It is hard to describe..but I'll try anyways

The school year is super close and we literally just received our class list. It is like Christmas in August as I can finally type in everyone's name and create my first class list.

Really, you just found out right now? Let me share with you how the creation of a class plays out.

When you are 5th grade teacher you rely on the 4th grade teachers to make the class list and they determine who will be your students/team/comrades/heroes for the next ten months. I know this sounds crazy but if you want to influence where you child lands in 5th grade, your lattes, scones and/or gift cards should be given to the 4th grade teachers. Why? 4th and the administrators put multiple hours into the creation of the next year's classes.

They factor in prior family relationships between the teacher & family, how many squirrely students are in each class, does each class have an equal amount of boys and girls, does each class have an equal amount of rebels, an equal amount of students prone to start a revolution, an equal amount of students prone to take a vow of 6 hour silence and really do it, and most importantly which teacher would best meet the needs of each student's unique personality type.

So as of June when we leave for summer break the classes have been expertly created and "in theory" should be equally formed.  Often at that time, the 5th grade teachers will get a tentative list  however those class are hypothetical at best.


Then summer happens.


Families move into the district and they move out of the district, the school's numbers evolve and the district's numbers also evolve. In early August this year there were discussions about a 4/5 split or a 3/4 split or no splits. Then some summers based on how moving shakes out in your neighborhood each class will receive X amount of students from outside the district. All scenarios create contingency plans with reshuffling of the finely tuned June classes.

I believe one summer, five students moved away over the summer from my tentative June class list. While only one new fifth grader moved into the neighborhood. That entailed 4th grade having to equally redistribute the classes so I didn't have four less students than every other class.  As I described above, 4th grade didn't just haphazardly take away four students, it entailed them sitting down and playing a game of chess.  Except it is chess like Spock and Captain Kirk played where every move predicated another movement happening. They put a ton of thought of meeting the criteria of what is best for the student and understanding group dynamics and chemistry.

Therefore you don't know who exactly will be in your class until practicality demands that a line be drawn in the sand and classes are created. So I now know and I can now type their names into my spreadsheet.

Let the 2015-2016 school year begin.