19 6th Graders and No Class Pets

Today started off yet another school year...my 5th year of teaching to be exact. This was the first year I wasn't nervous for the first day of school. I'm not sure if this was because I already knew all my kids (I had this same group a year ago in 4th grade) or because I'm so stressed out that being nervous at this point would be pointless.

So, we did the usual first day of school activities. We put supplies away, played get to know you games, and made our classroom expectations. In the past I've had the students come up with these so they have more of a sense of ownership and I did the same with this group.

I had four categories: A 6th grader should a)be responsible b)be respectful c)do their best d) follow school rules. Then they came up with more specific scenarios to go under each category.

For the most part, they got it. One student did suggest that we put "no alcohol" under category d which, yeah, I guess. After we brainstormed all the specifics I told them I would type up the expectations, give them a copy, and they would sign it and keep it for the year. That way if a situation arose where an expectation was not being met I could have them pull it out and say, "Well, you signed it. You were aware of what was expected of you."

After I told them that one student said, "Well if we'd known that we would have done it a lot differently." Exactly. First point goes to Ms. H.