Thoughts From the 5th Grade

By: Chloe Arfsten

Now that the 5th grade has been in the Lamberton building for a quarter, it is a good time to find out what they think. In some people’s minds, moving the 5th graders to the high school building would cause numerous concerns. After some time to adjust, the kids and the teachers now have their own perceptions on how they feel about being in the building.

The biggest concerns people had for the 5th graders included exposure to the upperclassmen, the students not having the playground, and the food not being as good in the high school building. After interviewing 5th grade teachers, Mrs. Mary Shaner and Mrs. Jodi Smith, as well as two students from each class, there are some answers to those concerns. All of the students interviewed agreed that being with the upperclassmen was an issue because most of the time the 5th graders are on the first floor only with the 6th graders. One student admitted, “It’s a little scary going to the second floor because of the big kids. They are so much bigger and taller than me.” Rarely ever do the upperclassmen see the 5th grade, and the kids are not being bullied, so it’s not as much of a problem as it was thought to be. As for recess, the 5th graders said they do not mind having recess with the older junior high students. Both of the boys said they liked recess better in Lamberton because they did not have the playground. As for the food, all four students said they liked the food better in Jeffers; although, they don’t think the food is bad in Lamberton either. One part of lunch they do like better is that they now can get ala carte, whereas in Jeffers, that was not an option.

The teachers also had opinions on moving to the high school building. Mrs. Smith said she didn’t have many adjustments to make as far as moving to another building; it was more about switching from special education to a regular classroom type setting. As for Mrs. Shaner, she stated that her biggest concerns were adjusting to the new grading system, the schedules matching up with the classes, physically moving all of her classroom items, and missing her friends from Jeffers. Both teachers believe that the 5th graders enjoy being in the high school and that there are no major issues.

Here is what can be concluded from all of the interviews: The 5th grade students are being exposed only a small amount of the time to the upperclassmen and the students do not think it is an issue, the students do not mind not having the playground for recess, and even though they believe the food is better in Jeffers, the kids do not think the food is terrible in Lamberton. The students also quite enjoy having the ala carte. Now the students learn in a different building but, Mrs. Smith stated they still do many of the same activities. In fact, the students actually have a couple more perks being in Lamberton such as attending lyceums and being involved in homecoming. Based on what the people interviewed said, there are not many reasons to be concerned about the move to Lamberton.