Transitioning

Change can be exciting and scary at the same time.

Starting the 6^th or 9^th grades can be a big change for students and parents. The sense of "growing up" can include feelings of achievement and self-satisfaction, and it can evoke strong emotions.

We all need to remember that it will take the students a while to settle in to their new school. We need to be sensitive to the anxieties of students and families, and we need to build partnerships between the parents and teachers to help the students. The middle schools have orientation programs to help students and parents get ready for this new adventure. Here we want to get you started so you can get the most out of your new school.

	Transitions by Dr. Lisa Hardy Dr. Lisa Hardy is Chief of Child Psychiatry at Children’s Hospital, Oakland, and a Castro Valley parent. If you have a topic that you would like Dr. Hardy to discuss, please send her an email in care of webmaster@cvparents.org.
	Notes from a Parent Survivor You can make it through the 6th grade with your student. I did.
	The Official Guide to Middle School Each year Castro Valley Middle Schools, Canyon and Creekside, publish a guide incoming 6^th graders. The guides are very similar and describe the middle school curriculum and how children are placed
	Starting 9th Grade Starting High School
	More Reading Building Alliances, Building Families Herb Rotchford “The transition from elementary to middle school is a journey few adolescents—or their parents—remember fondly. This benchmark migration is often filled with anxiety, uncertainty, and confusion—especially since the students typically move from a small, personalized elementary school to a larger, more complex middle school. …” Middle Ground. The Magazine of Middle Level Education Vol. 6, Number 1, Pages 10-15, August 2002 http://www.nmsa.org/Publications/ MiddleGround/August2002/Article1/tabid/ 198/Default.aspx Making the Transition Help your child navigate these typical middle school challenges. Margery D. Rosen “For many kids, the transition to middle school couldn’t come at a worse time. Just as your child is wrestling with her own rollercoaster emotions, just as she’s struggling to understand and accept the physical changes in her body — all of which make her alternately distracted, forgetful, anxious, self-conscious and argumentative — everything about the school day is changing, too. …” Scholastic.com Middle School http://www.scholastic.com/schoolage/middleschool/ atschool/ms_adjustment.htm The Importance of Emotional Intelligence During Transition into Middle School Tommye Lou Richardson “Students experiencing transition from the elementary school are faced with challenges of the new environment as they adjust to middle school. These challenges are academic as well as interpersonal. …” Middle School Journal, Vol. 33, Number 3, Pages 55-58, January 2002 http://www.nmsa.org/Publications/ MiddleSchoolJournal/January2002/Article10/ tabid/411/Default.aspx