Experienced Elementary School Teachers Advice Needed

I am a middle school teacher, but I couldn't help chiming in -

I guess I'm surprised that you like K because "there aren't as many skills to teach." My feeling is that if you don't want to teach skills and don't want to push the children as far as they can go or don't want to worry about "low kids," then you might not be enjoying the entire field of teaching anymore. It might be time to think about doing something else if you've lost your passion for teaching.

Obviously, I could be misreading the entire situation - not knowing you and only being able to read 1 paragraph, it could be that you really are just bored and need a new challenge. In that case, I highly recommend looking at the upper grades. You may find the challenge stimulating and it may recharge you. 4-6 graders are so fun - they're more capable of abstract thinking and reasoning, they have lots of fun little quirks, etc.

For me, my niche is truly middle school. I adore 7th and 8th graders. I think they're the most fun, wonderful, stimulating people on earth. I can't imagine having to come to work everyday and not feeling that way. They are passionate and funny, capable of really thinking and reasoning in meaningful ways, they surprise me all the time (even after doing this for 10 years), and they are ready to tackle tough issues and tough concepts. What's more, they still love and need you as much as they did in Elem. school.

Good luck!

After 18 year of teaching, you deserve to be happy. So, pick the grade that will be most personally satisfying to you. I'm sure you know that an unhappy teacher makes unhappy students, so just follow your heart and your instinct and you'L. be fine. Don't settle!

Why not first grade?

Hi E.... well Kindergarten here is a terrible situation! (I'm assuming you are in SoCal). I moved from NM almost a year ago where I taught 1st grade, two years at kindergarten, and then just like you, wanted to try 2nd grade and actually managed it!
So in Albuquerque, NM at least they have full day kindergarten with no more than 20 kids and an assistant all day. The children have to be 5 by Sept 1st.
vs. CA where...
only 3 hours of school, the kids are 2 months younger, and no assistant except in those terrible times when you've got 30 kids from overlapping classes!!! and kindergarten is not even mandatory! (well thats what I'm hearing anyways, because as you know there are NO teaching jobs here so I'm just staying home for now hoping that things will get better)

I knew the person before this wasn't a teacher because shes just not worried about all that testing! Well it's required and takes up a huge amount of your time and reflects on you and the school!

Okay, well as I said I haven't taught here but in second grade they can generally read directions and take some tests without as much help. You will see some more disparitity (?) in ablity levels but not as bad as the older grades and can do small groups better, making it easier to spend more time with the lower ones. They aren't so old yet that you'L. have those terrible behavior problems (generally). It was kind of borderline, but I still did the "self selection" time at the end of the day (I had many reasons for this). I really liked 2nd grade but didn't do it again because I taught music the next year. oh, a negative in second grade is that you find yourself grading a lot more papers.

someone else said why not 1st? well you probably could answer this yourself, but I'L. put it out there- that would be my last choice for the primary grades because they are so needy still and a large portion of the responsibilities of teaching reading falls to first grade-- and that with the high classroom numbers is very difficult!

I wish you good luck... I hope that you are happy teaching... there are so many teachers just wishing to have their own classroom... my many, many boxes of unused teaching materials sit around and they are so, so sad...

I cannot believe all the testing now; what a killjoy for kids and teachers. I was just, after about 20 years, in touch with my first-grade teacher. Know that kids remember a lot, and that you'L. have a direct impact on their lives. I remember almost everything from first grade! If I were a teacher I would teach and enjoy the kids and not care about testing. But I am not a teacher. :)
I wish we could go back to the 1980s. Kindergarten was not prep for tests. It was fun and educational, and most certainly not full-day.
My kid is starting soon, and of course I wish I could send him to my old kindergarten, gone now with this testing reform.