# How old were you/did you turn in 3rd grade? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 19, 2005, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-did-you-turn-in-3rd-grade/317711 "2005-08-19T05:31:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![saramamalana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@saramamalana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saramamalana)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-did-you-turn-in-3rd-grade/317711/1 "2005-08-19T05:31:27Z")
Tonight I learned that someone I know will be teaching 3rd grade this year. I commented that I couldn’t imagine her being in charge of a group of 9 year olds. Two friends then argued with me that her students would be 7/8. I stated I definitely turned 9 in 3rd grade. They both looked at me like I had two heads, which pissed me off, because I know I turned 9 that year and didn’t appreciate being looked at like I was an idiot. But getting back to the point, I know I turned 9, and they’re convinced that 3rd grade is for 7 and 8 year olds. One of them is an elementary school teacher, so I don’t get it. So what’s your experience? Or parents, what is the experience with your children? I’m so confused! 😕 ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-did-you-turn-in-3rd-grade/317711/2 "2005-08-19T05:36:51Z")
3rd grade was one of my favorite years in school. I entered at 7 and turned 8 in January. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-did-you-turn-in-3rd-grade/317711/3 "2005-08-19T05:38:20Z")
I went to the first few years of grade school in Louisiana, where school starts in August. (I remember how weird my sister and I thought it was when we moved to Pennsylvania and didn’t have to go to school till September.) My birthday is at the end of September, so I was only four years old when I entered kindergarten. So I was seven years old when I started third grade and turned eight a month later. ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-did-you-turn-in-3rd-grade/317711/4 "2005-08-19T05:39:02Z")
I was born in '78, I was in grade three during the years '86-'87. In June of '87, just before school let out, I would have turned… _does the math_: Nine. So, I’d say grade three is made up roughly of eight- and nine-year olds. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-did-you-turn-in-3rd-grade/317711/5 "2005-08-19T05:39:23Z")
Nearly everybody in my 3rd grade was 8 on the first day of school. The oldest kid turned 9 in October, the youngest turned eight in October. Everyone else turned 9 sometime during the school year, or during the summer following. Kids are suposed to start Kindergarten at 5 1st Grade at 6 2nd grade at 7 and so on. ---
**Author:** ![saramamalana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@saramamalana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saramamalana)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-did-you-turn-in-3rd-grade/317711/6 "2005-08-19T05:40:33Z")
But that means you’re a late baby, so it’s like you would have turned 8 at the end of second grade, so to speak. I’m a January baby FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![saramamalana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@saramamalana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saramamalana)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-did-you-turn-in-3rd-grade/317711/7 "2005-08-19T05:41:48Z")
Sorry that was referring to **Harimad-Sol.** ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-did-you-turn-in-3rd-grade/317711/8 "2005-08-19T05:43:18Z")
I had just turned 7 at the start of 3rd class, as we called it here back then, but I had skipped 2nd class and was thus markedly younger and smaller than everyone else in my class.\* - and continued that way through my whole school career. Which I do not recommend to anyone, especially at an all boy school. ---
**Author:** ![Ashes\_Ashes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ashes\_Ashes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashes_Ashes)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-did-you-turn-in-3rd-grade/317711/9 "2005-08-19T05:45:45Z")
Unless there’s something funky going on with birthdates and cut-off dates, or this isn’t your usual American school, most kids will be 8 or 9. 7/8 is generally second grade. Tell them a real, live teacher says so. **saramamalana** , you should be the one looking at them like they’ve got extra heads. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-did-you-turn-in-3rd-grade/317711/10 "2005-08-19T05:49:05Z")
Yes. Cut-off dates are the real issue, I think. I went to high school with a girl whose birthday was in December, so I remember her still being sixteen for the first bit of senior year. I was relieved to know someone in my year was younger than I was. Some school districts, IIRC, set the cut-off at September 30, so someone who didn’t make it would have to wait a year and thus be older than the rest of the class. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-did-you-turn-in-3rd-grade/317711/11 "2005-08-19T05:55:32Z")
My friend from 3rd grade actually didn’t start school until he was just about to turn six. Parents have a lot of leeway about when to start their kids in school. They usually do it at 5, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Macphisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Ms\_Macphisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Macphisto)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-did-you-turn-in-3rd-grade/317711/12 "2005-08-19T06:01:10Z")
When I was looking for confirmation of my memory of the cut-off date in Alberta being the end of February, I found this [list of cut-off dates in North America](http://www.asac.ab.ca/BI_spring02/soonlate.html). Where I grew up, the cut-off date is December 31 and my birthday’s mid-October, so I turned 8 roughly 6 weeks into grade 3. It also meant that when I went to university I got to have fun watching people’s reactions at the beginning of first year when I quite honestly said that I was 17. ---
**Author:** ![JimOfAllTrades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-did-you-turn-in-3rd-grade/317711/13 "2005-08-19T06:16:44Z")
I was 8 when I started the 3rd grade, turned 9 in January. Almost all of the kids I went to school with also started at 8, then turned 9 during the school year or the following summer. ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-did-you-turn-in-3rd-grade/317711/14 "2005-08-19T06:20:27Z")
I started kindergarten at age five with my birthday in September. I was eight-going-on-nine when I went into 3rd grade. So, nine years old. You got it, ace. ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-did-you-turn-in-3rd-grade/317711/15 "2005-08-19T06:41:56Z")
My birthday is in August. I had just turned 8 years old going into 3rd grade. Both of my sons were born in March so they were 8 going into 3rd, 9 by the time the school year ended. Sounds like you got it right to me, too. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-did-you-turn-in-3rd-grade/317711/16 "2005-08-19T07:48:43Z")
At the beginning of 3rd class (January) I was 7. I turned 8 in May, roughly half way through 3rd class. ---
**Author:** ![gfloyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d2c977/32.png) [@gfloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gfloyd)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-did-you-turn-in-3rd-grade/317711/17 "2005-08-19T07:56:34Z")
I’m a July birthday, so I was eight for all of 3rd grade. They were playing with the cut off dates when I started school in the town where I went to school, so I was actually 19 days after it. But I tested or something well enough that they let me start. It was a private school, so the town’s rules were merely guidelines to them. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-did-you-turn-in-3rd-grade/317711/18 "2005-08-19T08:56:45Z")
3rd class - 1962. Started in January, as is the custom here, and turned nine in October. ---
**Author:** ![elfbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b782af/32.png) [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-did-you-turn-in-3rd-grade/317711/19 "2005-08-19T11:55:38Z")
Started 3rd grade at 7, turned 8 in mid-September. I was, however, one of the youngest people in the class. Most people came in at 8 and turned 9 sometime during the year. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-did-you-turn-in-3rd-grade/317711/20 "2005-08-19T12:02:28Z")
In the USA it’s most normal for children to be eight or nine years old during the third grade. Seven would be a bit ahead of the norm. So your friends were either gifted/skipped ahead a grade, didn’t attend school in the USA (or didn’t attend a standard US curriculum) , or are misremembering things. - Shibb, who has a seven year old currently in 2nd grade, a nine year old in 4th grade, and was eight years old during all of 3rd grade, although he turned 9 in the following July. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-did-you-turn-in-3rd-grade/317711.md?page=2)