What’s the Easiest Elementary School Grade To Teach?

If you are new to teaching and have not had the chance to work with children of different ages, you might wonder how the teaching experience varies across the grades. In particular, you might be keen to know the perks and challenges associated with each grade level. So, what is the easiest elementary grade to teach?

The easiest elementary school grade to teach is one that suits your preferences. Each grade’s students are in different stages of development, which makes every grade a unique experience. Therefore, choose one that best matches your skill set and is most enjoyable for you. To help you determine your preferences, ask yourself questions related to student independence, your subject knowledge, and the depth of discussion with students.

In this article, I’ll talk about why your teaching preferences matter and provide questions to ask yourself to pinpoint them. I’ll also explain the different development levels of the six elementary school grades.

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Why Your Teaching Preferences Matter

Elementary teachers often work with the same group of children for at least a full academic year. The tasks and responsibilities you undertake will vary depending on the grade you teach. Therefore, the types of preferences and strengths you have are crucial in determining how you cope with the year.

Pleasure and passion refill your energy stores. Would you do your best work if you find a particular age group challenging or don’t enjoy the curriculum?

Tailoring what grade you teach to your preferences is, therefore, essential for both your happiness and that of your students.

What To Consider Regarding Teaching Preferences

If the difficulty in teaching a grade depends on your preferences, then self-reflection is vital. Here are ten key questions you can ask yourself to figure out your teaching preferences:

How important is “independence among students” to you?
Do you enjoy teaching simple concepts or more complex ones?

How confident are you with your subject knowledge in core subjects like math, English, and science?
How willing would you be to use simple instructions and to repeat yourself frequently?
How important is “emotional intelligence among students” to you?

How important is “students being able to express themselves” to you?
How important is “having a deeper and broader discussion with students” to you?
How willing are you to counsel and support students with more mature topics like relationships and mental health issues?

How important is “the detail of feedback you provide to students” to you?
How willing would you be to come in contact with urine and vomit?

The questions explore the factors you should consider when deciding which grade best suits you.

I have tried to list the questions in order of importance, but of course, each teacher has their own priorities, which also comes down to preference.

What Can You Expect in Each Grade

Your preferences will largely depend on the generalized characteristics of students and the curriculum expectations in each grade. Let’s go over the grades and explore their differences.

Kindergarten

Kindergarteners are the youngest in the school and are between four and six years old. They’ll learn basic concepts, such as shapes, letters, and numbers, as well as work on building a basic vocabulary.

As a result, the written and verbal feedback you will have to provide regarding schoolwork is minimal.

In kindergarten, children have limited emotional intelligence. They won’t know how to express their emotions adequately and may resort to tantrums and hitting, so you’ll need to set and reinforce clear rules.

Furthermore, be prepared to give very simple instructions and repeat yourself frequently, as children at this age level have a very limited understanding and attention span.

Finally, they won’t know how to do many things on their own, including eating or going to the toilet. So they’re likely to have accidents or be sick on themselves, and you may have to clean it up.

Grade One

First graders are in their second year at school and are between six and seven. They’ll learn basic reading and writing skills, simple addition and subtraction, as well as easy-to-grasp science concepts.

There are certain challenges to teaching first graders how to read, even if they started reading in Kindergarten. Phonemic knowledge and awareness are essential.

Watch this particular teacher give you her reasons behind her reading lesson plans:

First graders also have a better grasp of their emotions and who they are, so they can express themselves better. Clear structure and routines should still be present, but since they are better aware of the consequences of their actions, behavior issues should be less of an occurrence.

They are more independent than kindergarten students but may still have the occasional accident.

Grade Two

Second graders are in their third year and are between the ages of seven and eight. They’ll continue with math concepts like place value and adding and subtracting, and will start to place greater emphasis on their spelling and reading comprehension.

They should be able to express themselves well, and your instructions will get through to them better without having to repeat yourself frequently.

They’ll also start to form close friendships, and their emotional and social intelligence will continue to develop over the next couple of years. They’re more independent at this stage, but some outliers may still need your attention with bladder control and separation anxiety.

Grade Three

Third graders are in their fourth year of school and are between eight and nine. They’ll learn mid-level math concepts like multiplication, decimals, and fractions, as well as build upon their vocabulary and reading comprehension.

They will be expected to produce lengthier written work, so grading and feedback given by teachers will naturally correlate. Standardized testing will play a more prominent role this year, leading to much more paperwork for you.

Grade three students are eager to help and still relatively receptive to consequences, so their behavior should be manageable. They should be independent enough to be given additional responsibilities, like retrieving printouts from the reprographics room.

Their people skills continue to develop, and if their home life is stable, their emotional intelligence should come along, too.

The ability to have deeper and broader discussions with your class is another notable point concerning third-grade students. They understand the wider world around them better and begin to make connections between taught concepts and real life.

Grade Four

Fourth graders are in their fifth year of school and are between the ages of nine and ten. They’ll build upon their previous math knowledge with more problem-solving and reasoning tasks, as well as learn new concepts like percentages and volume. In English, they’ll be expected to know the features of various text types and include these in their own work where necessary.

To ensure that students are well-equipped to meet these learning objectives, the teacher’s subject knowledge must be secure.

Moreover, the teacher should be prepared to give detailed and timely feedback on how students can improve. At this age, students often have the maturity and self-awareness to take on board the teacher’s comments and try to better themselves.

With that said, they’ll start to place more importance on socializing, which may lead to irrational behavior brought on by peer pressure. This year, they’ll disagree and compete, so you’ll need to keep a close eye on the dynamics of the group.

Their self-management skills will continue to prosper. However, weaker students and those with special needs, like ADHD or Autism, will need more personalized support and intervention; otherwise, they risk falling further behind.

Grade Five

Grade five students are in their sixth and final year of elementary school and are between 10 and 11 years old. They learn even more advanced math concepts like algebra and calculating missing interior and exterior values of shapes. They should also be able to confidently carry out investigations using the scientific process.

As you can imagine, having a commanding subject knowledge is vital. It is recommended that you also familiarize yourself with the grade six and seven learning objectives, as you will no doubt have one or two high-achieving students that you’ll need to stretch and challenge.

Before completing grade five, students will take tests. Therefore, much of the year will be spent revising and preparing for these assessments, meaning plenty of pressure and paperwork.

Fifth graders are socializing machines, and disagreements are inevitable. The range and importance of problems you’ll have to address will also increase, as students will need your counseling and support with topics like relationships, sex, and mental health issues.

A significant bonus is that grade five students are the most independent and take greater responsibility for their learning, organization, and time management. What’s more, you’ll get to have interesting, sophisticated, and in-depth conversations with your students about important topics like global and political issues.

Conclusion

The easiest elementary school grade to teach is the one that best aligns with your preferences and priorities.

Early grades are less independent, and you’ll need to provide more support for them, and you may even have to deal with urine and vomit. However, the curriculum is simpler, and there is no pressure or stress from standardized testing.

Meanwhile, the later grades have stringent testing, increasing responsibilities, and growing social appetites that may cause them to clash with their classmates. They are, however, much more independent, self-aware, and intellectual, so you’re likelier to have more fulfilling interactions with them.