A Day in the Life of a 6th Grader

“I hope I can find the classes I’m supposed to go to!”

“Where’s the restroom?”

“How do I get lunch?”

No, it’s not a 6th grader asking these questions. It’s the slightly older person who thought “shadowing” a 6th grader throughout one day would be a great idea —Me! Ok, it’s been just a few (well more than a few) years since I was a 6th grader and I am curious about what it’s really like. How hard can the life of an eleven year old be? Well, I was about to find out.

The day began at a few minutes before 8:00 a.m. (actually 7:56). I quickly followed my new friend, William, to his locker, where he successfully opened the combination lock, and continued to the first period of the day, math class. In math, the students completed the bell work using calculators to find prime factors and, then, studied for their Five-A-Day (nothing to do with fruits or veggies) test which would be given later in the day. At 8:52, the bell rang and we quickly moved (only three minutes allowed) to William’s English class in which he had to write a description of himself using adjectives. This activity was followed by a review and discussion of Pronouns. After reading a book about The Planet Without Pronouns, the bell rang at 9:42 and we had three minutes to navigate the hallways and get to Art class. William decorated his art project portfolio while other students mixed colors to create a Color Wheel. After completing their projects, the students checked their grades on EdLine.
The bell to end the period rang at precisely 10:32 and we proceeded to band. This was an exciting day because the students got their instruments. A very patient band director helped the students assemble their instruments. Can you imagine twenty 6th graders sitting still waiting for the director to get to them? Well, it didn’t happen here. The situation can be compared to telling a child to just sit and look at a Christmas present without opening it. Not gonna happen! The band director was very patient and permitted the students to manipulate the instruments and make all those weird sounds that only beginning band students could possible manage. Watching them was so much fun!
But, it was time to move on to the next period—11:20. The next period was Lunch—which I was very much looking forward to! What more could I ask for than a chili dog with cheese, a salad, and pickles! Yum! After eating the delicious meal, we went outside for about 20 minutes until the bell rang at 12:00. We had until 12:03 to get to back to the math class where William completed the Five-A-Day math test using TI-15 calculators. After completing the test, students could read, write notes to each other, or talk to their friends. The 12:48 bell rang (only three more periods to go!) and we went to Science class.
By 7th period, I have to admit, I was beginning to get a little tired and, I noticed, so were the students. I saw eyes glaze over more than once, but the teacher seemed to expect this to happen and planned activities that provided opportunities for moving around. The period ended at 12:51, and we used our three minutes to make it to 8th period, Social Studies. The teacher reminded students of the vocabulary test on Monday and gave them words to review.
It was now 2:26, time for the 9th (and last!) period of the day, Reading. The students were just finishing the book The People Under the Bridge and the teacher read parts of the book aloud to the students. The teacher showed pictures of the Eiffel tower and gypsies she had found on the Internet to assist student’s understanding of the story. Even though the teacher was keeping the student’s attention, my eyes kept straying to the clock and counting the minutes until 3:15 when the period (and day) would be over. I just knew I could make it!