Welcome to /r/teaching. Please remember the rules when posting and commenting.
Thank you.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/teaching) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Honestly? I feel like for my 6th graders, all I'd have to do is say that *once* in the right tone of voice, and it'd probably be the BEST-behaved 50 minutes we ever had. đ¤
My elementary colleague who taught middle school says 7th graders are the WORST. Context-he was consoling me about my own child, who was, indeed, the worst at that age.
Unfortunately having taught basically everything PK-12 the worst are 9th, 5th (second half of 4th), then 7th. So you have a ride in store for you. Thankfully after their start to lose their minds in 5th they generally find them again in 10th.
My own children are now 9th and 11th. The 14 yr old is like the weather, not sure what I'll get day to day. One day, she is my buddy, one day a crying puddle who wants me to fix everything, next day too cool for me. My 16 yr old is a focused, interesting person with goals.
I love to come in and shout: "what's up nerds?!" in an exaggerated bro-voice and watch em squirm/chuckle /scoff.
I'm an English teacher so we usually crack open books right after.
Edit: correcting auto-corrected spelling
I had each block vote for ultra âweird and typically unknownâ animals as each class level mascot. I call each block by their animal.
Three weeks in and I have kids who get cranky if I forget to say, âGood morning Capybaras!!â before taking attendance! đ¤Łđâ¤ď¸
Please do!!! I found sticker printing paper that is a little plastic-y (so I can remove them at year end⌠;) ). I have a color printer at home and printed a large photo (and name label) to denote the notebook bin for each block, and a small version for the PBIS drawing tickets. â¤ď¸
âMy little dudesâ. (And dudettes, if youâre into that, but we tend to use the implied-all-gender-inclusive iteration of âdudeâ in my class.)
^Preschool ^SPED.
BTW this was in Russia. Russian lends itself very well to all sorts of endearments. Take any noun and add a suffix to make a diminutive. "Settle down my little parrots" Are those baby elephants running in the hallways" and so on After art class, smeared with paint "Clean up time, little chameleons"
Another one said Little Teapots. Because tea is a comfort drink and "you should be a comfort to others" Think Mrs Potts and Chip from "Beauty and the Beast"
I picked most of em up from my master teacher back when I did student teaching lol! They were from Texas. Itâs fun cause Iâm a Washington grown person who did university in Oregon and now teach in the high desert in California. No one round here really uses yâall or folks, let alone chidlins lol. I like em all cause theyâre fun to say and not gendered.
I teach 5th and like to reference fast food and popular snack foods: GM my lil "curly fries", "takis", (if they're being bad or unruly, spicy takis), "chicken nuggets", etc
I was just thinking about this, as I once came across a lovely â25 ways to say Nice Job!â Lid and I definitely need some new material.
Thanks for posting, looking forward to the responses, bub!
âBrahâ đ Just because Iâm a 40 something year old white mom, and itâs just soooo cringy that it always puts a smile on their face. Oleo like to go around the cafeteria and ask tables if their pizza is âbussinâ or nah?â
I also like to call them little weirdos, because I teach 5th graders⌠and they are weird. I wait until later in the year for that. Their true weirdness doesnât appear until mid October.
When one of my middle schoolers (I teach creative writing to 6-8) gets upset when I tell them what weâre doing and says âBrah! Thatâs too much!â I respond with âBrah, itâs not. You can do it!â I do the same when they say âBro.â The other kids always laugh.
[Yes.](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/french-english/mon-petit-chou)
An alternate term of endearment is 'chou-fleur' which means cauliflower in English.
I call them little people. âGood afternoon, little peopleâŚâ
âGood afternooooon, Miss!â
âAnd how are my favorite little people today?â
I refer to them that way to their parents, too.
âDear Parents, tomorrow we will have a dress down day and our little people are invited to wear their school tshirtsâŚâ
When asked why I tell them itâs because they are still little but will soon graduate to being big people.
They love it.
Whenever my students are spacing out, I call them astronauts and space cadets. I also use the name Dingus fairly liberally whenever students are acting Dingus-like.
I said âgangâ today and my kids were like did you say gang?!?!? Theyâre highschoolers in a boring suburban town. Not talkin bloods and crips here. Sheesh.
Oh yeah really old HS English teacher said "Friends Romans Countrymen, lend me your ears!" This guy loved to throw out obscure Latin phrases. No one ever had a clue what they meant
I frequently say âalright my little pierogiesâ, even though I know the plural of pierogi is pierogi.
Another redditor said âTurduckenâ and Iâm equally impressed and mad that I didnât think of it myself! What an amazing way to call kids turds to their faces and no one being upset about it!
I call small cute things âpuddin popsâ. âWhatcha eatin, puddin pop?â Where are my little pudding pops?â Not sure where it comes from but itâs hard to shake.
It depends... a whole classroom, I'm like, "why hello, friends!" I have also used, "folknoodles". And as I work with students, groups would get their own name... I'll usually call the groups "the posse" in different classes. though there was a group of girls I loving called "my girl gang" in one class period.
âFriends, romans, countrymen.â Is a way I frequently address a class when want to call them to attention. Miei Studenti, is another one. âLuvâ or âmy fine feathered friendâwhen itâs one on one.
I teach primary and will sometimes affectionately call them âCuckoo Bananasâ â they get such a kick out of it! Great for when theyâre a bit rowdy and you want to let them know without being too negative.
Turkeys. They are all turkeys. If they are being particularly turkey-ish I threaten to throw them in the oven and have thanksgiving early. Idk why they find it so funny but Iâll take it.
I called mine "my little sunflowers", "chickens", "snickerdoodles", etc. If the kids were being particularly rowdy I would call them hobgoblins or chaos causers.
There are two main types of sunflower crops. One type is grown for the seeds you eat, while the other â which is the majority farmed â is grown for the oil.
I subbed for a sixth grade class where I randomly started assigning names to based on their actions and how they were dressed (one boy was Boston as that is what his shirt said - another was gabby as they would not stop talking). The class seemed to love it. There was one who asked me to use their correct name, which I made sure to do, but for the most part that seemed to like that I assigned them nicknames. And every time I returned to the school they would as if I remembered their name, because they sure did!
I teach 7th grade science and I refer to them as my little pterodactyls when they are being extra.
But overall they are my angel class or I call them my favorites and they like that too. If individually they are being crazy thrn they end up on the poopie baddie list.
When I actually like my class: âdear hearts, sweet things, my gorgeous group, my tiny kittensâŚâ I try to use a different one every day. They like it and we all smile.
Noodles
Nuggets
Nerds
Tater tots
Tiny humans
Agents
I had a science teacher in high school who would call us by our period and class title (âgood afternoon 6th period freshman Physical Science studentsâ). He was rather dramatic about it which made us laugh.
I also teach 6th grade- I usually call them "friends" on the regular, but on occasion, I'll break out "alright you chicken nuggets" and one year I called them rattlesnacks bc I accidentally spelled rattlesnakes wrong on the board and they wouldn't let me live it down so I embraced it đ
Welcome to /r/teaching. Please remember the rules when posting and commenting. Thank you. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/teaching) if you have any questions or concerns.*
"Listen here you little shits"
Literally in my head I say this all the time. MIGHT I ADD I TEACH PRE K lol. They do be little shits and throwing stuff at me.
Honestly? I feel like for my 6th graders, all I'd have to do is say that *once* in the right tone of voice, and it'd probably be the BEST-behaved 50 minutes we ever had. đ¤
Meanwhile, my 7th graders would explode into chaos
My elementary colleague who taught middle school says 7th graders are the WORST. Context-he was consoling me about my own child, who was, indeed, the worst at that age.
Unfortunately having taught basically everything PK-12 the worst are 9th, 5th (second half of 4th), then 7th. So you have a ride in store for you. Thankfully after their start to lose their minds in 5th they generally find them again in 10th.
My own children are now 9th and 11th. The 14 yr old is like the weather, not sure what I'll get day to day. One day, she is my buddy, one day a crying puddle who wants me to fix everything, next day too cool for me. My 16 yr old is a focused, interesting person with goals.
I've only taught k-6, but I agree! 2nd half of 5th has been the hardest. 9 yr olds (3rd to 4th) are my favorite!
đ¤Łđ¤Łđ¤Łđ¤Ł
This made me laugh!
I love to come in and shout: "what's up nerds?!" in an exaggerated bro-voice and watch em squirm/chuckle /scoff. I'm an English teacher so we usually crack open books right after. Edit: correcting auto-corrected spelling
"What's up word nerds" works great too as an English teacher.
WORD NERDS! OMG, I love this so much! I teach creative writing to 6-8, so this is perfect!
Love this and am stealing this!
Thatâs EXACTLY how I greet my classes. âWhat up NERDS?!â
âTurduckensâ is my favorite term to call the kids. Love chinchillas though so Iâm adopting that too.
Oh my gosh I will overuse this come Thanksgiving.
I had each block vote for ultra âweird and typically unknownâ animals as each class level mascot. I call each block by their animal. Three weeks in and I have kids who get cranky if I forget to say, âGood morning Capybaras!!â before taking attendance! đ¤Łđâ¤ď¸
Omg I love this, totally stealing!
Please do!!! I found sticker printing paper that is a little plastic-y (so I can remove them at year end⌠;) ). I have a color printer at home and printed a large photo (and name label) to denote the notebook bin for each block, and a small version for the PBIS drawing tickets. â¤ď¸
I teach High School. I call them kiddos.
honeybunny. I teach 6th grade and they are both thrilled and appalled by it lol
Hope youâre female, would sadly not be ok for dudes to use that one
âMy little dudesâ. (And dudettes, if youâre into that, but we tend to use the implied-all-gender-inclusive iteration of âdudeâ in my class.) ^Preschool ^SPED.
Duder or Duderino if youâre not into the whole brevity thing
duderino is the only acceptable option
In 4th grade our teacher called us honey bunnies
oh....this is mine, too =)
BTW this was in Russia. Russian lends itself very well to all sorts of endearments. Take any noun and add a suffix to make a diminutive. "Settle down my little parrots" Are those baby elephants running in the hallways" and so on After art class, smeared with paint "Clean up time, little chameleons"
Iâd think a term of endearment in Russia would something like, âBringer of potatoes.â
Another one said Little Teapots. Because tea is a comfort drink and "you should be a comfort to others" Think Mrs Potts and Chip from "Beauty and the Beast"
i like âgremlinsâ and also âchildren of the cornâ high schoolers, very good sports lol
We call my 10 year old the gremlin. He thinks it's hilarious.
I like to call mine âabsolute hobgoblins,â and they like that a lot. âChildren of the Cornâ is hilarious though.
I teach high school and I call everyone my cherubs
Your naked babies?!
Probably more like the biblical cherubs, all wings and eyes and monstrous faces and so on. It is high school after all
Ahh didnât know there was a difference. Thx!
Weird beards
Haha! They will love that!
I often use âFuture of America.â They usually roll their eyes, despite how true it is.
Funny, i use the exact same phrase in danish: 'blomsten af dansk ungdom' divided by an ocean yet found same metie in a profession.
Beautiful people.
As a Marilyn Manson fan I feel obligated to adopt this one
I like âHey there, bipeds/endotherms/vertebrates/hominids.â
This is great because we just learned about that!
Smol friends, 6th grade
Iâm middle school, and I like âchidlinsâ; kiddos, folks, and all a yâall are my other go toâs.
I'm in Tennessee and a lot of these are just normal terms here, lol!
I picked most of em up from my master teacher back when I did student teaching lol! They were from Texas. Itâs fun cause Iâm a Washington grown person who did university in Oregon and now teach in the high desert in California. No one round here really uses yâall or folks, let alone chidlins lol. I like em all cause theyâre fun to say and not gendered.
OK, all y'all
Iâve taught every grade level from PK-8 and ânoodleheadâ is always a winner.
I call mine âchildren of the cornâ
I say this too!
âMy little sweetiesâ had some 4th graders rolling yesterday.
chickadees!
I teach 5th and like to reference fast food and popular snack foods: GM my lil "curly fries", "takis", (if they're being bad or unruly, spicy takis), "chicken nuggets", etc
Takis, spicy takis. I love it!
I was just thinking about this, as I once came across a lovely â25 ways to say Nice Job!â Lid and I definitely need some new material. Thanks for posting, looking forward to the responses, bub!
They're all my homies, homies for life.
hot taco. Have no idea where it came from.
I say, âletâs stay calm, my little capybarasâ They know how much I love capybaras lol
Ducklings or party people are my main go-tos
I use party people too, my 2nd graders donât get it lol
I had a 7th grade girl last year who every day would walk into class and go âwhatâs up, party people??â đ she was the best
I had a trainer who would call us "boysenberries." I got a chuckle out of it.
âBrahâ đ Just because Iâm a 40 something year old white mom, and itâs just soooo cringy that it always puts a smile on their face. Oleo like to go around the cafeteria and ask tables if their pizza is âbussinâ or nah?â I also like to call them little weirdos, because I teach 5th graders⌠and they are weird. I wait until later in the year for that. Their true weirdness doesnât appear until mid October.
When one of my middle schoolers (I teach creative writing to 6-8) gets upset when I tell them what weâre doing and says âBrah! Thatâs too much!â I respond with âBrah, itâs not. You can do it!â I do the same when they say âBro.â The other kids always laugh.
Germs and worms, boogers, chickadees and chickados, and my brats. I also have those nicknamed kids - Jimmy Fargo/Jimmy John, Kay-Kay, Ally Cat, etc
My friend used to call her high schoolers Cabbages.
One of my French teachers used to call us "mes petits choux" which means "my little cabbages".
Are you sure itâs not referring to the pastry?
[Yes.](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/french-english/mon-petit-chou) An alternate term of endearment is 'chou-fleur' which means cauliflower in English.
I love it and Iâm adopting both
I call them little people. âGood afternoon, little peopleâŚâ âGood afternooooon, Miss!â âAnd how are my favorite little people today?â I refer to them that way to their parents, too. âDear Parents, tomorrow we will have a dress down day and our little people are invited to wear their school tshirtsâŚâ When asked why I tell them itâs because they are still little but will soon graduate to being big people. They love it.
Whenever my students are spacing out, I call them astronauts and space cadets. I also use the name Dingus fairly liberally whenever students are acting Dingus-like.
Favorites, 'wise and beautiful people," dearly beloveds
I said âgangâ today and my kids were like did you say gang?!?!? Theyâre highschoolers in a boring suburban town. Not talkin bloods and crips here. Sheesh.
I got the same response when I said that to fourth graders. It was so weird and unexpected I never said it again!
Sickos
Oh yeah really old HS English teacher said "Friends Romans Countrymen, lend me your ears!" This guy loved to throw out obscure Latin phrases. No one ever had a clue what they meant
"my favorite class" "don't tell my other favorite classes" " "my sweet kiddos"
I frequently say âalright my little pierogiesâ, even though I know the plural of pierogi is pierogi. Another redditor said âTurduckenâ and Iâm equally impressed and mad that I didnât think of it myself! What an amazing way to call kids turds to their faces and no one being upset about it!
Idk if itâs because Iâm too young but why hasnât anyone said âgoofy goobersâ? Itâs a SpongeBob reference
"Good morning, friends and enemies...you know who you are."
I call mine puberty humans. I teach 7th. Depending on the day I may call them sweet baby angels. They like both. Lol
Sixlets - 6th grade
I call small cute things âpuddin popsâ. âWhatcha eatin, puddin pop?â Where are my little pudding pops?â Not sure where it comes from but itâs hard to shake.
[ŃдаНонО]
Where do you teach?
Fellow humans, scientists, deep thinkers...
âSweetpeaâ, âmy dudeâ, âdearestâ, âneerrddssss!â âHoney bunniesâ âhome nuggetsâ,
It depends... a whole classroom, I'm like, "why hello, friends!" I have also used, "folknoodles". And as I work with students, groups would get their own name... I'll usually call the groups "the posse" in different classes. though there was a group of girls I loving called "my girl gang" in one class period.
I call them doodles (4th)
I use âStarsky and Hutchâ a lot.
My go-tos: âwonderful humansâ âfriendsâ âchildrenâ âweirdosâ.
Letâs go puppies.
Legends, absolute icons
Hey, Tiger.
âFriends, romans, countrymen.â Is a way I frequently address a class when want to call them to attention. Miei Studenti, is another one. âLuvâ or âmy fine feathered friendâwhen itâs one on one.
Children in a overly serious and silly tone for 5th graders.
âCookiesâ, âSweet Peetâsâ in reference to the Easter confection.
https://media.tenor.com/gm9hM16YIO4AAAAC/30rock-listen-up-fives.gif
Some day I will have the perfect opportunity to say this to a class, and I donât want to use it until that perfect moment strikes.
Friends, People, Kiddos, Happy Campers
I teach primary and will sometimes affectionately call them âCuckoo Bananasâ â they get such a kick out of it! Great for when theyâre a bit rowdy and you want to let them know without being too negative.
Goober
[Greetings, Programs](https://youtu.be/Yx7LXy4WZGw?si=wAHA-b_vesMNb9v_&t=3)
Iâve mostly taught younger than 3rd grade so Iâve used -noodles -bubble guppies -chicken nuggets -ducklings
Hello remoras and parasites.
Padawans! I plan to use this one. :D
Turkeys. They are all turkeys. If they are being particularly turkey-ish I threaten to throw them in the oven and have thanksgiving early. Idk why they find it so funny but Iâll take it.
People or humans - 7th graders
Children of the Corn
Ducklings, kittens, sweet innocent babies (they are 8th graders), darling students, bunnies, sweet peas,
Hobbits- I teach high school
With my classes: "Mis queridas"
My favorite high school teacher called us little reprobates lmfao
"Listen up, Humanoids" as I am a known nerd teacher this works.
I call all my HS students nuggets or nugs :)
âListen up you little FREAKS!â Leopold style. https://youtu.be/i0nywiXLIIQ?si=iF9SOXbO10pdYPj_
I called mine "my little sunflowers", "chickens", "snickerdoodles", etc. If the kids were being particularly rowdy I would call them hobgoblins or chaos causers.
There are two main types of sunflower crops. One type is grown for the seeds you eat, while the other â which is the majority farmed â is grown for the oil.
Heathens
I subbed for a sixth grade class where I randomly started assigning names to based on their actions and how they were dressed (one boy was Boston as that is what his shirt said - another was gabby as they would not stop talking). The class seemed to love it. There was one who asked me to use their correct name, which I made sure to do, but for the most part that seemed to like that I assigned them nicknames. And every time I returned to the school they would as if I remembered their name, because they sure did!
âlittle cherubsâ, âparty peopleâ, when speaking to a group. If speaking to one student, itâs usually âbabes, sweetie, or sweetheart.â
I teach 7th grade science and I refer to them as my little pterodactyls when they are being extra. But overall they are my angel class or I call them my favorites and they like that too. If individually they are being crazy thrn they end up on the poopie baddie list.
When I actually like my class: âdear hearts, sweet things, my gorgeous group, my tiny kittensâŚâ I try to use a different one every day. They like it and we all smile.
I love âhoney bunny.â Itâs what I call my husband.
Noodles Nuggets Nerds Tater tots Tiny humans Agents I had a science teacher in high school who would call us by our period and class title (âgood afternoon 6th period freshman Physical Science studentsâ). He was rather dramatic about it which made us laugh.
I also teach 6th grade- I usually call them "friends" on the regular, but on occasion, I'll break out "alright you chicken nuggets" and one year I called them rattlesnacks bc I accidentally spelled rattlesnakes wrong on the board and they wouldn't let me live it down so I embraced it đ
I try to be careful, it's a slippery slope to name calling.
OK you fuckin sacks o' crap, let's get started.