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

Most of the high schools in our district operate on alternate days with four 90-minute blocks plus 1/2 hour lunch. This means students sign up for 8 classes each semester, although they are not all academic as we have fine arts, music, and P.E. requirements plus all freshman are encouraged to take one study skills course (study hall combined with training).

I have heard of some high schools in our state that have 7-period days so those students only take 7 courses each semester.

All the public school around here around do lunch at the same time and there are 2500+ in my school. So it can be done. A lot of students don't bother with the cafeteria, there is no where to sit there anyway. Lunch time is when the kids have clubs, and there are many student clubs. It's also a time to hang out with friends.

On the other hand we have is something called 'office hours' twice a week on block days. It's a time to talk with a teacher, make up a tests, some days there are lectures given. Students must be in a classroom or library or similar space but they get to choose. Not sure I like the idea that low earning GPA students lose their break time.

Our requirements for graduation include English (4 yrs), PE (2), Social Studies (3), Science (2), Math (2), Health(1/2), and what I just noticed is new art/music(1). Plus another 7 electives. All but senior year you must be enrolled in 6 classes, although the school discourages taking more than 5 academics. And if you pass everything it's easy to get the number of credits. Most students are college bound and take foreign language (3-4), more math, more science classes.

Our district will not let you take online PE, but only 2 years are required. A sport counts as PE. (And marching band counts as a sport to our advantage.) You can take PE in summer school, although that is not recommended at mostly used by those who fail. (Yes kids fail PE but not dressing, not showing up..) The only way to waver out of PE is if you are privately training for a sport and are RANKED in the top 100 for the nation.

96% of the students are free and reduced lunch. The entire school is eligible for free breakfast. Most of the kids take advantage of the lunch. They are hungry. We are blessed with great weather when it isn't storming. Most eat outside.

Our high schools have 6 periods + lunch. At my ds' school the full school eats lunch at the same time, and it seems to work really well. The students are allowed to eat anywhere in the school, so they can eat in the library or in teachers' classrooms. One of the things that seem to be positive (to me) about this policy are that all the teachers are available at the same time (during their lunch hours) so if you have a question for a teacher outside of class, it's easy to know where and when to find them. The teachers are also good about letting kids eat lunch in their room, so it eases the teacher-vs-student divide that can build up in a school where teachers and students never interact outside their regular classroom. There are also a lot of clubs that meet during lunch, facilitated by teachers who don't have to be teaching at that time, and everyone can participate in any club because everyone is free at the same time.

The downside is that the lines in the cafeteria are long, but my ds really isn't into eating cafeteria food anyway

There is also a zero hour class, but it's for music and theater classes - I am not sure that anything else meets then. And it's *early* EARLY. Participating in school sports can be used as PE credit, and everyone (no matter how not talented they are) is allowed to participate on any team the want to. That's been great for my ds, who is not an athlete, but is extroverted, likes being on a team, and doesn't want to have to take PE as one of his 6 classes, because that would mean he'd have to drop either music or his foreign language, both of which he loves.

polarbear