The only difference is that they will be working with our children in an improved space. While exact details are preliminary, much is known about the direction the school will take. The board and the administration have a firm commitment to a program that will retain the strengths of the academic program that has been present for our fourth through eighth grade students. The core strengths of these programs have always been the ways in which the design of the schools program meets the very individual needs of each specific grade level. Grouped into teams In our fourth grade at Wilkins and our fifth and sixth grades at the middle school, students are grouped into teams.
Most teams have two or three teachers working together.
Within a team of students, children move back and forth between teachers for science, social studies, and sometimes math, but remain with the same group of classmates. At the same time, these teachers who are working together to plan and implement their lessons can share their knowledge and understanding of the students they teacher together. At both Wilkins and the middle school, fourth, fifth and sixth grade students should move to the various special subjects with their own classmates, so whether they are in art, physical education or computers, they are among the same familiar faces they see all day long. Today, lack of space prevents this from occurring at the middle school. Varied curriculum Seventh and eighth grade students are also grouped into teams at the middle school, although as they move into a more varied curriculum there is more changing of classmates within the team.