Who’s Ready to Start Thinking About Next School Year?

Who’s ready to start thinking about next school year? Okay, maybe not until we’ve had time to soak in end of the year activities as well as summer break. Speaking of break, we have season passes and are excited to spend time at Worlds of Fun and Silver Dollar City this summer … Good ole Missouri staples! For teachers it’s never too early to start planning for next school year though. As we head into summer I wanted to give you a little insight into one specific thing we spend quite a bit of time preparing for before teachers leave for break … Class splits.

It’s incredible how much time and effort goes into planning class lists each year. It seriously feels like the NFL Draft with notes, colored papers, index cards, and arrows everywhere! It is a BIG deal to us to make sure each student is in the best place to help them succeed for the coming year.

Some of the biggest factors we consider when creating class lists are friendships, gender splits, and academic groupings to name a few. Our goal is to put each child in the best position to succeed, while balancing the chemistry of the class. We take a well-rounded approach to placing students into classes with many factors that impact those decisions.

It’s amazing all of the little details teachers can tell you about each student. They spend so much time with their classes, and many times teachers know just as much if not more about their students than their own families! I can tell you that teachers work hard and plan months in advance to create class lists based on observations, assessments, and notes they’ve taken throughout the year. They take all of the big and little information they know about each student into consideration. 

Other factors that impact class placements include previous sibling-teacher pairings, friendships where students may benefit from more independence, and the need for balanced academic groupings. We carefully observe students for signs that they’re ready to grow beyond close-knit friendships or may thrive in a different classroom environment that supports their individual development. One of the advantages of being at Oakhill is that even if students are placed in different classrooms, they continue to interact daily through PE, lunch, recess, and school-wide activities. Teachers are mindful of social dynamics and take all of these factors into account when creating class lists.

We do consider previous sibling teachers, although it’s not at the top of the list when making splits. Although you may form a strong bond with a teacher that another one your children has already had, it doesn’t always mean it’s the best fit for your other child. Every student is different, and I have seen students thrive with a different teacher than who their sibling had. At the end of the day, we have such amazing teachers at Oakhill that you really can’t go wrong with the teacher you get!

Mrs. McCanles, Mrs. Newhouse, Mrs. Beckham, and I work as a team with grade level teachers to review, tweak, change, and add as we gain more students throughout the summer. This process extends into students leaving the main building in 3rd grade going into 4th in the South Building with Mrs. Sarver and her amazing team of teachers. As you can see, this is a very thorough process involving teachers and members of the leadership team. We do not take making class splits lightly, and there are hours of communication and consideration about each grade level. 

Thank you for trusting us and the process as we work to place students into classes for the upcoming school year. We look forward to another great school year in 2025/2026!