How should I set up my elementary class in Kiddom?
The question we hear most frequently from elementary school teachers is “Should I create separate classes for each subject, or keep all of my subjects and standards in one class?” If you teach many subjects to the same students, explore your options below and decide which is best for your teaching style and school structure.
One Class, Many Subjects
- This “whole-student” approach allows you to track student progress across all subjects in one place
- If you want to isolate by content area, you can still generate standards-specific reports
- Larger, combined reports can make it a little bit more difficult to isolate areas for remediation
- One Timeline with assignments spanning across many subjects may overwhelm younger students
Distinct Classes for Separate Subjects
- Isolating subjects allows you to give specific, targeted feedback for in-depth remediation
- Students see separate assignment Timelines for each subject and can work on one at a time
- It’s simple to copy a class to keep some settings across all of your classes, like rosters, rubrics, social emotional learning standards, or speaking and listening skills. You can change the settings you want after you have a copy.
- Specialists like art or physical education teachers and paraprofessionals can be given collaboration access to view student mastery in other areas
Project-based or Interdisciplinary Classes
- For a project-based model, create a separate class for each interdisciplinary project, incorporating standards for all content areas covered. For example, in a unit where students are creating simple websites about endangered species, you could create a class that includes standards from biology, ISTE technology standards, social emotional standards, and English Language Arts standards.
- Create interdisciplinary STEM classes for related math, science, and technical standards or humanities classes weaving ELA and social studies standards together. These approaches help students draw connections across content areas.