The class is the last surviving section of a multigrade program started in Homewood Elementary School District 153 in 1972.

In the 1998-99 school year, Hale will offer its first multigrade class, where 1st and 2nd graders learn in the same classroom and keep the same teacher for two years.

Though six years is the average starting age for class one, oftentimes parents enroll their children many years later. The result is multi-aged children in multigrade contexts.