pet peeves about 5th grade

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Home : 2003 : October : 18

pet peeves about 5th grade
By mlg

This is my third year teaching 5th grade. While the grade level as a whole this year has some really nice, caring, hard-working students, my experience from past years has been that after the Christmas break A LOT of nasty,
bullying behavior (subtle and not so subtle) begins. The teasing and cliquishness become very difficult to deal with. I have especially found that the girls get into the act with a vengeance, name-calling, fighting, excluding, harassing.
This year I am determined not to let things deteriorate to that level. The guidance counselor and I are already putting a plan into action

that will, hopefully, nip it in the bud before it even begins.

Another thing that really bugs me about fifth-graders is the fact that somewhere, somehow over the summer between fourth and fifth grade, a large percentage of previously motivated students suddenly lose all of their organizational skills, as well as their desire to turn in high quality work. I've talked about this with a few other teachers whom I know and we all have arrived at the same conclusion.

One other fifth-grade "joy" that I could do without is RAGING HORMONES (theirs, not mine ). By the end of fifth grade, it becomes totally ridiculous. Naturally, that's the time of year when virtually all of the state testing is done, so you can imagine how focused the kids are to getting the job done.

The amazing thing is that, by the time that these same kids move up to sixth grade, the "crud" has begun to settle down and it is once again possible to see the sweetness come out.