Elementary Education, the education of children that precedes secondary school. This article is concerned with elementary education in the United States. In some countries it is called primary or common-school education. In the United States it is also called grammar-school and grade-school education.
Most United States elementary schools begin with kindergarten, for children age four to age six. Traditionally, the purpose of kindergarten has been to introduce children to the school setting with half-day classes. Today, children attend full-day kindergarten with a curriculum that incorporates mathematics, reading, and other academic subjects. After completing kindergarten, pupils spend the next year in the first grade. The number of grades in an elementary school varies. Many elementary schools end with the eighth grade, after which pupils enter high school. Others end with grades five, six, or seven and are followed by junior high school. (In many systems, junior highs are called middle schools and include grades six through nine.)
Grades one through three are often called the primary grades; four through six, the intermediate grades; seven and eight, the upper grades. In some schools the three primary years are not divided into grades.
About 85 per cent of the children of elementary-school age attend free public schools supported by state and local taxes. The rest attend nonpublic schools---either parochial schools supported by Roman Catholic, Lutheran, or other religious groups, or independent schools supported by private endowments and tuition fees.
Special education refers to the programs designed for exceptional children---children with physical or mental disabilities. Special education is provided both in separate schools and in separate classes within regular schools. Gifted children and non-English-speaking children may also attend separate schools or classes.
Because public elementary schools are the responsibility of state and local governments, there is no uniform curriculum. Curriculums also vary within each state school system, or even from school to school. The curriculums of parochial schools differ from those of public schools in one essential respect: religious instruction is provided and education in the other subjects is presented in a manner that is compatible with the beliefs of the religious denomination.
A few schools try to build a curriculum around experiences and problems the pupils meet in and out of school, and not around separate subjects, such as mathematics, spelling, history, and the like. In such schools pupils may work on individual or group activities that cut across traditional subject lines. The curriculum is often organized into broad areas such as language arts (reading, writing, speaking) and social studies (civics, geography, history).
Most schools, however, emphasize the teaching of separate subjects---principally reading, spelling, mathematics, grammar, science, and history---and consider much drill, or repetition, essential. The pupils receive instruction in almost all basic subjects from one classroom teacher. In reading instruction, and sometimes mathematics instruction, the class may be divided into smaller learning groups according to ability levels.
For art, music, physical education, computer instruction, and library use, the pupils may leave their regular classroom as a class to work with teachers who are specialists. The specialist teachers often rotate among several schools within a system. Other rotating teachers include speech therapists, special-education teachers, and counselors.
A classroom usually has about 25 pupils. A few school systems use team teaching, in which two or more teachers work with a class; such classes may have as many as 100 pupils.
A typical elementary school includes, besides classrooms, a learning center (library), a lunchroom and kitchen, a gymnasium (which also may serve as an auditorium), and offices.
Many state departments of education prepare curriculum guides, and schools often adapt them to fit local needs. Some school systems develop their own curriculums, using committees of teachers, school officials, curriculum experts, community leaders, parents, and, sometimes, children.
