A 5th Grade Perspective

This school year has gotten off to an auspicious start.  Everyone - parents, students, and teachers - have adjusted well to the new drop off loop, parking configuration, new classrooms, and new office spaces.  These many changes have been taken in stride.

To keep this positive momentum going specifically for our students, I asked one of our 5th graders - Rory - if she had any advice she could offer her fellow classmates on what they should focus on at this early juncture in the school year.  Here is her response:

"Something we have in our school is the acronym “P.R.I.D.E.” It means to be positive, respectful, to have integrity, to be dependable, to show effort. We talk about that word everyday in class because it is important. But being everything that word means can be challenging.

The new school year has started! Now that it is the second week of school, we’re all starting to get back to our school mindsets; though many of us still aren’t sure how to start this year off right. None of us have anything to worry about though, because we’ve got the whole year to figure things out! Following the P.R.I.D.E. acronym can be hard, but if you focus on one word at a time then you will have a good beginning. Later on, you’ll want to embrace all of the P.R.I.D.E. words.

I recommend the word “respect” as the starting point, though they are all important. Respecting everyone else helps them to have respect for you too; and the classroom will be much more harmonious. Respect can be as basic as listening to your teacher when he/she is talking, or it can be being friendly and not rude. It keeps us from fighting and arguing. If someone gives a wrong answer in class, don’t laugh and make fun of them. If someone has respect for me, I then feel valued and important.

This new school year is going to be fun for me, and I hope it will be fun for everyone else too!"

What great advice she shared and how eloquent she put it! I am super thankful that she agreed to put it in written form for this blog post; thanks Rory! 

Evergreen students, what are your thoughts on starting with the "R" in PRIDE and really focusing on being respectful?  Will that help you get this year off to a great start?  Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.