Changing to 2nd grade from 1st mid-year?

[ahappymedium]

My son goes to a very small private school and is in first grade.  His class is VERY boy heavy- 9 boys, 2 girls and it's a very intense group.  There is lots of silliness and misbehavior, and my son is fully involved in it. The problems were there in Kindergarten too, when the class had even more boys and 2 girls, but I was assured by the head of school that the problems would be alleviated in 1st + 2nd grade because there were mixed age classes, so the group of kindergarten boys would be divided between two classrooms and would have an equal number of 2nd graders in the classes.  Fast forward to the week before school and they decided to make the classes divided by age (so, not mixed age at all) because they were having trouble finding a good age/gender ratio among mixed classes.  Anyway, I am getting really concerned about how rowdy this group is, today a large group of them were sent to the office because of a physical altercation during recess. 

My son is in 2nd grade reading and as of the conferences a few weeks ago, they were considering moving him ahead in math as well because he finishes his math 15 minutes before the group.  To further complicate things, there are a few children who I technically believe should be in Kindergarten due to age and other issues, but the school has not provided enough guidance (IMO) to the parents so they aren't quite ready for the situation they've been placed in.

So, my question is, should I consider moving my son to 2nd grade, which is more evenly divided among genders with much calmer boys? 

For a little background, his IQ test at 4 was 140 (Wisc-III).  He already has friends in that class, but definitely considers the first grade boys 'his peeps,' so I am afraid he might be really mad if I decided to move him to 2nd.  His teachers told me that when he is paired with the 2nd graders he rises to the occasion and his silliness completely disappears.  Also, they aren't very silly, so don't reward silliness as a peer group.

One more example just as background--  At the beginning of the school year, music and art were mixed age classes and in his first progress report, his music teacher told me he was "like a different child,"-- fully engaged, not silly, etc.  A few weeks back they switched the classes to be divided by age (for reasons I don't understand) and he has already been pulled out of the class for goofing off.

[A&A]

I would only consider it if you think he needs it intellectually, not behaviorally.

[chaimom]

I agree with the previous poster. I would only grade skip if my son needed the academic challenge, not to avoid a group of rowdy kids.  I don't agree that a group of boys is automatically out-of-control and aggressive.  It sounds more like the teacher just doesn't know how to handle them.  I would ask the school to deal with that first, before I considered a skip.

[ahappymedium]

Thanks.  My original post is sort of all over the place.  I didn't mean to sound like I would only be changing him because of the behavior.  And no, I absolutely don't think that a group of boys automatically equals out of control and aggressive, it's just that this particular group has a really odd dynamic.  The seasoned teachers handle them well and maintain a productive atmosphere, but some of the less experienced teachers do have problems. It's more the recess dynamic that is worrisome.

As for academics, a lot of the class work and home work comes ridiculously easy to him, and the teachers say he sits around a lot waiting for the group to catch up.  So far I was keeping him in this group mainly because he seemed to want it socially, but the social aspect is disintegrating no, so that's why I was thinking of moving him up.