Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/multi-age-at-riverfield-country-day-school/5012454/
Multi-age grouping! This is not a new idea. It is a wonderful idea being recycled. In fact, when I went to grade school during the '40s, in a one-room schoolhouse, there were children from grades one through eight all in the same room. I can still remember the teacher, Mrs. Way. She made me feel welcome from the very first day. As the youngest child in the neighborhood "group," and one who was not officially old enough to go to first grade with my buddies (no kindergartens in those days in Pennsylvania!), my mother convinced Mrs. Way that I should come with my friends. I remember all of the older children helping us with our arithmetic. We read to them frequently, and they also read to us each day. On the playground we all jumped rope together and played hopscotch and marbles - just like a family. When we walked home for lunch and after school each day, the older students helped us cross the streets and saw us safely home.No wonder I felt right at home in the early '70s when I visited some of the British primary schools in their prime. A class of 40 five, six, and ...