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For clarity's sake, I went to a K-thru-8 school, not the more common elementary school and middle school.
Kindergarten was its own self-contained classroom for almost everything, with its own restroom and even building entrance. Only the cafeteria space and gym class was shared with other grade levels.
Grades 1 thru 4 had one main teacher in the same classroom for all subjects, except for specialty classes like art, computing, and gym, which had their own classrooms and teachers. Grades 1 and 2 had the same teacher, and grades 3 and 4 had the same teacher. At one point in 4th grade, the school did a "5th grade practice day", where our day was a simulation of what was to come next year: we switched classrooms, although each teacher did funny educational games for their subject, and one teacher gave candy. (see next paragraph)
In grades 5 thru 8, proper switching of classrooms began. We went to our homeroom teacher at the start of the day for our first class, then switched classrooms for different subjects, both regular and specialty; then we'd return to our homeroom teacher for the last 15 minutes of the day, mostly to debrief about the day's events and pick up any paper handouts we were supposed to get. (Unfortunately, the teacher sometimes gave us homework she forgot to give in the morning.) The switching happened "as a team", with all classes being with the same set of kids. We had a different homeroom teacher each year, although the subject teachers remained the same.
In high school, I went to each of my classes on my own. Different classes had different sets of kids; I didn't go from class to class "as a team". Lunch was on your own too; if your friends didn't have the same lunch period as you, you were SOL, since eating lunch by yourself was frowned upon. You had to either brave it, or make do with a Snickers bar and a Coke.
What grade level did switching classrooms for different subjects start for other people on here?
Last edited by MillennialUrbanist; 08-16-2020 at 08:43 PM..
I'm old, so no middle school back then. Also no public kindergarten.
My school system had Grades 1-6 in elementary school, Grades 7-10 in junior high school, and grades 11-12 in senior high school (that was different that most high schools, even in the '60s, because there was only one high school in a city of 50,000 and they didn't want to build a second one, so they just had the last two grades in high school).
We started changing classrooms and teachers in the 7th grade.
We didn't have a homeroom.....you were assigned to either Mr. Thompson's class, or Mrs. Wagner's class, and you switched classrooms for the different subjects. (She taught English and Social Studies, he taught Math and Science)
This was when my family was living in northern Arizona, and I think now that school system starts switching classrooms in 5th grade.
My kids (now in their 40s) started switching in 6th grade - their kids started in 5th grade. The grandkids went to a k-4 then a 5-6, then a 7-8 then 9-12 for high school. One is off to college starting tomorrow and the other one is in 10th grade this year.
I'm like OP. No middle school here until my senior year. High School started in a new building and the old high school became the middle school. 8th grade was the first where I first switched classrooms.
Started changing class in the 7th grade. That was the first year of Jr Hi for me. 2 years later started 9th grade in HS.
The 7th and the 8th had block classes which combined English and Social Studies. They were roughly 3 hours long. After that, classes were one hour roughly in HS. Non-block in Jr Hi was also 1 hr (Math, Science, Gym).
This was mid to late 60's.
At the time when I started school, kindergarten was not required, so many children began school in the first grade. I did go to kindergarten myself, in a church ran kindergarten.
I should add that I went to a Jr/Sr HS with 5 grades. That has all changed and Jr Hi school is no longer. Middle school for 6th thru 8th.
I went to school between Fall 1980 to Spring 1993. I started changing classrooms in 6th grade, Fall 1986. I went to a Middle School, which was 6-8 grades.
Damn, I feel old writing that. I turn **46** in 2 more months!
My elementary school, K to 5, switched classes for some subjects like reading, math, music, art and gym. Had your own assigned desk for your belongings in your main classroom. Coats, backpacks, etc were kept in a cubby area.
Jr. high (grades 6 to 8) and high school (grades 9 to 12) changed classes with different teachers for every subject. Day started off with homeroom and then you followed your schedule. Had lockers instead of desks/cubbies.
I switched classrooms for Language Arts & Math starting in 2nd grade but I was only one of 3 of us that did that. We were the "smart" kids. In general though it was 5th grade for everyone else
I went to elementary for K-6, JH 7-9, and HS 10-12
We started in 5th grade switching for main classes. Always switched for music, art,PE in K-4.
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Also no public kindergarten. 
