I received a letter from my son's supposed local school regarding the loop classroom structure for 1st and 2nd grade. It described the program and asked parents to fill out and return a form by June 11th if you wanted your child to be part of the program. I'd love to hear other's feedback on this structure.

One weird thing is that DS5 is supposed to be starting K in September not 1st or 2nd grade (Absolutely no early entry).

This can mean one of two things:
1. They mail this form out to the soon to be K parents to prepare for the school year starting in 14 months.
2. They mail this form out to the soon to be 1st parents and somehow my son is enrolled for 1st grade.

The letter is really open to interpretation as it is written. It is address to Parents (Not specifically parents of children in a certain grade). What do you think?

I think I would call and ask them. Of course, our school is notorious for sending out wrong forms...so who knows.

What is a loop classroom?

In our district, loop classroom is when the kids move with the teacher to the next grade. DS was offered to loop w/ his K teacher to 1st grade. I declined. The teacher was a horrible fit for him. Everyone else looped b/c they were afraid of hurting the teacher's feelings by not looping then several of them complained all year about the teacher. If you have a great teacher, I think it's a plus. If the teacher ain't so great, then child will spend 2yrs in a not-so-great (unchallenging for DS) environment.

Crisc,
Weird! Perhaps an administrative Miracle?
Grin

If there was somehow a mistake, and you do want your child in first, I'd act like my child was entering first when you call to check on that letter.

When I miraculously was accepted into an architecture program without submitting a portfolio (i was in pre-arch at the time), I received a letter from the university saying "we made a mistake and we need you to sign this form to fix it"). At the time, I had already switched majors, again, but there was no way I was signing that!

that is strange that it is supposed to be for another set of grades... I know when my past schools did looping, since I taught K, we always told our parents that it was an option for the upcoming years and just so they were aware but we never sent out a notice a full year ahead - I would call and check.

Opinions on looping - as a ex-teacher and hearing other teachers discuss it - there are ups and downs to it - the good things: The teacher gets 2 years with the children, so that means a continuous flow into the next year - usually it takes well over a month or 2 just to establish all the classroom rules/junk at the beginning of each school year - since the kids were all together the year before and it's the same teacher - then there is no time wasted having to go through that whole breaking in process. The teacher really gets to know the ins and outs of each individual child because they are together for so long and it allows a good partnership to grow. Kids all know each other and it allows for a much more easy flowing classroom the second year together- everyone knows each other and the routine.

The downside - if you have a crummy teacher - then one bad year will become 2 bad years. If there are any children in the class that are common issues/problems - if a child has really bad issues with a classmate(s) then they are stuck together again for another year. It is also tougher on the teacher because they have to learn double (2 different grade levels of materials) the curriculum than a normal non-looping teacher. All of the teachers I have known over the past years of teaching have been very much for it and have enjoyed it.

UPDATED:
I mailed in the form last week that we were interested in the loop program.

I also sent an e-mail to the principal asking if the mailing was meant for the soon to be first grader parents or the soon to be K parents. I didn't get a reply so I just called the office. The secretary told me it went out to the soon to be first grader parents for the upcoming school year and that the class was now full and notices would be sent out on who was enrolled.

I wonder if anyone will discover their mistake?????

I would certainly NOT tell them if you want your child in 1st. If they figure it out you can claim that it would cause emotional damage to said child to change it back...