Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums High School How many periods in a day?

As we plan for next year, I wonder how other high schools plan their day? We have 8 periods, with a couple of "early-birds" at 7 or 7:30. Our college-prep curriculum (public high school, mostly college bound kids) takes 6 periods before electives (e.g., arts) or lunch. (6.5 if you have an AP science)

What is your child's high school bell schedule like?

Our school has 8 scheduled periods, that doesn't include before school activities (usually music related, but can be anything) or a 9th period called enrichment period- no scheduled classes, but make-up work, lessons, extra help, clubs, etc.

One period is filled with gym alternating with lab if you have a science, leaving 7 periods. This year my DD has 5 "core" classes, plus wind ensemble and then one semester each of computer science and photography. Most kids taking advanced classes opt out of lunch to fit in electives and such; they can get a pass to eat during certain classes.

Most of our high schools in Seattle have a 6 period day. Its a bit of an issue since the State of WA has recently decided to raise the required number of credits for graduation to 24 and the district has not figured out yet how to adjust.

Our high school has four 1 1/2 hour periods per day plus lunch and a 20 minute homeroom time. They are on a block schedule meaning that they have classes 1-4 on one day and then classes 5-8 on the next day. It keeps alternating in that pattern. Freshman are only supposed to take 6 classes and then have two off blocks unless they are in one of music electives. Upper classmen can take classes in up to all eight periods but I think that they have to get permission to go over seven (we aren't there yet so I'm a little fuzzy). I've also heard that some special honors electives are offered before school during the "zero" period.

Until this year we only had 6 periods. Everyone has lunch at the same time.

New schedule this year & we have a 6 period plus a "zero" period. (They considered an 8 day full block schedule but the teachers didn't like it.) You can only take a 7th class if that class is art/music/drama/sports/pe. And they don't encourage more than 5 'academic' classes. This year my son takes 5 academics, English, US History, Pre-Calc, Chemistry, Spanish, Concert Band and Marching Band. Marching Band is his "7th" class.. although he is stuck in US History at 7am in the morning.

It's really not that different because some of those drama/marching band/sports programs used to be after school but now they are sixth period.

We also are on a modified block.. Meaning 3 days of week you go to all of the classes, and the other two days you only take 3 or 4 classes but the classes go twice as long. This allows for time to do labs & write in class essays.

Similar to knute, with four 1.5 hour blocks, plus lunch. Our extra classes/electives are during extended day time at the end of the day, instead of zero period. We used to have rotating block schedules, but don't at the moment. We also have alternating week cycles, so the schedule changes on a weekly basis.

We used to have 4 classes blocked first semester and 4 classes blocked second semester. Poof...over the summer with no choice in the matter it went to 7 classes...most college bound kids take math (4 years) , english (4 years), science (3 or 4 I think only 2 are required to graduate), social studies (3 required to graduate or 4), Spanish or Sign or another choice online (2 for college my son will take 4 years), and then that leaves you 8 additional classes.

My son took the required PE online over the summer before 9th grade to get it out of the way.

Next year they are going to an hour lunch period. If you have a low gpa you will be required to pick up your food and head to tutoring or if you have missed school you can make up work during the long lunch. If not you will have time to play ultimate frisbee or pick up soccer in the quad. The drama department plans (I know because my dh is the drama teacher) to go all glee and put on flash mob performances in the quad. This is new to our school and should be interesting to see if 2500 (minus the ones who will leave campus to eat) kids can be fed all at once.

They have had zero period but that comes and goes...they don't have it currently.

We had five one hour periods a day for 25 a week. You did each subject 4 days a week for five subjects. In the first two years the extra five periods were 2 PE, 1 art, 1 music and 1 economics. By the time exams kicked in you could do a sixth subject and the spare was used for a hobby class or in some schools health/parenting etc. The main problem was if you were a STEM person in your last year you ended up taking calculus, statistics, biology, physics and chemistry. This left one subject which most people took English in. So a lot of people never did history (not available until year 11 (10th grade), or geography (same), classics etc and most had to drop a their language (if they took one as our choice was French or home economics/ metal work) after a couple of years because it didn't fit in. Summer school etc isn't a thing here.

I imagine it has changed but probably more options rather than moving to 8 periods as the day is mostly only 6.5 hours long including lunch although I do know some schools have some zero period subjects from time to time but the buses don't work for that and we have essentially no public transport. In my father's day they did 7 45min periods though.

We have the blocked 1.5 hour classes. Four blocks each day, BUT one block (as in, for 1.5 hours every other day) is a school wide "study hall" type to do homework, see teachers, etc and is mandatory. So kids get to choose 7 classes - although they don't get to choose required classes, or cores until about junior year. Every year there's room for at least 2 full year electives, although some kids choose to take all cores and no electives except a language (sounds pretty joyless to me; I think only a few really extreme kids do it).

The "standard" day in my DD14s high school is 6 periods (numbered 2 through 7). Students who want to squeeze more into their day can take an early bird, or period 1. If you have booked up periods 1 - 7 without including a PE and don't have a PE waiver for that trimester (you can obtain one, each, of: academic waiver, band waiver, sports waiver) you have to take late bird PE, which would effectively be period 8.

--S.F.