party problem

You're having a party. YAY!
You're allowed to invite friends. YAY!
There's a limit on the friends. OK.
Mom says only 5 friends. OK.
Your list of best friends is 8. PROBLEM!
Now what will you do? You want a fun party with friends but you don't want to hurt anyone's feelings if they're not invited.
First check with your parents to see if you could add a couple more people. If they say yes then everything's ok. No? Ok, on to plan B. Ask if you could have a shorter party but invite 8 friends. plan C. Ask if you could have the party outside at a park or playground and invite 8 friends. plan D. maybe you want to go lower, have a smaller party and just have 2 friends. sometimes managing a lot of friends at one party can be stressful, if you know what I mean. Your party should be easy and fun and happy. You want kids who are nice to eachother. Kids who are nice to you. Kids who like going to parties to have fun and celebrate. Look forward to the party and have lots of fun that day. Kids will understand that you can't invite everyone you know to every party.

really gross stuff

Which is the most disgusting thing you can experience in a classroom?
a. someone throws up
b. someone has a nose bleed
c. someone is picking his nose
d. someone is sniffing snot and refuses to use tissues
e. someone wipes his nose on his hand
f. someone coughs on your stuff
g. someone keeps sneezing right next to you
h. someone stuck gum under your desk and you touch it
i. someone picks scabs that bleed or ooze goo

All of the above are really gross. Equally gross to me. Actually the absolute grossest is when someone does any of the above things then touches your stuff. Picks up your pencil. Shares your book. Sits at your desk. Touches your computer. I'm getting the creeps just writing about it. So what can you do about this gross stuff? First, make sure you are not doing it. Any of it. That's right, we don't use sleeves in middle school. Go get tissues. Then use them. Then throw them in the trash. Then wash your hands. If your room doesn't have tissues then go to the bathroom and use toilet paper on your nose. Keep your gum away from the desks. Wrap it in a scrap of paper then throw it in the trash. don't leave your gum for other people. ever. Leave your scabs alone. Get a bandaid. Keep the scabs covered. your hands are dirty anyway and those scrapes won't heal when you touch them with your school-germ hands. If your stomach gets upset and you are going to throw up, take action. Get to the trash can. Get to the bathroom. Don't ask permission. Just get away from other kids and try your best to hit the can. Your teacher will understand. You won't get in trouble if you're sick.
Anyone who spends any time at school knows about all this gross stuff and more. Use good personal care. That means take care of yourself. Keep other people's germs out of your body. Try your best not to share your germs with other people. Use the bathroom sink at lunch time to wash your hands with soap before you touch your food.
If someone next to you seems to be trying to share germs tell them about the rules of self care.
Have a healthy, gross-free day!

group poop

Middle schools are packed with group projects. Groups are everywhere. Whether you love groups or hate groups, you cannot go to school in this century and avoid group projects.
Good stuff about groups: working together, talking about stuff, sharing ideas, less work for you to do.
Poopy stuff about groups: working together, talking about stuff, sharing ideas, less work for you to do.
Did you get that? The same exact things that lots of kids really like about groups can also be the things kids hate about groups.
Working together: Some kids are shy and working together can be hard for them. We all know kids who are super bossy and think they should control everyone in the group. That's so annoying.
Talking about stuff: sometimes groups get off task and talk about embarrassing stuff or ask really personal questions or go on and on talking about football.
Sharing ideas: We have problems here with kids who only give ideas but refuse to listen to ideas and kids who don't want to give ideas in case someone says they're stupid. Sometimes there can be so many ideas that groups have trouble deciding on the best ones to use.
Less work to do: Are you wondering how anyone could think this is a poopy part of groups? Hey, not everyone likes to share their work. What if I want the details to be just right but you have sloppy handwriting? What if we decided to use purple paper but then you only had pink. Those are the kind of details that a group member might like to control.
getting along with group members isn't always easy. If your group is having arguments, try to think about the feelings of the other kids. Can you be the group member who understands that kids can be uncomfortable and feel weird in groups? Can you remind yourself to stay on task and avoid embarrassing topics? Can you remind everyone that doing your best is important for each person it the group? Oh, also, try to avoid running to the teacher in the first second of a problem. You're getting old enough to talk calmly with the group. Try to help the kids in your group to see that each person has different skills. That's something you learn from working in groups, which brings us to why middle schools are packed with group projects. Because we all need to learn to work together. Peacefully. Calmly. Kindly. Productively. Have a happy group!

teacher terrors

Yeah, some teachers can be scary. Have you ever heard that teachers should be really mean and strict in the beginning of the year to keep the kids on their best behavior? We know it's a terrible idea but some teachers think it works.
If your teacher seems too demanding, try not to panic. Don't take it personally. The scariness is not just meant for you. Remember, the teacher is trying to make the class behave.
Can you find any good things? Is the classroom decorated nicely? Are there pencils and paper and supplies for kids to use? Did the teacher explain classroom rules that are easy to understand? Well, all these things are signs of a teacher who loves middle school kids.
Check the lessons next. Do you understand the goal of a lesson? Can you get your homework finished in a reasonable time because you know what to do? Are there clear directions or steps to follow for projects?
Lots of us learn to love teachers who are demanding and push us to do our best even when we don't think we can. One more thing you could do is look for a student who had "scary teacher" last year. Ask what you can do to stay on the happy side, not the dark side.
Try to let yourself get adjusted to the teacher's style. See how you feel in 2 weeks. After that if you still feel scared then it might be time for your parents to have a little talk with the teacher.

where's my reading folder?

Keep stuff together.

At school you have a storage area for your stuff, right? Is yours a locker? Cubby box? Desk? Shelf?

Whatever it is, the space starts off nice and clean when your teacher assigns it to you. Think about how you can organize it. Some experienced middle school students keep morning materials on one side and afternoon stuff on the other. Try to keep the reading folder next to the reading book. Put the math binder with the math book. If you have one big binder for lots of subjects make sure you put in pockets for loose papers. Some teachers do notebook checks and count that as part of the grade. Have you ever seen a binder with wrinkled and torn and dirty pages sticking out everywhere? That's the kind of binders we don't like in middle school.
Part of growing up includes taking care of your own materials. Teachers will help you to stay organized but it's your job to put the papers in the right place and keep track of everything. Every day. For each class. All year. It's a skill.

This skill needs to be used at home, too. Keep stuff together. Be sure your folders and books don't get mixed up with the mail. Keep your books separate from your brother's stuff.

Doing school work on the couch, yes, that's fine. Leaving your folders under the couch is not fine. Doing school work at the kitchen table, yes, that's fine too. Leaving your folders on the table is not fine. Finish one assignment then put the materials away. Get out the book and papers for the next assignment. Finish the work then put the materials away. Keep everything together. Oh, did I say that before? Yeah. That's because you have to do it.

Put everything back in your school bag before bed. If there's a paper to be signed or something you want to go over before school then leave them on top of the bag. Take care of the things you kept out in the morning but be sure to put everything in the bag before you head out the door.

I hope you won't be yelling, "WHERE'S MY READING FOLDER?"

Have a great school day.

first day of school plan

Let's think about the first day of school and get everything ready to make sure the day is really fun and easy. Three main things to think about are laundry, lunch and laughing.

1. Laundry. Decide what you want to wear. Make sure it still fits. Make sure it's clean. Moms can't do laundry at 7am on the same day you want to wear the outfit and have it ready by 7:15.


2. Lunch. Here's your first multiple choice question of the year. I like packing lunch the first day because _________ . a. no cafe lines b. I can bring food I like to eat c. more time to talk with my friends d. all of the above


3. Laughing. Hey people it's just one day. It's an important day, and with a bit of planning and being prepared, it will allow you to relax. Enjoy the day. Think of something funny that happened over the summer and put a smile on your face. People who see you smiling will think you're really friendly! Cool.

Oh, the answer to number 2 is d. also, eating breakfast will power up your energy to help you have a good day (and calm down that nervous tummy feeling).

Tomorrow, Aunt Jen's printable first day of school checklist! (you'll need a toothbrush for this one)