Middle-schoolers 'jump' into sixth grade

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
Transitions between schools are often considered a major step, especially for sixth graders in Weston County School District No. 1. This is the year they move up to Newcastle Middle School, where they have lockers, seven different classes and a more mature school experience in general. 
To help ease students into this new experience, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic closed schools in March and halted any school tours and introductions, staff at the middle school introduced the 6th Jump Start. 
“We wanted a way to help our newest, youngest students to become more familiar with our building and our staff, and we wanted to make them feel more comfortable as quickly as possible,” said Tyler Bartlett, school principal. “We know that every year sixth-graders are nervous to begin life at the middle school. We just thought we would see even more of that this year with everything else going on.” 
So, on Aug. 25, the day before school started for the rest of the district, the sixth grade students experienced a normal school day — without sharing the hallways with seventh- and eighth-graders — and a few treats thrown in to ease the pain of being in school a day early. 
Bartlett said that the day helped ease the new students into the groove of the new school and gave them access to more hands-on help from staff. Bartlett compared the idea to the staggered start used to start kindergartners at Newcastle Elementary School. The idea is to have a smaller population per teacher to help transition the student into the routine. 
“One of the big keys was, even though only sixth grade students were with us, we had our entire staff working that day,” Bartlett said. “This means we had lots of adults nearby in the hallways to help with lockers or to show students where a classroom was. 
“We also had our staff members join other sixth grade classes they aren’t normally able to attend,” Bartlett continued. “Again, the goal was to start the relationship building process as quickly as possible and to help the students know who all our teachers are, not just the sixth grade teachers they have.” 
The goal was to expose students to as many teachers and classrooms as possible. The students attended both of their electives on the same day instead of on opposite days. The staff also kept the day as “typical” as possible, and no big assembly or anything was held to throw things off. 
One thing that wasn’t typical, though, was the way students were fed that day, Bartlett said. The school tried to make meals more fun to make the day more exciting. 
“We got donuts, apples and orange juice from Decker’s Market for before school that the students could enjoy outside,” he said. “Then we got burgers and hot dogs from Woody’s so we could have a picnic lunch out front of the middle school. Don Steveson volunteered to grill all the meat for us and WCSD No. 1 board member Jason Jenkins helped out on the grill as well.” 
On Aug. 26, Bartlett told the district’s board of trustees that the day was a good return on investment, that it was a worthwhile expenditure. 
“I would like to look at making this more of a tradition. I hope we can keep it going,” Bartlett said to the board. 
He noted that because of the sixth grade jump-start, the first day of school went more smoothly than he had anticipated. 
“We had kids in class by 8:15 a.m. They knew their locker combos. I talked to the sixth graders and they gave yeses, said it was a worthwhile experience,” Bartlett said.