Looping???

Now that the shock of changing grades has worn off and I have begun to look at it as adventure.  I started to do a little research on Looping.  Since I will be teaching the same kids for 3rd grade I am excited about having another year to get to know them.  Now that we know routines and how our classroom runs our first days in August we will be able to go straight to work. I found the following article that the link below will take you to.

http://www.ascd.org/publications/newsletters/education-update/mar98/vol40/num02/Looping.aspx 


I found this article very informative.  It also addresses many of the concerns parents have about looping.  Even though the teacher in the article looped with her 1st graders to 2nd grade.  The article was very helpful in giving me the insight of the many benefits of our class staying together.  Especially the portion on high stakes decisions.  Since we will be preparing for the VA SOL Test, this being comfortable with each other and the fact that I already know where they are will help to better prepare them for state testing.