{"id":1,"date":"2015-06-03T12:11:59","date_gmt":"2015-06-03T12:11:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.americanmaninfinland.com\/?p=1"},"modified":"2022-05-16T19:01:06","modified_gmt":"2022-05-16T19:01:06","slug":"first-grade-in-finland-every-day-is-a-half-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taughtbyfinland.com\/first-grade-in-finland-every-day-is-a-half-day\/","title":{"rendered":"First Grade in Finland: Every Day is a Half Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
When I was teaching first grade in the Greater Boston area, my Finnish wife, Johanna, loved to tell me about schools in Finland. Most of what she told me sounded mythical.<\/p>\n
According to Johanna, Finnish children started first grade at age seven. Their school days were often just four hours long. Her close Finnish friend, a first grade teacher in Helsinki, worked about 30 hours each week, including prep\u00a0time.<\/p>\n
For years, I refused to believe my wife. My reality as an American first grade teacher was just too different from the one she described.<\/p>\n
Many of my first grade students were a full year or two younger than their Finnish peers. Our school days lasted seven hours. Unlike Johanna\u2019s friend, I was pulling in 50-hour weeks of teaching and planning. I just didn\u2019t believe that another way was possible until I started teaching in Finland.<\/p>\n
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