 1 intermediate 3-6 1 JH 7-8 1 HS 9-12 When I went to school there we had 1 elementary prek-1 1 elementary 2-5 1 JH 6-8 1 HS 9-12 Wow! How some things have changed!
STG: Your lower grade are pretty close to what we have right now. The two other towns in our district both have k-6 schools. There are four towns in our district btw. The one I teach in shares the elementary schools with the other town.
The school that houses Prek-5th gets students from a subdivision that is so big it could be its own little town. Has its own airstrip, grocery stores, gym, restaurant.
We are a K-8 District. We have three K-5 schools and one 6-8 middle school. Our high school is a separate district.
I work in a private k-8 school, one class per grade. The district where I live and worked previously used to be pre-k k-1 2-4 5-8 in the Middle School 9-12 They redistricted to a neighborhood school format two years ago and this past year closed the preschool building because of budget cuts. We are now (2) prek-4 elementary schools 5-8 middle 9-12 I don't like the fifth graders at the middle school. Switching classes, riding busses with 8th graders, no recess... There's no need to grow up so fast.
The district I'm student teaching in has 4 elementary schools. 3 elem are k-5 1 is k-3 1 is 4-5 (these 2 are right next door to each other) middle school is 6-8 high school is 9-12 My kid's school has 6th in the elementary school. I don't necessarily agree with this because by 6th grade, the kids are MUCH older than many of the other kids in the school. I think 6th graders can definitely handle switching classes and being with the 8th graders. When I was in school, I went to 6th in the middle school and I loved it. It was like a reward for doing so well in the elementary school.
I think 6th grade in the middle school is fine, if there are some restrictions in place. They are ready and capable of switching classes and being with the 8th graders at some times during the day. Would the sixth grade classrooms be contained in their own hallway/area of the school? Arranging the rooms like that would probably ease some parents' concerns.
In the district I grew up in we had K-6 in the elementary. Pre-K was elsewhere. 7-8 were in middle school, and 9-12 were high school. In the first district I taught in we had Pre-K-5 in most buildings. Some of the older buildings were built before pre-k was included and don't have the space. 6-8 were middle, 9-12 high. In the district I am in now a lof of the elementary schools are K-5. We also have three K-8, which I teach in one of them. The K-8's are in the more heavily populated areas and the K-5's are in the city which has no expansion room. I don't know how they decide what they build. I went to school and teach in the same state and these districts are all within 50 miles of each other. I guess your district will just have to make a decision and the parents will have to deal. We had a situation where some of the schools in my old district were overcrowded and so they put the fifth grade at the middle school with the 6-8 and the parents had a fit. It was only for maybe a year, and now the parents are ok with it.
In my district we have: 5 Elementary schools (K-5) 1 Middle School (6-8) 1 High School (9-12) Next year we will have: 5 Elem. (K-5) 1 Middle 1 Jr. High 1 High I forget how they're dividing up the middle, jr high, and high schools. They're finishing up a new high school now, so the new high school will obviously be high school, the old high school will be jr high, and the current middle school will remain middle school.
Most districts I am familiar with have k-5 in elementary, 6-8 in middle school, and 9-12 in high school.
The district I live in has the following K-3 in 4 elementary schools 4-6 one intermediate school 7 and 8 one middle school 9-12 one high school one charter school shared with 2 other districts My neighboring district does it this way k-5 in at least 12 elementary schools 6-8 in 3 middle schools 9-12 in 2 high schools and 5 charter schools
6th grade in middle school was hard for me. I agree with putting the classes in the same hall. The biggest issue children have at this age is organization and responsibility. They need more help with note taking. Some children need more help with making sure their stuff is in the right place, they wrote down their homework, etc. Transitioning can be an issue. Not being able to full connect to a teacher means they have trouble asking for help or giving vital information. If a school addresses these concerns, it goes a long way in how well 6th graders handle moving to 8th grade. I do agree that they are too big to be hanging around little kids. Another idea is to make this the transition year. Put them in the same building as 7th and 8th but only half the number of changes from class to class.
My district is small. Only two schools. My school is a k-3rd and then there is a 4th-8th middle school. I think 4th grade is way too early for middle school.
I teach in a private school and we are preschool (3 years old) to sixth grade. But all the districts around me are generally K-5th Elementary 6-8th Middle 9-12th High There are some districts which are K-6th Elementary 7-9 Junior High 10-12th High School Those are the ways the suburbs break down. The city generally has the K-5, 6-8, 9-12 model, but there are alternative schools that are allowed to do it any old way. There is a K-12 school! There are K-8 schools as well. There are also 6-12 schools. I actually don't think most public schools around here have a Pre-K program housed inside the schools. Our free Pre-K is Head Start and they always have their own locations, as far as I know, unless some HS have a day care. Public Pre-K has not caught on in this area, and is only offered in the poorest areas. Most people send their kids to a private Pre-K or Head Start.
The district I taught in my first year was divided into 1 Prek-k 5 elem 1-4 1 intermediate 5-6 1 JH 7-8 1 HS 9-12 This year this school district went to 6 elem Prek-5 2 JH 6-8 1 HS 9-12. My district last year had: 5 elem Prek-6 2 JH 7-8 1 9th grade center 1 HS 10-12 I just realized that I've worked in a lot of districts that have all had a different alignment!
We used to have 2 k-5 elementary schools, one 6-8 MS, and one 9-12 HS. Now we have one k-2 school, one 3-5, the same 6-8 MS and the same 9-12 HS. All of the schools are in the same area on the same street, which makes it easier for me.
In my district, we have 6 elementary schools that are prek - 6, we have one middle school 7-8, and one high school 9-12. I love having only 7 and 8 in my building. I do not think 6 should be part of the middle school. Even though our elementaries are in one building there is a division (either by downstairs/upstairs or separate buildings) for prek-3 (primary) and 4-6 (intermediate). Another school district in my county does k-6 and 7-12 because they have low enrollment numbers. I feel that our division is good because it groups like ages together. 6 is too young to be around 8 and up. There is a huge difference between 12 and 14 year olds.
You name it, we've tried it. First it was 1-7 and 8-12. Then it went to 1-6, 7-8, and 9-12. Of course then we had to add K to the 1-6. Next was K-4, 5-6, 7-8, and 9-12. We haven't really had issues with the 6th graders being at the middle school. The sixth graders are downstairs, and the 7th-8th graders are upstairs. There is very little mixing of grade levels. After that we tried PreK-K, 1-5, 6-8, 9-12. Now we have PreK-K, 1-4, 5, 6-8, and 9-12.
Our public schools are divided K-5 elementary 6-8 middle school 9-12 high school When I was in school (same school district) 20 years ago it was divided K-6 elementary 7-9 middle school 10-12 high school I personally like the latter better. I think 6th and 9th are better off with the lower group. These days kids seem to grow up too fast as it is. It doesn't help when they are around the influence of older students. The school I teach in is a Pk-8 parochial school all in one building.
My district has 14 PreK-5, 1 6th grade center, 3 7-8 middle schools, 1 9-10 high school, and 1 11-12 high school. For next year, they are considering making one of the 7-8 schools 6,7,8, but still keeping a 6th grade center for the other 6th graders.
I teach in a K-8 Catholic school and the Catholic high school is a completely seperate system. Like someone else said, public preschool has not caught on here. Parents either pay for private preschool or send them to headstart, which is in low income areas in its own building. The public schools are broken into neighborhood schools 25 K-5, 10 6-8, 7 9-12, 2 K-8, and 2 PreK-8 magnet schools. We have several more schools that will be built in the next few years. With BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) moving thousands of jobs to town, our schools are very overcrowded. I went to a 6-8 middle school and never had any problems. The hardest thing for me was mastering my locker!
I work at in a district with one pre-k center, elementary K-5, 6-8, a 9th grade center and 10-12. The neighboring district where I live has a sixth grade campus and all one HS 9-12 I like a pre-k or k-4 campus, 5/6 together, 7/8 together and 9-12 or 9 and 10-12. Not that anyone consulted me :lol:
My district: PK-5 Elementary School 6-8 Middle School 9-12 High School Most of the surrounding districts are the same, although there is a district that breaks it down as follows: K-3 Elementary School 4-6 Intermediate School 7-8 Junior High School 9-12 High School
The district I went to and currently teach at goes by this system: k-5 6-8 9-12 Some schools have ESE pre-K
Our schools vary throughout the district. Some schools are just primary schools that feed into an elementary school and some are full elementary schools (Pk-6th) Primary schools are PK-3rd Elementary 4th-6th Elementary PK-6th (like mine) Jr. High 7-8 HS 9-12 Next year we are changing to: Primary PK-2nd Elementary 3-5th Elementary PK-5th Middle School 6-8 High School 9-12 I teach 5th and I'm really trying to get the kids ready for middle school next year (projects, note taking, responsibility, organization, etc.) but I have a lot who are going to struggle until they get the hang of it!
Currently: K-6: Elementary 7-8: Jr. High 9-12: High School Next Year: K-5: Elementary 6-8: Middle School 9-12: High School
My school is PreK-12, all in one building. We have around 200 students total. We have an elementary hall, with one room each for Pre-6, and a high school hall. The 7-8 grades change classes like the high school. I like someone's idea of having sixth with 7-8, but having them change less times per day. Sort of an easing in period. I do this with my sixth graders at the end of the year. I arrange to use a high school classroom a couple of times per day and have them practice getting their stuff gathered, and move to another room in time for the bell.
Wow there are a lot of different configurations! The district that I live in has five K-5 elementary schools, one 6-7 middle school, one 8-9 junior high and one 10-12 high school. It's really the only district in the area that's organized lie this, though.
They are remodeling the ground level (basement, which really isn't a basement). The sixth graders will be down there. They will see the older kids when they go to specials and lunch. And of course on the bus. I think thatis a lot of the problem. They don't want their 11 and 12 yr olds on the bus with 18 yr olds.
When I was growing up in Nashville, my schools were K-4 5-6 7-8 9-12 Some of the elementary schools were K-6, some middle schools were 5-8, and some of the high schools were 7-12. Nothing like consistency, right? It seems like most of the schools around here do PreK or K-6, 7-8, 9-12. Some of the districts do PreK-5 and 6-8, and several districts (if they're unit districts) do separate 9th grade centers, but that's for overcrowding issues primarily, from what I understand. Most of the ones that I know that do 5-8 or 6-8 have grades more or less separated. Using "middle school format" instead of "jr. high format" so that the kids classes are in "clusters" that all share a set of teachers ("team" format)... so the classes are fairly close to each other and the teachers in each team all have the same kids. I think that something like that could allow 6th graders to be VERY OK with older kids Jamie, why would they be on the bus with the older kids? All the districts around here run different bus routes for middle/jr high and for high school. Well, that and, around here, most of the kids 16 and up drive to school or get rides from friends... there are very few juniors and seniors on the bus
Clarnet, The middle school kids (junior high way back when) have always rode the bus with the high school kids. The area is way to huge to have them ride different buses. If they did that the elementary schools wouldn't be starting until 10am. Also, the state has cut back on our school budget and told us to get ride of some bus runs. That means some of these kids are going to be on a bus for over two hours. I used to get on the bus at 6:10 and arrive at the high school at 7:20. There is limited parking at the high school so seniors get parking permits first than it moves down the grade levels. There are a lot of 16 and 17 yr olds on the bus still.
Thank you everyone for all the replies. So it seems that a lot of middle schools include 6th grade. I am not sure if they will be switching classrooms or not yet. They could just be housed there.
In our district, we have 38 K-5 elementary schools, ten 6th-8th middle schools, eight 9-12 high schools, an alternative school and a Career Development Center for 11th and 12th graders.
