New this year at Bret Harte Elementary is a kindergarten and first-grade combination class, known as “K/1 split.”
This year’s class has 14 kindergarteners and eight first-graders. The kindergarteners and the first-grade students will follow their own separate academic curricula and will maintain their regular bell schedules, which allows for one-on-one time with their teacher, Steve Peterson, in the morning and the afternoon. Bret Harte news New combined class of kindergarteners, first-graders The first-graders start school an hour before the kindergarten class and get out an hour after the kindergarteners.
The kindergarteners will also get a peek into the music program from being in a split class because music is only offered starting in the first grade. The K1 split class is exciting news for the school because it means the school is growing.
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Also new at Bret Harte is a pre-K autism class. The new program is funded and supported through the city school district’s special education department. The program will serve children ages 3-5 within the surrounding community.
New teachers have been trained to work with students with autism and will help the students acclimate to a school environment.
Students will learn basic school activities such as following a schedule, listening to direction, learning how to play and interact with their peers in addition to other preschool academic standards. The 3.5-hour program is intended to strengthen and support the current primary program for first- through third-grade and intermediate fourth through sixth-grade students with autism.
For more information about the program at Bret Harte contact Sacramento City School Unified School District Special Education Department at 916 643–9174.
By Adriana Gonzalez Viewpoint staff writer