WELCOME TO SIXTH GRADE

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WELCOME TO SIXTH GRADE
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GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER

• Students will visit, tour, see classes and have
  lunch with us on April 9th and 10th
• We will visit students at their elementary
  schools to discuss middle school and answer
  questions
• Summer conferences with sixth grade families
• PALS Day, September 3, 2015
• Williamsburg Website

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PREPARING FOR THE TRANSITION

• Having a middle schooler may change your
  schedule the school day begins at 750. Lunch
  is earlier, 1036.
• There are only a few early release days.
• The middle school version of Extended Day is
  Check-in pm only.
• There are many after school activities.

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• Your child will be making new friends from other
  schools (we have about 13 feeder schools).
• Your child will have seven classes and teachers a
  day there may be some new organizational
  demands.
• Think about how your child has made other
  transitions. Let us know of any concerns.

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HOW WE PREPARE FOR THE NEW SIXTH GRADE

• We gather information from fifth grade teachers,
  combined with 5th grade SOL and math placement
  test scores to help us place students in Math.
• We create teams based on that information so that
  each team is balanced academically, as well as by
  gender.
• Summer transition conferences.
• Plan PALS Day with sixth grade teachers.

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• Send out team assignments and team supply lists
  in August. The supply lists will also be on the
  website.
• Schedule students into their classes so they can
  receive their schedule on PALS Day.

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SCHOOL STARTSWHAT THE DAY LOOKS LIKE

• Students should plan to arrive at school by 735.
  They begin their day in TA at 750. TA groups
  are between 12-15 students. The focus of TA is
  team building, organizational support and social
  emotional learning.
• Sixth graders have five core periods US
  History Civics and Economics to 1865, English,
  Math, Science, Reading or Reading/Transitional
  Spanish.

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• Sixth graders have three core periods, lunch and
  then the remaining two core periods.
• There are three minutes between classes and
  students may visit their lockers before TA,
  before and after lunch, at the end of core and
  the end of the day.
• Homework averages 17-20 minutes per day per class
  plus 30 minutes of reading. Not all classes have
  homework every night.
• In the remaining two periods of the day, students
  will take one period of Health/PE and one period
  of an elective/exploratory course.

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• Students selecting the exploratory will spend 5-6
  weeks in a rotation that could include Visual
  Arts, Theater Arts, Technical Education, Family
  and Consumer Science, Keyboarding, Journalism,
  World Language and Chorus.
• Students who play a musical instrument or would
  like to start one, select band or orchestra for
  the elective/exploratory period.

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• The school day ends at 224, but there are after
  school activities on M, T, and Th in ASP (After
  School Period) 1 and ASP 2. Clubs and after
  school academic help take place during ASP 1
  and/or ASP 2 from 230-415.

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• There are two levels of sports activities,
  intramural and interscholastic. To participate
  in interscholastic sports, students must have a
  current physical on file with the Activities
  Coordinator. The physical must take place after
  May 1 to cover all sports for the next year (this
  aligns with the high school schedule).
  Intramural sports do not require a physical.

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THOUGHTS AND ADVICE

• Adolescence is inevitable. The early adolescents
  we see in middle school can be exciting,
  frustrating, effortless or a battle, all in one
  day. Middle school is designed to work with
  these variables, at the same time maintaining
  rigorous academic standards.

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LOOKING TOWARD HIGH SCHOOL

• As sixth graders your students will begin the
  academic planning process in the spring as we
  plan for seventh grade. Seventh grades students
  can take high school courses for credit.
• Next year when we meet we will talk about diploma
  options and how the foreign language choice that
  can be made in seventh grade aligns with diploma
  requirements. Some students will also take
  Algebra I Intensified for high school credit in
  the 7th grade.
• High school diploma options are described in the
  Middle School Program of Studies.

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Counselors A-D Mr. Tuttle E-K Ms.
Kenney L-Q Ms. Flynn R-Z Ms.
Boyers Director Ms. Rittenhouse