When I was in grade 7 class change was a very scary time. You have to remember I was about 4 feet tall back then. I can remember walking around the strange new school, surrounded by hulking grade 9�s. I�m not embarrassed to say how much I hated it. Now I�m in grade 9 though and I just have to look out for hulking grade 7�s. It�s a lot easier now that I�ve grown a couple of inches. Now we�ve got a new set of tiny grade 7�s and I think I can give them some advice.
1. When the bell rings, deny the natural response to immediately grab your bag and run from the joys of math class. Remain with your butt firmly planted in your seat until the teacher dismisses the class. I know that you want to leave that room, but if you try to leave before the teacher finishes talking not only will she be able to tackle you from the other side of the room, you�ll still have let her finish and you�ll have another lecture on how to not leave until the teacher is done.
2. Once you�re dismissed you can then grab your bag and leave. Now once you�re in the hall, you�re going to be walking into a pretty good replication of what an ant hill would be like if ants were carrying 30 pound backpacks and were 6 feet tall. Be careful; dodge the grade 9�s for your life. Imagine you�re playing football. Grade 9�s do not see grade 7�s. Generally you�re below their field of vision. If you aren�t careful you could very easily get trampled.
3. I�m just going to stop here to put in a little side-note. Do NOT try to carry your books with your hands. Use your backpack. I tried to not use a backpack in grade 7. It doesn�t work. You have way too much stuff to carry for it to be plausible. I tripped so many times when I did that, that it wasn�t even funny. The only thing you gain from carrying books by hand is bigger biceps and sore shins.
4. Now back to class change. Now that you�re finally free of math you�re going to have to find your next class. It�s going to be a long walk. The math hall is the most out of the way area in the whole school. The best way I can describe it is that the school is sort of shaped like a 6. I has the 3 other halls and options all in a nice circle and the math hall comes out like the tail on top of the six. Always hurry when you�re going to your next class from math. You will be late. I have my locker in math hall and have walked there and back about 3 times a day for 2 years. It�s darned far.
5. Ok I hope you found your class. Now might be a good time to look down and make sure your fly is done up. It�s the first time a lot of people will be meeting you. You want a good first impression.
6. Now that you�re in your second class you�re going to realize that it isn�t just Mrs. Coverdale that�s going to tell you all of the school rules. Nope, by the end of today you�ll have heard them 6 times. (There�s 6 classes a day, just in case you didn�t know.) Hopefully you�ll learn to not run in the halls. I�m not sure if the teachers did a good enough job teaching the rules this year though. I�ve caught about 4 grade 7�s chasing each other.)
7. Hopefully that was enough to get you through your first 4 classes. Now you can relax. Its lunch time. If you were planning on buying lunch I hope you hurried. If you didn�t there should be a huge mob of people standing outside of the cafeteria waiting for food. Don�t run over to the bakery or Cha Chas. They aren�t any better. You�ll just have to wait in line to get your �nitratesicles� (corn dogs in case you haven�t seen There�s Something About Mary.)
8. Did you have a good lunch? Maybe you should go to the bathroom and check if you�ve got anything stuck in your teeth. First impressions.
9. Finally the day�s over. You�ve made it. Now there really isn�t any need to sprint to the bus. You have ten minutes from the time the bell rings to the time the buses leave. I�ve seen so many grade 7�s running to get their bus. No one is going to steal the 4th seat from the front. Don�t worry it�s yours.
10. Once you get home you can sit back and if you�re exhausted from getting up at 6 again you could have a nap. Remember to do any homework you got. I hope you didn�t get homework already though. It�s your first day. The teachers have to be partly human.
Well I hope that helped you. The first couple days are really scary, but trust me, it gets better. You�re going to have a good time. You�re in a great school and soon it�ll all sort out.
