This article reports and discusses findings from an ethnographic case study, aiming to gain a deeper understanding of how different children perceive their learning environment in the first grade of primary school, with regard to social as well as academic aspects. The theoretical framework is based on an interactional perspective, where…

The students in a K-1 class at a Washington elementary school built a mock four-seater airplane with some community assistance. They hired a building contractor (promising him red wriggler worms from the class compost bin) to help design the plane, obtained a Boeing certificate for $500 worth of spare parts, and attended an air show as exhibitors.…

A study implemented a self-assessment tool developed to better address the needs of students with low self-direction in an integrated kindergarten/first grade whole language classroom. The tool is an adaptation of the plan/do/review model of the High Scope curriculum for early childhood instruction. The teacher targets students with low…

Research on the social and cognitive effects of grouping children in mixed-age versus same-age classrooms is gaining interest among practitioners and researchers. This investigation used a teacher rating scale to assess children's prosocial, aggressive, and friendship behaviors in mixed- and same-age classrooms. Confounding variables such as the…

Recognizing that primary education needed to be changed in order to make it research-based and developmentally appropriate, a group of teachers in Wyoming developed a multi-age, team-taught class, called the Primary Education Program. The first year's class included 3 teachers and 60 students in kindergarten through first grade, and the second…

Kindergartners and first-graders in regular classrooms were compared to students in nongraded, continuous-progress settings. Comparisons on academic achievement and school attitudes indicated differences favoring nongraded, continuous-progress settings for various academic and citizenship skills. Girls in the nongraded, continuous-progress group…