Primary Unit Third Grade

Jane White, with us since 2010, teaching in both third grade and Primary Unit, captures what makes the Primary experience so effective here at TPS.

Vertical grouping is a truly inspiring part of teaching first and second graders. One of the greatest joys of teaching in Primary is observing children’s trajectories of growth during our two years with them.

TPS is preschool through eighth grade by design. We believe that the responsive, caring, and loving environment that we aspire to can best be achieved in this intimate setting. Just as intentional is our vertical grouping of Primary classes. Primary classes (grades 1 and 2) have been combined from the start of TPS. Until 1984, Kindergarten, first, and second grades were combined. Kindergarten then separated to its own classroom but still participated in Primary Unit thematic studies.

Our Primary classrooms are vertically grouped to support the broad developmental range that characterizes this stage of learning. Grouping children of varying ages and abilities enhances the opportunity for each child to work, learn, play, and explore at their individual level, regardless of age. Vertical groups also intentionally build our children’s capacity to both lead and follow. A child in a vertically grouped classroom, for example, has an opportunity to be among the youngest in a group and to experience the uniqueness of that role.

Later the same child will be among the oldest in the group and will learn the expectations and responsibilities associated with that position. Vertical grouping provides many occasions for leadership skills to be developed. As children grow, they also become more cooperative among themselves, seeking out less teacher time. Students rely on one another as helpers and guides, knowing who can tie shoes, zip coats, moderate a problem, or help them read a word. Vertical grouping is especially helpful for this growth.

Teachers work with the same children during the two years, allowing strong personal and working relationships between students and teachers to be forged. This approach permits maximum attention to each student, educationally and emotionally. Close-knit bonds develop among students, teachers, and parents. This year, 102 first- and second-graders are divided among four classrooms (Primary A, B, C, and D), each taught by a team of two full-time teachers.

In the early years at TPS, third grade was part of the Junior Unit. In 1992, third grade became a separate class. The teachers felt that the needs of third graders could be better met that way since third grade was when students started getting written homework, transitioned from “learning to read” to “reading to learn,” learned cursive handwriting, and generally spent more of their day on academics.

Despite that change, when it came to theme, third grade remained part of the Junior Unit and continued to participate in the three year rotation of American History topics which included Native Americans and Colonial Times, Enslavement and the Civil War, and Immigration, Industrialization, and the Westward Movement. Sometimes we were able to connect our history theme to the all-school theme as when we did a deep dive into coal mining during the year of The Underground Visiting an actual coal mine and then creating our own mine in a lower level space with no windows was a highlight of that year.

When the school decided that the Junior Unit would change their theme studies to Ancient Greece and China, third grade had to revise the way we approached American history. Former TPS teacher Carrie Spaulding and were talking on the bus from Shelly Ridge and came up with the idea of Building a More Fair USA. We would examine various people and movements in US history through a social justice lens.

That approach has worked well over the years. Teachers and students have been able to dig into topics that especially interest them. We have also been able to connect to current issues and events, such as when the 2018 Starbucks racial profiling incident and Colin Kaepernick’s stand against racism appeared in two of the third grade plays. In the last couple of years, an important addition to this theme has been the study of The 1619 Project: Born on the Water, which has enriched and improved our study of the foundational issue of enslavement. It is our hope that through studying how people have made the United States more fair, students leave with the tools and vision to put their values into action.