That was one advantage of the rank and file desks with the stand and deliver teaching: I could finish all my work at school. My brother brought stuff home because apparently talking was more interesting to him.
As I remember elementary school, work was always by subject, none of this homework sheets at the end of the day stuff.
We had an advanced english class in sixth as the only differentiation. We discussed things in more depth and spent much of our time preparing for a big play we did for the whole school and the other elementary school in the district.
In the fifties, my mom's sixth grade was a complete pullout that did everything, but didn't advance core instruction as a leveller for smart kids.
Starting in fourth we changed classrooms as a group for math and social studies.
