04/27/2026
Last week, a classroom of 5th-grade students taught us something valuable about common language and shared mental models.
For context:
Multiple 5th-grade classrooms participated in a series of team-building activities during a school retreat led by Higher Ground. The kids faced age-appropriate challenges that required them to take turns, communicate, and support one another while operating within a time limit.
In each rotation, they were asked the same question before beginning the final activity.
"If our team is successful at this challenge, how should we celebrate?"
To our surprise, each class gave nearly identical answers. And those answers were not what we expected.
"...how should we celebrate?"
Class 1: "Candy"
Class 2: "Candy"
Class 3: "Ice Cream"
Class 4: "Candy"
Each time, we expected them to say something like "clap, cheer, give a high five," or another way adults show appreciation or gratitude to their teammates after completing a task.
But to those students, the word "celebrate" was synonymous with "reward," and that reward is directly associated with sugary treats.
We were all conversing in English, but definitely not speaking the same language.
Which made us wonder, what other words or terms carry a very different meaning or connotation than what you thought you were saying?
