We are excited to be starting year two of our multi-age journey! We are thrilled to have new classes join us in our adventure this year. Our school now has a 1/2 multi-age class, four 3/4 multi-age classes and a 5/6 multi-age class. We welcome all the teachers and the students on board!
The first day of school is always busy and buzzing of both excitement and nervousness. It was interesting to experience the calmness of the students returning to the class (for year 2) and how quickly they fell back into routine. The returning students were also very quick to guide the new students in the routines and many of them took on leadership roles with the younger students. This was great to see, especially given the fact that these were some of my quieter, less confident students last year. This comfort and predictability of established student-teacher relationships is one of the benefits of the multi-age philosophy which benefits both parties. Both teachers and students have an understanding of what to expect in the coming year, which allows the focus to quickly shift to teaching and learning, instead of “getting to know you” activities and formal assessments.
The challenge for me this year will be finding a balance between keeping the comfort of the familiar, but also making things “fresh” for the returning students. This is one of the reasons that I am excited to be working directly with three other teachers plus two intern teachers to develop the curriculum activities for this year.
I am looking forward to this year and hope that many of you continue to follow our journey here on the blog!
A Multi-age Journey 