first-day-of-school jitters
 

i teach. sixth grade. they're so freakin' tiny and adorable... and tomorrow is the first day of school.

anyway, anyone have any 'first day' stories to share?

Tiny and adorable - boy you and my sister have complete opposite views of those little erm people :p

She teaches 6th grade as well - though this year she is excited because she gets to teach the gifted kids.

Anyway - no first of school stories - except I used to love that day - new clothes, new supplies...the thrill of finding out who your teachers are and which friends made it into your class.

Is 6th grade a new school where you are or is it still elementary?

Good luck on the first day!!!

Sixth graders are cool, you're lucky. Although, I'm confused, do the sixth graders in your area go to different subjects? In my sixth grade it was still all one class, with sojourns to other rooms for reading and math. Anyway, sixth graders are just starting to get sassy, depending on your neighborhood. But you may still be able to inspire them with the love of learning. :D

Um, yeah, I have a horror story:
Statistics (math! math I've never seen before! A whole different kind!)
Speech (I've been putting this one off since age 18! God knows why I can do everything else in front of people but speak my own words. I'm developing flop sweat just thinking about it.)
Torts
Law Office Management and Procedures
Legal Aspects of Evidence

That's my semester, as of now. Probably not what you meant.

I was trying to think of first day horror stories from my friend who is a teacher, but couldn't. She has lots of other horror stories, but they didn't happen on the first day.
Oh, how bout this? One day I asked my sixth grade teacher about gaining weight, and why she had gained weight, what the whole process was, etc. I was concerned about my weight gain (minimal) and she was fat but used to be athletic. So, I thought she would be an expert. Plus, I hated her and she was mean to me.
How's that? Is that good? :laugh:

You'll be fine, everyone will love you, sixth grade will be interesting. :xoxo: :xoxo: That would be one of my few grades of choice, honestly. I think junior high would be harrowing, and highschool dispiriting, and younger elementary boring.

GOOD LUCK - and I don't think the pasties are a good idea :angel:

I teach sixth grade too! I'm at a middle school so the kids change classes. I teach social studies (world history). Tomorrow is the first day of school for teachers...the kids start next week. They are small and cute the first few weeks of school....but some of them turn evil by Thanksgiving. :)

Good luck with your first day!!

middle school here runs sixth -eighth so this is a brand new thing for most of the kids. there are six periods and the kids move around to different classrooms and for the first few weeks they look like ants scattering around a piece of candy on the ground, trying to remember where to go. it's endearing...

for the most part, the younger the kids are, the more teachers can get away with. my kids are still kids so they go with the flow much more readily that eighth graders. teaching eighth grade was horrible. i'll be glad to get the little ones tomorrow. no really, they're little. tit high. :p

ps i am opting for a slighty conservative sweater instead of pasties and a tutu.

Then please return them ASAP :cool:

aaahhh, sixth grade. Do you have to give them the "please use deoterant speech.":lol:

my 7 yr old son starts back august 23rd, needless to say he is sooper dooper bummed~ he was begging me to home school him all summer~ anyone have any thoughts on this?~ i was wondering cuz i do wrk from home, have somewhat af an education in children & our school system sucks right now, we made national news about the "one city one school", where my city is really trying to racially segregate kids once again & put some shiny ass name on it~ it is a frickin' mess!!!:mad: ~

Wow, I can't believe school has started up where you are already! Also, I can't believe sixth graders are tiny and adorable there either. Now a days a lot of the middle school aged kids are already drinking, smoking and having sex!

Well, hope you have a good first day back at work!

I personally think it's good for him to go to school for the interaction with other children. The social skills will do him a world of good when he gets older. However, I went to really bad schools, and I don't know ****. :laugh: Maybe home schooling him won't be so bad.... never mind.....:o

If your child is begging to be home schooled because of the social situation at the school, then home schooling is probably best for him and you should look into what you have to do to make it happen for him. Children do not usually beg to be home schooled, unless there is an underlying cause. If you meet the qualifications required, and want to take on the task, then do it!!

If your son wants to be home schooled because he thinks it will be "fun" to be home all the time, he is sorely mistaken. Home schooling is much more demanding on the child, especially if the "home teacher" is very intelligent, well educated and demanding. When this scenario is present, more is expected from the child, and usually these home schoolers end up with a higher level of education than "traditional" schools. They often score considerably higher on their SAT's than "traditional students".

There are also options to get involved with other home schoolers in your area (I am sure there is a network of them!) and your son could be home schooled at someone else's home ~~ especially if it may interfer with your work (from home). Being a home school teacher is a full time job. It takes just as much preparation and time as a "traditional" teacher.

It doesn't hurt to look into your options.

I don't know why the first day of school used to always give me the ****s. I was fairly popular and didn't go to a huge school so it wasn't like I didn't know everyone already. it's weird what tricks the mind can play.

good luck to all of you starting school in any form. it's never easy to do, but it will pay off. :wavey:

My sister does - every year - and every year they smell. Always. I go visit her and joke about the kid stink that is so prevelant in middle school.

I want to know where you guys are that the sixth graders are so cute and good because that is NOT the case in New Mexico nor was it in Rochester! They are good for the first month maybe then they turn to evil minions of the devil.

Oh you must share with us the story of the first awkward doofy kid that looks over & is at direct eye level with your boobs. :p Cuz it's bound to happne.

And you can borrow my pink hoodie to wear instead of the sweater since the pasties didn't work out. If you want. :angel:

My first day of school in 6th grade was good except for one part. I was 25 minutes late for World Cultures class because I got so lost in that huge school. The teacher understood though!

Why do the kids start so early Mariel? We don't go back till early sept.

I don't know about elsewhere but in New Mexico the kids start either this week or next - always start in August - but the kids get out of school in May!

School starts tomorrow?! Wow, its different than when I was a kid.

honest opinion: teaching a comprehensive curriculum is difficult. i have a list of standards and essential learnings that i have to incorporate into my lessons and if i fail to do that, i can be released from my contract (fired) for failure to comply. i spend hours every week preparing for class and documenting my lessons. just for one subject. hours. i'm not saying that you - or anyone else who homeschools - is incompetent, but i find it hard to believe that any one person who is not trained in all four core subjects can successfully teach a child without losing something in the process. JMHO.

no clue. we start now and get out in mid may... makes no sense.

and i am in st. petersburg, florida. and i wear sweaters because although it's 92 outside, my room is 75. which sounds really warm to most of you, but i'm a wuss. :p

today went well. they're so tiny! one student was as tall as i am (5'5") and the rest were just puny, wandering around with their schedule held up in front of them searching for the correct room. i was standing with my back against the wall in the hallway, right at the corner outside my room and i stretched my hand out to point some kid in the right direction and inadvertantly clotheslined some tiny kid in the process. sorry! i let them ask questions about me and i got some pretty good ones... what color is my car (green), where did i go to school (nyc), why do i teach (they pay me millions), what did i do this summer (i saved my breath and just said 'traveled'). so cute!

My friend has been a teacher for years, and is also getting an education PhD - she says all the homeschool kids she has met are pretty weird and really don't have necessary social skills. Not recommended.

I just want to say... bless those of you who teach our kids. I know that the pay sucks for what you do, and some of them are hell-yens... (SP?) lol... but really. Teaching jobs are probably the most overworked, underpaid, and stressed out professions out there. I don't know how you do it, but my hats are off to you.

i agree w/ all that has been said on the subject, & i do think i could do it, i wrked w/ him alot last yr & at the end of the yr as a 1st grader he tested in the 3rd & 5th grade level in all his academics~ i do want my son around other children & quite encourage that w/ swimming lessons, sports, library day, playdates outings & such~ it's just right now this yr...the school system really needs to pull their head out...they are in no way considering what is best for these children, it is all politics right now & it is very sad state of affairs, i know school in a normal environment is best for social skill & problem solving, i just hate to see things going they way they are right now & so far no amount of pta meetings, school board meetings, petitions & things of the like are in any way getting the attention to the people who are running the show, they act obilivious to it all:shrug: ~ i will stay on top of it tho, evry kid should get a wonderful education~

What is wrong with the school again? They don't teach well?

well here's just the latest thing we have to deal w/ at my son's school

(Bellevue, NE) -- The location of the new Sarpy County Probation Reporting Center is a done deal despite neighborhood complaints. Critics voiced opposition at a public hearing in Bellevue Tuesday, questioning why the center would open in a strip mall center at 36th and Chandler Road just one block from Gilder Elementary School. Sarpy County officials say the center works with drug offenders, violent offenders & sex offenders. Bellevue police will have a presence there. County officials have already admitted they should have said something in advance. Neighbors, a nearby school and Bellevue city officials say they did not know about the plans. so what happened to sex offenders not being able to be close to schools?, this is a recipe for disastor if you ask me & when one of these convicts god forbid kidnaps, molests or try to give kids drugs~

the school in question is my son's~ his teacher last yr missed 42 days & the kids had an incompetent substitutes~ thanx god the hubby & i provide my son w/ a ride to & fro, becuz he can't even ride the bus, becuz they say he is white & we live 1 tenth of a mile too close to school, but my home is the 1st in the neighborhood & they drive right by my home to pick up other kids~ our school board also voted to segregate the kids, that means blacks at their own schools, hispanics at their own schools, whites at their own schools...~ i thought that kind of racial segregation was against the law?~ it is just a mess, we live in a wonderful middle class neighborhood, we pay some of the highest property taxes in the country(i swear), from which they pay these teachers & they are doing a piss poor job~ my child is my life & his well-being & education my top priority~ i don't want him to grow up a racist becuz the schools are even trying to teach them that the minority students don't deserve to go there, just sad~ because of the segregation thing(this made national news, people like jesse jackson & reps for rev al sharpton & leaders for hispanics came here in protest), you also can not anymore pick your own school, you go where they say, period~ i started calling before schools end last yr to get him in to a really good private school by me, but their waiting list, that we are on, is 2 yrs long~ so i feel in a quandry right now~ i mean it's my kid, not to mention the raw deal they are giving to other kids also:shrug: :mad: ~

And doesn't the child not gain certain social skills obtained in a regular school? Just wondering...:shrug:

absolutely. group discussion, partner activities, just having to be around other kids is so important. it sets the stage for adult interaction. my mind was more focused on pedagogy, but the social aspects are just as important.

ps, it only took one day to get my name cut down to ms. d. my last name = two easy syllables... it's kinda cute though. and it was inevitable. :wavey:

did you guys read my last post, the 1 right above these last 2?~ that is why i was considering homeschooling for at least the next coupla yrs, till the schools get their **** together~ also the fact that they are having a probation office for drug, violent & sexual offenders a blk away~ i mean what more do they wanna put these elementary students thru?, they are children~