By: EDWARD L. KENNEY/The News Journal

Posted: June 8, 2010

 

Fifth-grader Isaiah Cook was awestruck Monday when he walked into Middletown's Redding Middle School, where he will start classes next fall.

"From the outside, it looks a little bit smaller. But when you come in, it's like a warehouse, I think," said Isaiah, who visited the 700-student school with classmates from Silverside Elementary School in Middletown during what the Appoquinimink School District refers to as Move-Up Day.

The day has been a tradition in the district for years, giving rising first-graders, sixth-graders and ninth-graders a chance to learn about the new higher-level school they will attend.

But Monday was the first time the district also bused the children to the schools so they could see firsthand what they can expect next year. Previously, teachers and administrators visited the students at their current school and prepped them there, said Tony Marchio, the district's superintendent.

He believes the extra effort is worth it.

"Transitions from one school to another takes kids some time to get used to," said Marchio, shortly after he greeted children from five elementary schools as they got off buses and walked into Redding Middle. "We want to help them prepare mentally for their new school."

The special day, which has always been held near the end of the school year, is a much better experience for the students with the hour-long school visit, because they get to see things for themselves rather than learn about it from others, Redding Middle School Principal Matt Burrows said.

"It also gives them a positive experience the first time they come into the building," he said. "We want to keep building on the positives."

The visiting students at Redding Middle attended a multimedia presentation in the school's auditorium on the differences between elementary schools and middle schools. They also received Redding Middle T-shirts and book bags, were taken on a tour/scavenger hunt of the school and were treated to a snack in the cafeteria.

Burrows told the children they will have more homework in middle school, will have to be able to juggle assignments, could experience increased peer pressure, will have a variety of clubs and after-school activities available to them, and could be more tuckered out at the end of the school day.

"The movement of classes, that's the biggest issue they face in the sixth grade, and the size of the building,"

Burrows said. "They're going from being the big fish in a little pond to the smallest fish in a larger pond."

The incoming elementary school students also go from having little classroom cubbyholes where they store

everything they need to a big hallway locker that has to hold a greater course-load of material needed for multiple teachers during a seven-period schedule, he said.

Seeing it all up close also gets them in the right frame of mind for change, Burrows said.

"They're a little leery. They're a little nervous," he said. "The more they can go in and meet the staff and see other students, the more at ease they'll be when they come into the sixth grade."

Isaiah said the visit helped him sort things out, and he is ready for the next big step.

"I feel like I'm going from a little kid to a teenager," he said.

Photograph: Cierra McNeill, a fifth-grader at Cedar Lane Elementary, fills out a questionnaire detailing her school interests and extracurricular activities while visiting Redding Middle School on Monday. (The News Journal/JENNIFER CORBETT)