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The answer to every ice breaker question? 6-7. The answer to what bad listening skills look like? Shouting 6-7 in your partner’s face.
And from the time a group of Indianapolis fourth graders on a recent field trip stepped off the bus to the time they sat down for lunch, it was 6-7, 6-7, 6-7.
All that will surprise no one who spends any time around kids or teens, who have spent months giggling, screaming, and otherwise losing it every time those numbers are uttered. The term originated from the Skrilla song “Doot Doot (6 7)” and made its way into meme culture via basketball video clips set to the song.
Dictionary.com declared 6-7 the word of the year. It became disruptive enough that some schools tried to ban it.
But if you can’t beat ’em — and you really can’t — then join ’em.
Teachers had students write 67-word essays about the 6-7 trend. A Michigan choir teacher had her students write and perform a song about 6-7, an endeavor that required them to control themselves while saying the numbers over and over. The Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Office in Indiana posted a spoof video of school resource officers handing out tickets to students who used the phrase.
We asked teachers how they’re handling the 6-7 trend in their classrooms, and we’ve got some great answers below. As 6-7 starts to wind down, you can apply these same tricks to the next big thing: 41.
‘I use 6-7 to my advantage’
Being an elementary teacher we’ve leaned into it as a building. Our principal and another teacher dressed as 6-7 for Halloween. During our Halloween parade, the costume created an ECE - 5 6-7 chant. It was hilarious. I use a 6-7 attention getter “1,2,3,4,5” and the kids respond with “6-7” while alternating their palms up. I have found that the more we use their language sometimes it goes away faster. 😂
- Danielle Zuroweste, fourth grade, Columbine Elementary, Denver
I use 6-7 to my advantage. I only allow the kids to say 6-7 in one circumstance. I have created an attention getter/call and response where I say “4,5” and the kids respond “6,7” and put their eyes on me, listening for next instructions. It has been my most successful attention getter to date and immediately refocuses everyone on me. When the numbers 6 and 7 show up in class, such as in math or a lesson number, I also allow them to say 6-7 once to get it out of their system, with the expectation it will not be said any more after that.
- Siena Fiorentino, second grade, P.S. 236 Langston Hughes, the Bronx, New York City
My school has block scheduling so I teach a class that is rostered for periods 6-7. It is a rowdy group. I have embraced the chaos, and I use it as a call and response to get their attention — I say 6 and they respond with 7 (complete with intonation). It works OK! I’m noticing that they are getting less enthusiastic about it as time goes on.
- Sally O’Brien, 11th and 12th grade English, Kensington Health Sciences Academy, Philadelphia
I’ve just leaned into it — enough students are bored with it now that we just do the little 6-7 hand gesture, giggle, and resume our day. I’ll even throw it into a conversation with students to make them cringe. Like all fads, they’ll grow out of it, and this one isn’t malicious.
- Kali Burks-Mosier, Lynhurst 7th and 8th Grade Center, Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township, Indianapolis
I made the mistake of reviewing numbers in Spanish I class. When I got to seis, siete, the whole class erupted in laughter saying seis-siete for minutes afterwards. And after a few minutes, we moved on. Our school really doesn’t need to treat it as a disciplinary matter.
- Kathleen Stoker, New Heights Brockton Charter School, Brockton, Massachusetts
Most kids know better than to disrupt our class with 6-7, but we have a few who push the boundary. When we were doing our dice roll greeting for our morning greeting (our greeting changes weekly), every time a child rolled a 6, a couple of children would mouth 6-7!! And do the hand motion. I found it ridiculous since it wasn’t even 6 and then 7. There are no 7s on the die!
Anyway, I shoot them a look and do the teacher whisper-scream “6-7 minutes off recess next time it happens” and that pretty much makes it stop immediately. Kids do have fun saying it outside but if it’s not disrupting anything I think it’s mostly harmless, just annoying.
- Grace Loew, District 4, Manhattan, New York
Our school celebrated the 67th day of school! Balloons of 6 and 7 hung around the building. Teachers of different grade levels wore different 6-7 themed shirts. Kindergarten has been working on subitizing [the ability to recognize how many objects are in a small group without counting] so their shirts had dice representing 6-7. Fifth grade used order of operations to create 6 or 7. Our first graders rotated to different rooms to do math activities including a STEM activity building a tower in 6 minutes, 7 seconds. Math fact games of adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing 6 and 7 were used throughout all grade levels. Attention calls included teachers counting 1 to 5 and the students chorally answering “6-7.” The art teacher incorporated 6-7 in paintings when talking about different artists. So much fun!
- Stacy Cartmel, instructional coach, Clearwater Elementary, Metropolitan School District of Washington Township, Indianapolis
I teach high school, but I also have a 7-year-old son. I do it on purpose — “This activity should take 6 or 7 minutes” — while doing the hand gesture (if you know, you know). It makes it less cool for them to say it because an adult has caught on. I love using Gen Z/Alpha slang in a silly or ironic way. I find this approach works well with both teens and second graders.
- Susan Scroggins, English, Herron High School & Herron Preparatory Academy, Herron Classical Schools, Indianapolis
Chalkbeat reporter Aleksandra Appleton contributed reporting from Indianapolis.
Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.
