Moving from elementary to middle school or middle school to high school can bring its share of stress to students and families, but schools in Arlington are helping with the successful transition to the next grade level. Each high school has activities planned before school starts for incoming ninth graders.
On May 18, fifth graders from Eagle Creek Elementary visited Post Middle School to check out the campus. Kent Prairie fifth graders visited on a different day.
“We want to ease the stress for elementary students transitioning to middle school,” said Post Middle School Principal, Leslie Olson. “The students visited classrooms, learned about PE, and also had a question-and-answer session with administrators and the counselor. Our counselor also visited fifth grade classrooms at our feeder schools to answer questions from students.”
In addition to the tour, Post also held a parent night for fifth graders in the spring and a Passport Day will be held before school starts. Haller Middle School has Hawk Days and the Fly-in Open House.
“Due to COVID, we didn’t have the option to visit Post in the spring,” said Post seventh graders Stella Hyde and Sammi Wilson. “It would have made the transition easier.”
“This really helps with the transition to middle school,” said Eagle Creek Fifth Grader Violet Bruss.
On May 16th, APPLE Preschool students visited Eagle Creek Elementary to get a tour of an elementary school. The tour took them to the gym, library, music room, playground, and to a kindergarten classroom where they experienced story and playtime with current kindergarten students. Students also visited the school garden and saw the baby chicks that just hatched in Mr. Klein's fifth grade classroom.
“The Class of 2036 was excited to see what kindergarten would be like and are ready for the next step,” said Eagle Creek Elementary Principal, Bethany Belisle.