First Days of School

I have had my first four days at L'Ouverture Middle School as a sixth grade communication arts and social studies teacher. I have to teach social studies for one period because the school doesn't have the budget to hire a social studies teacher. We have a total of 25 students in the entire sixth grade. Yep thats right, not 25 per class but in the entire grade, which means I have about six to ten kids in my classroom each period throughout the day.
My kids are great. There are only a few that I am worried about and even the ones who make bad behavior choices are nowhere near what I experienced in L.A. For instance, LaTasha has an incredibly hard time having a good attitude, each morning we talk about her goal of having a good attitude for the day and she told me today, "Ms. Yost this goal is hard for me to work out, but I don't give up so I will keep on trying." I said thats is all I ask from you, my personal goal for her is that she will stop saying "Scuse me and what's wrong with you?" to everyone she comes in contact with.
I count my blessings everyday though. They listen to me and they respect me. I constantly hear them saying in the hall, "Remember how Ms. Yost said to not talk bad about people." Well, those weren't my exact words but they warm my heart.