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The Problem with 6th Grade - children's story

Joe’s Problem with 6th Grade
October 2005
RMT

Being a 6th grader has its challenges thought Joe. From the first week of school Joe knew it wasn’t going to be easy. He had a schedule to follow, new teachers for every subject, no recess, books to manage, and lots more homework. Already he longed for the safety and security of his 5th grade classroom with the nurturing 5th grade teacher, Miss Shelby. Joe felt doomed.

Even Joes’s new teachers noticed something wasn’t quite right with him. Both Joe and his teachers knew what the problem was but how to fix it? The problem wasn’t his subjects. Joe was strong academically. He had a knack for math and a passion for science. He had mastered reading and writing. He was intrigued with social studies. He excelled in French. Joe understood his homework and got good grades on it. No, the problem did not lie with math, science, English, social studies or French.

The problem wasn’t with his behavior either. Joe was a polite boy. Joe was a good friend to many of his fellow classmates. He was a helpful boy at school straightening the desks and chairs. He liked to erase the board and write the date for the next day. Joe listened in class and volunteered answers. Joe learned in 5th grade about doing the right thing and he tried his best to do the right thing in 6th grade too. No, the problem was not his behavior.

Joe’s problem started at 8:00 AM and ended at 3:00 PM. He had a tendency to misplace his homework or to forget supplies for class. Joe could never remember where he left his pencil case last. Joe tried his best but knew he had a problem when it came to keeping track of things. Joe dreaded facing the problem every school morning. This morning, however, he decided to do something about it. Joe got up 10 minutes earlier, mentally prepared for the challenge and marched off to school unwilling to accept defeat.

Joe march passed his homeroom teacher, Ms Logan who was delighted to see him bright an early on this Monday morning. The moment has come; Joe was face to face with his problem. He reached deep down in his pocket and sifted through the gum wrappers, pencil sharpener, coins, and a yo-yo to secure the prize possession. He smiled as he knew Ms Logan would be pleased with his find. Joe pulled it out of his pocket and exhaled with relief. He didn’t lose his locker key on the way to school. Now he was ready to face his problem – the locker!

Joe’s locker devoured everything he placed in it. Nothing was safe. Not even his science book or his reading log or his math folder or his art projects. Joe tried to explain this to his teachers. He would look at them with his puppy dog eyes and describe what the locker did. The locker would eat whatever was put in there and then spit it out again into rumbled books, torn homework, mangled folders, battered worksheets, and shards of pencils and pens. He would beg for forgiveness because he couldn’t find the needed item in his locker. Joe would swear the locker made it disappear or change it into something else.

Today would be different he thought. I will show the locker who is boss! He fingered the locker key hoping for the best. The lock opened and he took it off feeling empowered. Joe braced himself as he opened the locker door.

The locker was a mess plain and simple. He needed help. Joe went to Ms Logan to ask how he could manage his locker. She praised Joe for his determination and offered advice to him. First, make piles by subject. She gave him file folders to keep the stray papers together. Joe labeled his notebooks and his file folders. He noted which books needed to be covered to protect them. Then he thought he would use plastic bags to keep his piles together in the locker.
Joe turned to the pile of stuff he didn’t really need to keep in his school’s locker. At the end of the day he would take home a sweater, an extra water bottle, video games, and completed projects.

Joe stepped back with gleam in his eyes and a smile that went from ear to ear. He felt proud of his efforts. He now knew where things were and for the first time was happy to go to class knowing he had everything. Now he thought 6th grade would be easy. As he walked past Ms Logan they exchanged a high five realizing the locker problem was no more.

The End

Rebecca

I hope you liked it. Next is to make illustrations for it. Let me know if you know anyone in publishing. It is a draft and could use some tweaking here and there.