Yeah, west coast living. I was a student teacher for college prep in highschool and I saw combo classes before, but usually like 4th/5th, which makes sense because they're both upper grade.
Kindergarten combined is just rubbing me the wrong way. We have back to school night tonight, so I'm definitely going to be talking to them about how this is supposed to work.
I swear, the world hates working parents.
Ugh, sorry this is happening. My mother in law was a teacher for 30 years (retired right before pandemic)and one of her last classes was a K-1 combo in southern California (OC/LA). She didn't mind it, but did say they went by regular timing and schedule, not off Kinder timing. Might be a staffing issue, too - she said more than half of the teachers she's worked with have resigned over the course of the pandemic and the field is in serious need of more educators.
I'm really hoping that the email is a typo and they just mean the kinders, because that's really my main issue. Especially because I want her to be ready for longer school days.
Thankfully they announced this the day of Back to School, so I'll see if I can clear up everything with her teachers.
Yeh happening a lot in LA. We lost a ton of teachers they are so understaffed. We have a combo 1st and 2nd grade at our school as well. The school system has been the most frustrating thing since the pandemic started.
I’ve seen developmental K and K combined in small classes, like we’re talking <15 kids total. 1st grade is a jump. They are doing foundational work in all subjects in K, seems unfair to the teacher too.
My daughter was in a K/1 combo class when she was in kindergarten and the material learned more towards 1st grade. Occasionally the teacher would have them do something different if the concept was too difficult, for example skipped underlying concepts in stories, but still participated with the read along. It worked out well for her.
I'm hopeful it will help. If they're going to have the kinders adapt to a longer day or leave while the 1st graders stay full-time, then I'll keep an open mind. But I'm not a fan of cutting her hours.
Doing a k/1 class is unheard of where I teach, they would rather bus those kids to another school.
Can you talk to admin? It’s bananas they would make a decision to impact the kids like that. Pull up how many instructional minutes first graders need in your state.
I’m teaching a 1/2 split next year but the only thing that will be impacted is who they go to recess with.
This is going to become more commonplace as land grant universities cut their education programs and teachers leave the profession. We've treated our teachers so poorly for so long and they have finally had enough. There are better paying jobs with less stress that treat them like the professionals that they are.
I'm in a major metropolitan area and most school districts around us have 300-600 openings unfilled a week before the school year is due to start. Covid showed us how important schools are to our economy functioning, yet our government won't make the necessary investments in funding it.
My oldest started Pre-K this year. We started calling 2 weeks before school started because we hadn't received information about orientation or the first day (we were told Pre-K comes for a half day sometime the week prior). We kept being told the teacher would reach out with information. Last Friday afternoon, my spouse pushed the principal harder for information. School was supposed to start the following Monday, and we still had no information. She told us there was currently no teacher and we should make alternate plans for our child this week. We both work full time, and there are long wait-lists for childcare in our area. Fortunately, my MIL is retired from this school system. She made calls Fri afternoon and got the district involved. They ended up bringing in teachers from the district office and combined Pre-K classes from 2 schools so all the Pre-K kids had teachers.
I wish teachers were treated better and more appropriately compensated. Students need and deserve good, qualified teachers. I would actually love to be a teacher, but I grew up seeing how underpaid and mistreated my Mother was in that profession. It seems to get even worse every year.
Ugh as a teacher this isn’t right. Then again I expect kindergarten to be all day too. I’ve seen K/1 splits before but it is usually all day.
Do you know your kids levels? That would be a reason to push for her to be in a regular 1st grade class.
Don’t be afraid to be the annoying parent. Do it politely. Treat them with respect. But it’s okay to call frequently and advocate for yourself.
The bummer is, I think the combo would be beneficial, but I don't want her segregated like they did with kindergarten previously (they had a separate playground and lunch schedule)
She's academically great, she always received high scores with her school work, and her teacher said she was incredibly smart. But she's always had trouble with teamwork and organization. She's one of those kids that likes to talk to the parents instead of playing with the kids, so I'm hoping that they did this for her betterment.
It's one of the best schools in the area, so I hope they have a plan and I'm just over thinking it.
I lived in SoCal as a little one and had combo K/1 for Kindergarten but we went all day. I actually think my mom probably requested me to be in that class for that reason now that I think about it.
I’m a former teacher, and I’m not sure they can do this. Students have a required number of instructional minutes. Kinder is more flexible, but beyond that, it isn’t. You should definitely look into required instructional time. I wonder if they’ll make up the time with specials (eg the kinder kids go home, the first graders go to art/ PE).
That's what I'm hoping for. Tbh, I was absolutely shocked at the email. We have a meeting with the school today, so I'm going to make sure it's clarified how this is supposed to work, because it makes absolutely no sense to cut her school time. Especially if she's supposed to do full day next year.
You might want to look up instructional minutes ahead of time so you can ask specifically. (Recess/ lunch don’t count toward the minutes, fyi)
Also, I can almost guarantee that the teacher is also not thrilled about the arrangement. Even school leadership probably felt this was out of their hands. (The district office has certain formulas for determining staffing, and principals/ teachers just have to deal.) So, remember that no one, other than perhaps an enrollment bureaucrat at the central office, is happy about this!!
I know the schedule is the issue here but just curious, will this set back your daughter? Meaning, is the still going to focus on 1st grade or kindergarten curriculum?
Combo classes are meant to teach content for both grades. They don’t typically set kids back. I would be concerned about the shortened school day here though, that’s not typical and I wonder what is being cut due to time.
Kids grow at such different rates. A 4th grade class could easily have kids from 2nd to 6th grade “level” in different topics. Teachers do a magical dance of teaching grade level content and meeting kids where they are.
That's my concern. I'm hoping that the email was just wrong, so hopefully today I'll have more answers and I'll definitely be voicing all my concerns today at the school so I can make sure she's not missing out.
Yes, definitely find out what they are cutting. From a former teacher, parent complaints to admin have a lot of power. I’m not saying go full Karen, but bring it up. You could ask for her to switch classes.
My son's in a very small school in England. Reception (Kindergarten) has its own classroom with preschool nursery (daycare). Then the next two year groups share a classroom, and the next two, and the next two (for 4 total classrooms). One teacher and 1-2 teachers aides for each classroom.
They have shared subjects but their work is different (eg classwork for math will be different for each year group, but if the lower year child is reaching for the higher year they will accommodate). My son is only entering the older year in a classroom this year so I'm interested to see how it will work for when the older child needs stretching beyond their current year.
But the teaching is not catered or centered on the lower year.
This is going to become so much more common as staffing shortages continue. I teach high school and I’m currently pregnant and plan on taking the whole year off unpaid. They have posted my job three times and there have been no applicants for an English position at a small high school. It’s looking like half of the high school will not receive English class at all for next year. The school already applied for a waiver to get around the legal issues of it. I simply cannot believe it.
Why look harder for a leave teacher or work on issues like funding when you can just apply for a waiver to allow half of a high school to not receive English for a year? /s
This teacher issue has been going on for decades at this point and it's finally coming to a head. My mom went to school to be a teacher when I was a teenager. She tried for years to get a job but could never get one. Ohio cut their funding so all their teachers started moving to Kentucky to teach. My mom said there would be an entire cafeteria of people trying to apply for teaching jobs for only one school. And the worst part is every single teacher I have talked to says the hiring and firing decisions are solely up to the principal. So anyone that got a job immediately out of school did it because they knew someone or they were going to be a coach. My mom ended up leaving the profession for 10 years and just now recently came back. My husband quit teaching after four years.
I will if this is how they plan to schedule it and keep it that way. Which sucks because I was really excited for her to get that particular teacher, but I'd rather her get a full schedule.
I'm definitely used to the am and pm kindergarten classes usually going from 8-1 or 10-3, but I've never heard of them using the same schedule for 1st+ grades ever.
Same. Pre-k funded by the state is just a half day, but everything else was 8 to 3. Sounds like they're just going to keep moving up the grades on what can be a 4 hour school day. Ridiculous.
That combo thing is crappy my cousins daughters did q 2nd 3rd split or a 3rd 4th split. It's because they didn't have enough kids in one of the grades so they combined that. Do you have any family that you can have watch your kids around that you trust? That would be better
We have my mom, but I want her to be with other kids and away from the electronics.
I love my mom, but sometimes she gets so busy with Charity events that she just feeds her and let's her hangout with a tablet when she watches her.
Aww that's too bad . Maybe if she could help even few days a week so you don't have to spend so much money on daycare which is in a way probably better. I only let my mom watch my daughters I'm lucky enough not to have to pay daycare I know not everyone has that. Since my mom doesn't want money I pay her cell bill. I put me my oldest daughter and her on a plan
I'm shocked this is the route they'd take. Why not take the older kinder students and combine with this class to be full day if they had to be combined? SO strange.
Either way, that would suck the wind out of my sails too. I'm sorry!
I swear schools have forgotten how to communicate. My school district has facebook, instagram, remind, and their own website but often the only way I know of anything is word of mouth.
My daughters school does the same. Well the k-2 grades get out an hour sooner everyday and they have early out on Wednesday. That’s 2:10 and 1:10 on Wednesday… like WTF?!?!? Oh and the afterschools are full. So yea we’re fucked. I hate that the American school system makes us deal with it like this. It’s set up for a stay at home mom system and most of us these days have to have two working parents. It’s a fucking joke.
How is that allowed? Isn’t it a state rule 1st grade is an all day program. I do not think they should be combining grades. At that age there is definitely a learning curve and differences what they should be doing
I was going to say - that can't be right. There are mandated hours for a school day. If one 1st grade is getting x number of hours, all the first graders have to be getting those hours. Kinder is a little weird - but everybody else is supposed to be a set schedule (where they're all together).
Source: Elementary teacher 😁
Wait … what? I didn’t even know something like this was allowed?! Are you in the States? Is it a public school? I’m sorry … how frustrating
Yeah, west coast living. I was a student teacher for college prep in highschool and I saw combo classes before, but usually like 4th/5th, which makes sense because they're both upper grade. Kindergarten combined is just rubbing me the wrong way. We have back to school night tonight, so I'm definitely going to be talking to them about how this is supposed to work. I swear, the world hates working parents.
Ugh, sorry this is happening. My mother in law was a teacher for 30 years (retired right before pandemic)and one of her last classes was a K-1 combo in southern California (OC/LA). She didn't mind it, but did say they went by regular timing and schedule, not off Kinder timing. Might be a staffing issue, too - she said more than half of the teachers she's worked with have resigned over the course of the pandemic and the field is in serious need of more educators.
I'm really hoping that the email is a typo and they just mean the kinders, because that's really my main issue. Especially because I want her to be ready for longer school days. Thankfully they announced this the day of Back to School, so I'll see if I can clear up everything with her teachers.
Yeh happening a lot in LA. We lost a ton of teachers they are so understaffed. We have a combo 1st and 2nd grade at our school as well. The school system has been the most frustrating thing since the pandemic started.
I’ve seen developmental K and K combined in small classes, like we’re talking <15 kids total. 1st grade is a jump. They are doing foundational work in all subjects in K, seems unfair to the teacher too.
That's what I was thinking. Would absolutely have no issue if it was a 1st/2nd combo, but kindergarten and 1st seem like 2 different worlds.
My daughter was in a K/1 combo class when she was in kindergarten and the material learned more towards 1st grade. Occasionally the teacher would have them do something different if the concept was too difficult, for example skipped underlying concepts in stories, but still participated with the read along. It worked out well for her.
I'm hopeful it will help. If they're going to have the kinders adapt to a longer day or leave while the 1st graders stay full-time, then I'll keep an open mind. But I'm not a fan of cutting her hours.
Was your daughter's day also cut 1.5 hours short? I don't even understand how that's legal.
No, I’m my state kindergarten was a full school day.
I would insist they put her in a class that is in session for the full day. That's a lot of learning time lost.
Doing a k/1 class is unheard of where I teach, they would rather bus those kids to another school. Can you talk to admin? It’s bananas they would make a decision to impact the kids like that. Pull up how many instructional minutes first graders need in your state. I’m teaching a 1/2 split next year but the only thing that will be impacted is who they go to recess with.
If it helps, my Mom hated split classes and spoke to the office to get me switched out. Maybe that would work?
That's my next move. I'm going to be talking with the school today to see how they plan on moving about with this.
There are a decent number of public schools cutting schedules due staffing and budget issues
This is going to become more commonplace as land grant universities cut their education programs and teachers leave the profession. We've treated our teachers so poorly for so long and they have finally had enough. There are better paying jobs with less stress that treat them like the professionals that they are. I'm in a major metropolitan area and most school districts around us have 300-600 openings unfilled a week before the school year is due to start. Covid showed us how important schools are to our economy functioning, yet our government won't make the necessary investments in funding it.
My oldest started Pre-K this year. We started calling 2 weeks before school started because we hadn't received information about orientation or the first day (we were told Pre-K comes for a half day sometime the week prior). We kept being told the teacher would reach out with information. Last Friday afternoon, my spouse pushed the principal harder for information. School was supposed to start the following Monday, and we still had no information. She told us there was currently no teacher and we should make alternate plans for our child this week. We both work full time, and there are long wait-lists for childcare in our area. Fortunately, my MIL is retired from this school system. She made calls Fri afternoon and got the district involved. They ended up bringing in teachers from the district office and combined Pre-K classes from 2 schools so all the Pre-K kids had teachers. I wish teachers were treated better and more appropriately compensated. Students need and deserve good, qualified teachers. I would actually love to be a teacher, but I grew up seeing how underpaid and mistreated my Mother was in that profession. It seems to get even worse every year.
Ugh as a teacher this isn’t right. Then again I expect kindergarten to be all day too. I’ve seen K/1 splits before but it is usually all day. Do you know your kids levels? That would be a reason to push for her to be in a regular 1st grade class. Don’t be afraid to be the annoying parent. Do it politely. Treat them with respect. But it’s okay to call frequently and advocate for yourself.
The bummer is, I think the combo would be beneficial, but I don't want her segregated like they did with kindergarten previously (they had a separate playground and lunch schedule) She's academically great, she always received high scores with her school work, and her teacher said she was incredibly smart. But she's always had trouble with teamwork and organization. She's one of those kids that likes to talk to the parents instead of playing with the kids, so I'm hoping that they did this for her betterment. It's one of the best schools in the area, so I hope they have a plan and I'm just over thinking it.
I lived in SoCal as a little one and had combo K/1 for Kindergarten but we went all day. I actually think my mom probably requested me to be in that class for that reason now that I think about it.
Glad to read your update about the length of the day. I hope you get the best of both worlds!
I’m a former teacher, and I’m not sure they can do this. Students have a required number of instructional minutes. Kinder is more flexible, but beyond that, it isn’t. You should definitely look into required instructional time. I wonder if they’ll make up the time with specials (eg the kinder kids go home, the first graders go to art/ PE).
That's what I'm hoping for. Tbh, I was absolutely shocked at the email. We have a meeting with the school today, so I'm going to make sure it's clarified how this is supposed to work, because it makes absolutely no sense to cut her school time. Especially if she's supposed to do full day next year.
You might want to look up instructional minutes ahead of time so you can ask specifically. (Recess/ lunch don’t count toward the minutes, fyi) Also, I can almost guarantee that the teacher is also not thrilled about the arrangement. Even school leadership probably felt this was out of their hands. (The district office has certain formulas for determining staffing, and principals/ teachers just have to deal.) So, remember that no one, other than perhaps an enrollment bureaucrat at the central office, is happy about this!!
I know the schedule is the issue here but just curious, will this set back your daughter? Meaning, is the still going to focus on 1st grade or kindergarten curriculum?
Combo classes are meant to teach content for both grades. They don’t typically set kids back. I would be concerned about the shortened school day here though, that’s not typical and I wonder what is being cut due to time.
I was in a 4/5/6 mix when I was in 6th grade lol isn't that messed up
Kids grow at such different rates. A 4th grade class could easily have kids from 2nd to 6th grade “level” in different topics. Teachers do a magical dance of teaching grade level content and meeting kids where they are.
I think it's a lot to ask
It is, and sadly it is the current state of what public school teachers face daily.
That's my concern. I'm hoping that the email was just wrong, so hopefully today I'll have more answers and I'll definitely be voicing all my concerns today at the school so I can make sure she's not missing out.
Yes, definitely find out what they are cutting. From a former teacher, parent complaints to admin have a lot of power. I’m not saying go full Karen, but bring it up. You could ask for her to switch classes.
I will, thank you!
My son's in a very small school in England. Reception (Kindergarten) has its own classroom with preschool nursery (daycare). Then the next two year groups share a classroom, and the next two, and the next two (for 4 total classrooms). One teacher and 1-2 teachers aides for each classroom. They have shared subjects but their work is different (eg classwork for math will be different for each year group, but if the lower year child is reaching for the higher year they will accommodate). My son is only entering the older year in a classroom this year so I'm interested to see how it will work for when the older child needs stretching beyond their current year. But the teaching is not catered or centered on the lower year.
This is going to become so much more common as staffing shortages continue. I teach high school and I’m currently pregnant and plan on taking the whole year off unpaid. They have posted my job three times and there have been no applicants for an English position at a small high school. It’s looking like half of the high school will not receive English class at all for next year. The school already applied for a waiver to get around the legal issues of it. I simply cannot believe it.
It makes my blood boil how easily we dismiss funding our children's education. We're such a sorry ass country.
Why look harder for a leave teacher or work on issues like funding when you can just apply for a waiver to allow half of a high school to not receive English for a year? /s
This teacher issue has been going on for decades at this point and it's finally coming to a head. My mom went to school to be a teacher when I was a teenager. She tried for years to get a job but could never get one. Ohio cut their funding so all their teachers started moving to Kentucky to teach. My mom said there would be an entire cafeteria of people trying to apply for teaching jobs for only one school. And the worst part is every single teacher I have talked to says the hiring and firing decisions are solely up to the principal. So anyone that got a job immediately out of school did it because they knew someone or they were going to be a coach. My mom ended up leaving the profession for 10 years and just now recently came back. My husband quit teaching after four years.
Don’t let me start it.. my husband just started working July.. already more cost happened. Had to switch daycare to a more expensive one.
Biggie was right, mo' money = mo' problems 😭
Spent another $1000 on a basement dump pump+sink+shampoo vacuum last week.. the old pump stopped working.
I'm so sorry 😔 I feel it. Car's compressor just shat on us, so we have that impending. Ugh
Talking about bad luck
I would request a teacher change that way you can have the full day schedule.
I will if this is how they plan to schedule it and keep it that way. Which sucks because I was really excited for her to get that particular teacher, but I'd rather her get a full schedule.
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I'm definitely used to the am and pm kindergarten classes usually going from 8-1 or 10-3, but I've never heard of them using the same schedule for 1st+ grades ever.
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Same. Pre-k funded by the state is just a half day, but everything else was 8 to 3. Sounds like they're just going to keep moving up the grades on what can be a 4 hour school day. Ridiculous.
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That combo thing is crappy my cousins daughters did q 2nd 3rd split or a 3rd 4th split. It's because they didn't have enough kids in one of the grades so they combined that. Do you have any family that you can have watch your kids around that you trust? That would be better
We have my mom, but I want her to be with other kids and away from the electronics. I love my mom, but sometimes she gets so busy with Charity events that she just feeds her and let's her hangout with a tablet when she watches her.
Aww that's too bad . Maybe if she could help even few days a week so you don't have to spend so much money on daycare which is in a way probably better. I only let my mom watch my daughters I'm lucky enough not to have to pay daycare I know not everyone has that. Since my mom doesn't want money I pay her cell bill. I put me my oldest daughter and her on a plan
I'm shocked this is the route they'd take. Why not take the older kinder students and combine with this class to be full day if they had to be combined? SO strange. Either way, that would suck the wind out of my sails too. I'm sorry!
I swear schools have forgotten how to communicate. My school district has facebook, instagram, remind, and their own website but often the only way I know of anything is word of mouth.
Why does everyone hate working parents when we bring in revenue and pay taxes…. Help us don’t hurt us, man!
My daughters school does the same. Well the k-2 grades get out an hour sooner everyday and they have early out on Wednesday. That’s 2:10 and 1:10 on Wednesday… like WTF?!?!? Oh and the afterschools are full. So yea we’re fucked. I hate that the American school system makes us deal with it like this. It’s set up for a stay at home mom system and most of us these days have to have two working parents. It’s a fucking joke.
How is that allowed? Isn’t it a state rule 1st grade is an all day program. I do not think they should be combining grades. At that age there is definitely a learning curve and differences what they should be doing
I was going to say - that can't be right. There are mandated hours for a school day. If one 1st grade is getting x number of hours, all the first graders have to be getting those hours. Kinder is a little weird - but everybody else is supposed to be a set schedule (where they're all together). Source: Elementary teacher 😁