So, Big Girl is Moving on Up…to the Middle School. *dun*dun*DUN*
She had her Moving Up ceremony last night, and made her parents very proud. She won an Academic Excellence Award, and she was one of about fifteen kids recognized for their character….very cool! (This was the last full day of school, the rest will be half days leading up to the last next Tuesday. I swear each year passes by faster than the last.)
I find it hard to believe that I have a child entering the Middle School. It seems like she was just hopping off to Kindergarten! But, I refuse to mourn the stages passed, and I enjoy her company more with each passing year, so I look forward to watching her grow into this new phase of her childhood. I do look ahead with a fearful eye though, knowing that the next few years will be a test of choices for her, and a test of patience for me.
To honor her night we got her some flowers. (It’s a good thing too! The recital flowers were pretty dead, but I hadn’t had the heart to get rid of them. It was nice to have new ones take their place!)
A Half Hour a Day 
So what grade does middle school begin in your town? Where I live it is only grades 7 and 8 (my big girl just finished 7) but in the town where I work, the middle school is 6, 7, 8. I’ve also heard of places where even the 5th grade is in the middle school (too young in my opinion)
Our Middle School is 6-7-8 unfortunately. It used to be 7-8, but we re-structured about 11 years ago, and went from four neighborhood schools K-6, MS 7-8, and High School 9-12 to a Kindergarten Center, 1-3 Primary School, 4-5 Intermediate, 6-8 MS, and 9-12 High School. All in all, it is a good set-up, but if I could change one thing, I’d bring 6th grade down to Intermediate. My principal and I have spoken at length of the possibility (when I was teaching at the Intermediate) and we would have loved to hang onto the kids for one more year as they transition through their “social awareness” stage. There are so many kids who (academically speaking) need the attention and nurturing of a single teacher at the sixth grade level. I think one more year would make a big difference in the outcome of some of those kids.
Our Middle School is run a bit differently though…students are put on teams made up of four or five teachers (the fifth being the resource room teacher) and those teachers team teach, combining science and math, and english and social studies. At least the kids are monitored by the same group of teachers, and those teachers meet on a regular basis in order to keep tabs on the kids. They also continue the tradition of parent-teacher conferences at the sixth grade level.
Still, it doesn’t help that I taught in the district forever, heading curriculum committees…I’ve gone head to head and toe to toe with many of the teachers at that building over what can only be described as philosophical differences…it’s going to be interesting to say the least, on so many different levels! lol
Wow, KD, that was quite the explanation! 😉 I like the 6th grade in our system in the elementary, but they do change classes during the day, just among 3 teachers; its kind of setting the stage for middle school. In the school where I work, the teachers on my team seem to do a nice job of remembering it is a transition year for the 6th graders and although they change classes all day long, I think they do a nice job of “nurturing” for one more year.
Yeah, you know me…long winded. But I OWN IT! 😉