Norup 6th Graders Make Connections During Orientation Day

Norup 6th Graders Make Connections During Orientation Day

On October 6, Norup 6th grade students participated in a day-long orientation. Teachers created the day with the goal of having students reach out to new classmates and creating connections with them. Their hope, shared teacher Lisa Werber, is for students to make connections to use their new friends' names in the hallways when they see them in passing. In the morning, students are divided into small groups, making sure students from all elementary schools are included. The groups participate in team building activities throughout the morning and in the afternoon they all go to Skateworld to have a skating party.

Asher Tainsky, Norup 6th grader, shared a little about how the day was structured. “In the morning we did activities and we were split into five groups. In the morning we did five activities planned by the teachers. All the activities helped us learn new things about people we didn’t know and work with new people that we have never met before. Everybody can say that they made at least three new friends in those activities or became closer with people they already knew, but didn’t know well,” he said.

“Skating was so fun, everyone seemed to have a blast,” shared Norup 6th grader Ethan Rouse. Ethan continued, “We played arcade games and won prizes. We played tag in the rink. We played a game where whoever screams the loudest gets a prize. After all of this we went back to school and I was able to name everyone's name in the entire grade!” 

Asher shared, “At Skate World, everybody had a fun time roller skating or blading but the best part of Skate World was everybody helping each other. It was my first time roller blading and I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, but some people who did know how to blade taught me how and now I am friends with all of those people.”

Both Ethan and Asher also shared the event was a great opportunity to meet new people and that it was really fun.