So you’ve been voluntold to teach a combo class this year. Now what? How in the world are you going to teach 30+ students in two different grade levels in the same class at the same time? Yikes!
I’ve been in your shoes. Multiple times, in fact.
While teaching a split grade combination class can be tricky – what with trying to teach standards for two different grade levels out of double the textbooks, all while supporting students and differentiating for student needs – it’s not impossible. In fact, it’s actually way easier than you might think.
It’s actually way easier than you might think if you follow three simple tips.
Table of Contents
Whenever my principal mentions the possibility of a 4/5 combo class for the upcoming school year, I always volunteer as tribute, much to the relief of my fellow upper grade teachers.
My first combo class experience was amazing and I’d do anything to get back to that feeling.
Usually the chance of a combo class dwindles and I end up with a straight 5th grade class. Once or twice, to my utter joy, the combo class actually materialized. And then two weeks into the school year, enrollment shifts and my combo class falls apart, leaving me once again in a straight 5th.
So it should come as no surprise that when the possibility of another 4/5 combo came up a couple of years ago (2023-24), I eagerly volunteered.
But, I’ll admit, this time I was incredibly nervous.
You see, it had been quite a few years since that first combo class. And the education world had changed a lot thanks to Common Core and Covid. Not to mention the new math curriculum that I had no clue how to implement with one grade level, let along two.
So I did what any teacher would do. I asked my math TOSA coach for help. She simply smiled and shrugged her shoulders. No one, it seemed, had any clue how to juggle everything that a combo class required. I was pretty much on my own.
On the bright side, no one could tell me that what I was doing was wrong. In fact, no one had any idea how to run a combo class effectively. So everyone pretty much stayed far, far away from my classroom. Which meant I was free to experiment until I found something that worked.
In fact, my combo class worked so well that I had the school’s highest end of year state test scores in ELA, Math, and Science and I have the plaques to prove it.
Plus . . . I’ll be teaching another combo class this year (2025-26) and I am seriously pumped!
Here’s what works for me . . .
Look for Content Overlap
Sit down with your standards and district-required curriculum. What overlaps do you notice?
Thanks to Common Core, the English Language Arts standards have plenty of overlaps. When you really analyze them, you’ll notice very slight differences from grade to grade, which is great news for any combo teacher.
While you’ll have different grade level textbooks (more on that in a bit), the standards themselves are pretty much the same, allowing you to easily teach all students both sets of ELA standards.
Even in math, I found plenty of overlap to lean into. Both 4th and 5th grade spend a lot of time adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. While 4th grade deals with whole numbers and basic fractions, 5th grade deals with bigger numbers, decimal numbers, and unlike fractions. The core concepts are the same.
Same goes for social studies and science concepts. While my 4th graders needed to learn California history, my 5th graders studied US history.
When boiled down, what content can you deliver to ALL your students? For example, no matter what grade(s) you teach, your students will always need more practice with basic math facts, and grammar practice. Sign up for online programs like Quill.org, Splash Math, 99Math, and Legends of Learning, which make it easy to differentiate for the varying academic levels and needs you’ll surely encounter.
The great thing about a split grade level class is that while some content is new for some kids, it’s review (or preview) for the other students.
My rule of thumb is this: If one grade level has to learn it, both grade levels learn it. It’s like an intense version of constant spiral review, which works wonders for student academic needs and test scores.
Once you’ve spent time pouring over your curriculum and standards, and have found overlap and commonalities, it’s time to start building your thematic units.
Teach Thematically
Now, I LOVE teaching thematically. It’s my jam.
No, seriously. I nerd out on building rich thematic units that allow kids to build content knowledge while practicing multiple academic skills. So instead of isolating each subject into its own separate time block, I like to braid the subjects together.
After 20+ years in education, I’ve found teaching thematically to be the most efficient way to teach. And as a combo class teacher, efficiency is your friend!
While I’m busy teaching a science or social studies concept, I’m also teaching reading and writing. Whenever possible, I’ll tie in math, then toss a little character development and social-emotional learning in for good measure.
To get started, take a second look at your ELA stories and science and social studies concepts. Both grade levels. What stories and concepts can you group together?
I personally like to include both fiction and non-fiction selections whenever possible.
Using my WONDERS ELA curriculum, I pulled together a 3 week unit that I titled, “Friendship & School”. By the end of this mini-unit, I want my students to write personal narratives that will help everyone get to know each other. It’s a good community building unit to start the year off strong.
In this unit, I found 5 stories in the 5th grade ELA textbook and 9 stories in the 4th grade book that all dealt with family or school. And since I’d be teaching this unit at the beginning of the year, I figured it would be a good time to address PBIS skills, Goal setting, autobiographies, common human emotions, and character traits. For Science, I wanted to pull in the 4th grade standards of communication and survival of living things.
The trick is to stay focused on your standards and not get carried away with the fun stuff. When I’m initially building my units, I include links to videos, story read-alouds, and art lessons that tie in.
To see an example of this in action, click here.
If you want some help with planning out your thematic units, you might like these ELA planning templates that I created a few years ago.
Build Buddies: Flexible Cross-Grade Student Groupings
Now that you have some sense of the standards you need to teach and the units you’re going to build, it’s time to turn your attention to your students and your schedule.
Chances are, your roster may have been strategically created for you. You may have struggling 5th graders but academically high 4th graders. You might not have many students on IEPS or only independent learners with zero big behavior concerns.
No matter how thoughtful the class was initially designed, it never seems to go as planned. Suddenly you’re faced with a new student who can’t read or has a high level of need. Or at least that’s been my experience. In my last combo class, I wound up with 20 5th graders and 12 4th graders who ranged from Kinder reading level to 7th.
Regardless, you will wind up with students along a continuum. You can use that to your advantage by creating a variety of cross-grade student groupings.
I recommend using beginning of the year test results, like iReady scores, or use last year’s state test scores to identify academic strengths and needs. Match high readers with mid range readers. Match mid range readers with struggling readers.
In my case, I created trios. One academically high 5th grader, one struggling 5th grader, and a 4th grade wild card. This allowed the kids to learn from and support or teach each other.
During ELA time, these trios met to read. They read stories out of both grade level text books. We were constantly reading and writing and the reading growth was astounding.
Math worked a bit differently. I still had math trios, though they differed from the ELA buddies. We use Eureka Squared, so everyone participated in the same math fluency routines and drills. Then I would send one grade level off to their computers to work on Splash Math while I did a small group math lesson for the other grade level. Then I’d swap the groups.
Often, I’d have small groups of students working in various seating zones around the room. I found that some kids even pushed to complete their math lessons quickly so that they could listen in or participate in the other math lesson. They actually worked harder!
You’ll find that your combo class students form a close knit group of kids who truly care about each other. They are patient with their peers and cheer each other on.
What NOT To Do
1. Don’t farm out your students
As a new combination class teacher, you might be tempted to farm out your students. It’s usually the first piece of advice you get as a combo teacher. Don’t do that. Pawning your students off onto other teachers doesn’t resolve the overcrowding issue. Instead it will breed resentment among your teammates and create division or segregation between your students.
2. Don’t create grade level table groups
You might even be tempted to separate your students into grade level table groups. Yeah, don’t do that either.
Do this instead: embrace small group cross-grade collaboration.
Set up your class design in a way that allows students to sit “family style” with the grade levels mixed together. Just like you would in a single grade level classroom, seat a struggling student near a stronger peer, even if that means a struggling 5th grader is getting help from a stronger 4th grader. This way you’ve built in peer tutors who can support their friends.
Create little cozy zones or nooks where students can gather together in small groups when needed. While this may not be feasible in some classroom, I like to get very creative with my classroom space. I prefer to gather my students close to me on the carpet when doing direct instruction, so I keep the center of the room bare.
Some of my students preferred to limit their distractions by placing their desk along and facing a wall. The rest of my students were in two large L shape table groups.
Throughout the room, I placed sturdy folding storage ottoman bench seats or stools. I have 3 different zones plus the center of the room and the space by the classroom door. These seating zones allow me to separate the student groups when they work, but they’re all within eyesight of me. It’s handy for managing student behaviors and noise level.
This video below shows how I had my class set up a couple years ago. I wound up doing away with the center table group because I wanted a larger space where the whole class could sit on the carpet in front of the interactive board. This meant that the two outside table groups had to be turned into more of an L shape, which worked out better for me and the kids.
Don’t forget to establish strong routines that make sense and help with the traffic flow. Rather than me keeping a tight grip on my supplies, like dry erase clipboard and markers, students should have everything they need in their own desk or AVID binder. This saves a ton of time and builds independence in.
Recap
To recap, teaching a combo class, while initially daunting, can be a magical experience. For you and for your students.
By harnessing the power of cross-grade level student groupings and finding the overlap in curriculum and standards, you’ll be able to teach thematically, which will make your life (and school year) so much easier.
Find useful resources, either printable or tech-based, that all students can use. This helps keep students busy while you teach a small group.
Design your classroom space strategically. Carve out multiple zones where students can gather and work in small groups and utilize that wall space. By pushing some desks against walls, you’ll limit distractions and curb misbehavior while freeing up valuable carpet space.
In no time at all, you’ll find you’re able to cover more content at a greater depth than ever before and your students will reap the rewards because of it.
Helpful Resources
Short on time? Here are a few of my favorite resources from my TPT class that are my go-to essentials.
These SEL Question of the Day Slides and matching Positive Affirmations Handwriting Pages with Writing Prompts gave me a quick daily dose of handwriting practice and a focused morning meeting question. This let me use my social emotional learning activities to hone in on those speaking and listening skills and writing skills.
My Generic Reading Response Graphic Organizers for Any Novel Study and Interactive Bookmarks to Build Reading Comprehension, Grammar, & Writing Skills allowed me to differentiate during ELA and independent reading.
Not ready to buy today? It’s all good, I get it. If you want to be the first to know when I add a new resource or throw a sale, click here to follow my store on TeachersPayTeachers.
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