Christopher Watson gets to school in the morning and settles into his homeroom. When it's time for math, he gets up and changes classes. For writing and science, he moves to yet another classroom.

Sounds like a middle or high school schedule?

No, it's elementary for Christopher Watson -- and thousands of kids in South Florida, many of whom have not yet reached the double digits.

In the past couple of years, more elementary schools have started treating students like bigger kids, having them switch classes and teachers to make the most of out educators' strengths. Some schools just have the older students switch, while others have the entire student body -- all the way down to kindergarten -- move from teacher to teacher.

Christopher, 9, said he was ``sort of confused'' when he started the new schedule as a fourth-grader at Silver Shores Elementary in Miramar this year.

But now he is used to his new routine.

``Now I get everything and, like, I understand what they talk about and all that, about switching classes,'' Christopher explained. ``So now I'm like OK.''

This school year, Palm Beach County mandated the move -- known in education speak as departmentalization -- for third through fifth grades at almost all of its elementary schools in the district.

It's not required in Broward and Miami-Dade, but more than 250 elementary schools have implemented the strategy in some form.

Principals say they like the method because it allows their strongest teachers in an area -- math, reading, writing or science -- to specialize in those areas instead of teaching every subject to students.

``I've got my best science teachers teaching science, my best math teachers teaching math, my best reading teachers teaching reading,'' said Philip Bullock, principal of Miramar Elementary School. ``The children are truly getting the best of what I have to offer by subject matter.''

At the school, classrooms are dedicated to subject areas: the science room is covered in posters about electricity and the laws of motion and the writing room is decorated with a big pencil and phrases like ``rev up your writing.''

Students generally stick together all day. When it's time to switch classes, teachers have kids line up in single file in the hallway, watch as they make their way to the next room -- and then welcome the next group that files in.

Bullock said the transition time is three minutes, but most classes get it done in about one.

Mother Charmaine Andre said the format allows her 9-year-old son Cameron, a fourth-grader at Miramar Elementary, to learn in a variety of ways.

``He said he has fun,'' Andre said. ``They're different, each one of them is different. They teach differently and he likes it.''

All kinds of potential pitfalls have to be taken into consideration when a school switches, said Veda Hudge, the Broward school district's director of accountability.

HOW WILL IT WORK?

For example: Will kids store their bags somewhere or carry them from place to place? How will teachers coordinate planning? What's the best way to do parent-teacher conferences? How will students know where to go for the next class?

``You have to get all of those procedural things together,'' she said. ``Your teams really have to plan together to make it work in sync. You'll lose instructional minutes. You have to be ready to go when it's time to go.''

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