The benefits of small classes in the primary grades are so numerous, I don't know where to begin. When our classes are a manageable size, we know our students as individuals with their own strengths and weaknesses. Using this insight, we can adjust our instruction to provide more drills, varied questioning techniques, visualizations and countless other strategies that benefit our students and the educational process. Small classes allow work to be completed in a shorter length of time.
Routine tasks take less time.
I found that this year, I had no problem covering the same material that I often had to rush through to complete when our classes were larger. There was enough time to reread difficult stories, to reteach problem skills and reinforce concepts with projects, music and art work. All four first grades had numbers under 20. Small class size allowed me to give individual attention to each student. It allowed me to cover materials that were considered to be extra in the past.