Abstract/Notes: Multi-age education is most similar to the one-room schoolhouse approach. The teacher creates an environment for students of different ages to learn and prosper. The students, working independently and collectively to learn topics of relevance and interest, have increased self-esteem and a more positive attitude toward school. This volume looks at the rationale of multi-age education and the current research on multi-age programs. It describes the steps for implementing a multi-age program and includes specific examples for setting up the classroom, daily planning, determining the curriculum, grouping for instruction, using learning centers, soliciting parent help, and assessing student progress. The book presents samples of student work, cooperative learning lessons, and appropriate themes of study, and it identifies misconceptions about multi-age problems, discusses common problems to avoid, and celebrates the joy of successful programs. (Contains 38 references.) (ND)

Language: English

Published: Westminster, California: Teacher Created Materials, Inc., 1996

ISBN: 1-55734-881-2

Abstract/Notes: This guide is designed to assist teachers of multi-age K-2 classrooms in organizing and implementing their classrooms effectively. Section 1, "Understanding the Multi-Age Classroom," describes characteristics of such classrooms, including relevant classroom models, incorporating kindergarten students, grouping students, and developing specific routines. Section 2, "Using Literature," presents suggestions for using children's literature in theme-based teaching and recommends specific books. Section 3, "Language Arts," includes class activities and several forms for teachers' use. Section 4, "Math," contains suggestions for activities from the Nuffield Mathematics Project, the whole-class approach, team teaching, small groups and centers, and the laboratory method. Section 5,"Using Centers," discusses how to design effective centers and megacenters, arrange the classroom, and select materials, and presents activities for several different types of centers. Section 6, "Flannel Board

Language: English

Published: Westminster, California: Teacher Created Materials, Inc., 1996

ISBN: 1-55734-468-X

Abstract/Notes: Ten articles provide a detailed look at examples of real-world multiage classrooms; review the literature and research surrounding multiage groupings; explore the practical issues involved in organizing, conducting, and assessing multiage classrooms; and offer insight into the many implications of and subtleties that accompany multiage groupings. The articles are: (1) "The Little Red Schoolhouse" (Robin Fogarty); (2) "What We Do at Concrete Elementary" (Mardi B. Jones and Don Jeanroy); (3) "The Waxing and Waning of Nongradedness" (Barbara Nelson Pavan); (4) "Research in Nongraded Elementary Schools: Simple Is Beautiful" (Roberto Gutierrez and Robert E. Slavin); (5) "Reinventing School: Teachers' Perspectives on Multiage Classrooms" (David Marshak); (6) "Nongraded Education: A Report from Aspen, Colorado" (Marilyn Hughes); (7) "Instructional Strategies in a Multiage Primary Classroom" (Kathy Magee); (8) "Technology for Teaching and Learning" (Frank Betts); (9) "Critical Insights from

Language: English

Published: Arlington Heights, Illinois: IRI/Skylight Training and Publishing, Inc., 1995

ISBN: 1-57517-003-5

Abstract/Notes: In this book, an experienced elementary school teacher recounts how she and three other teachers of grades 4, 5, and 6 decided to relax the compartmentalization of learning into subject areas and shuffle subject matter into new patterns to offer students a voice in their education. The book describes how the teachers created a multiage classroom--a place where learning is valued, where students can choose what they want and need to study, and where teachers are at liberty to develop imaginative programs. Both theoretical and practical, the book discusses ways teachers can (1) plan and develop a multiage program; (2) refine and expand the choices offered to children; (3) integrate and infuse the arts into the curriculum; and (4) effect change in their schools. The book also includes specific strategies to help children teach their peers, assess their own work, develop their own goals, and evaluate their own progress in parent conferences. The teachers who developed the program described in the book, looked for new ways to "unbuckle the curriculum"--to think creatively about possibilities for integrating reading, writing, and social studies, math, and science. The book notes that reading was something that was done all day long, and that the study of social issues helped define the program. It is hoped that teachers interested in creating similar learning environments or experimenting with new ideas and challenges will find encouragement in this book. An appendix contains sample daily module charts.

Language: English

Published: Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann, 1996

ISBN: 0-435-08889-0

Abstract/Notes: This study examined nongraded, multi-age elementary classrooms from the perspective of involved principals, teachers, and parents. Data came from field notes taken at on-site observations and from in-person structured and unstructured interviews with principals and teachers. The schools were all located in a small urban town in north central Mississippi. The study found that the schools set up and operated the nongraded classrooms in different ways. The classrooms operated according to the philosophy of the teachers in charge of the classes under the guidance of the principal; each classroom was different from the next. The schools that experienced the most success were those in which the teachers did not feel threatened and were given the freedom to operate as they deemed appropriate. Some parent concerns included mixing the sexes, having siblings in the same room, giving up traditional grading and assessment, and possibly short-changing math. Keeping parents continually informed

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: This guide provides conceptual as well as practical information for meeting the needs of all learners in heterogeneous classrooms. The first six sections discuss the growing heterogeneity in today's classrooms, the rationale for differentiated teaching and learning, the changing roles of teachers and students, the importance of creating classroom communities that nurture diversity, helpful ideas for organizing a classroom in which differentiated teaching and learning is practiced, and a step-by-step process for differentiation. The seventh section provides many examples of how to differentiate teaching and learning in four areas: (1) what students learn; (2) how students learn; (3) how students integrate and demonstrate what they have learned; and (4) how students and teachers utilize assessment throughout the learning process. Sections 8 and 9 include an in-depth look at actual classrooms through case studies. The first case study describes how two multi-age elementary classrooms

Language: English

Published: Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1997

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: This report summarizes research literature on multiage classrooms, explaining how they operate, and describes a study of a low-performing, predominantly Native American school district which adopted multiage classrooms as its primary reform strategy. District teachers completed surveys about: planning; collaboration; student groupings and interactions; assessment; planning resources; preparedness; faculty development; perceptions about the effects of multiage classrooms and looping on student learning; opinions on advantages and disadvantages of multiage classrooms and looping; and suggestions for improving instruction and learning. Researchers observed 37 classrooms and interviewed principals and district administrators. They also collected data from a comparison school in a neighboring district that had successful multiage grouping. Teachers were dissatisfied with how multiage classrooms were mandated by district administrators. The mandate created camps of teachers divided over

Language: English

Published: Washington, D.C., Dec 2000

Abstract/Notes: To determine the relative effectiveness of different methods of preschool educational intervention for disadvantaged children, comparisons were made of five programs whose levels of structure ranged from the traditional nursery school to a highly structured preschool. Subjects were 79 4-year-olds representing a wide range of ability levels. Intervention effects were evaluated at the end of the preschool year and also, at the end of the kindergarten year. Follow-up data were collected at the end of first grade for three of the programs. Preliminary results were differential and encouraging for the more structured programs. The ameliorative preschool provided a framework for the subsequent investigation of related variables: effects of initiating the program with 3-year-old, low IQ children, and the feasibility of using paraprofessional staff as teachers. Included in this report are studies undertaken to provide instructional programs for children under 3 years and to find techniques to train mothers in home intervention. (MS)

Language: English

Published: Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, May 1969

Abstract/Notes: Describes the mixed-age group implementation of the Everyday Mathematics program, which contains many open-ended components that are easily adaptable to the developmental nature of the mixed-age setting. Notes that students can benefit from games, explorations, projects, math messages, and math boxes in mixed-age settings. Team-teaching is used where content is difficult to teach in mixed-age settings.

Language: English