The language of school is demanding; much of the content is decontextualized and abstract, and it concerns matters that are far removed from the daily life. Students are expected to learn about rain forests and prime numbers, literary motifs, and historical events that occurred centuries ago. Consider the additional cognitive demands confronting…

As practicing teachers, school personnel, and teacher educators engaged in a school-university partnership, we have worked to co-create a mutually beneficial relationship centered around the learning needs of young adolescents. In this article, we will describe our diverse perspectives on and perceptions of how the partnership enhances the…

Play and games are widely held to meet a vital role in the socialization process. This study explores the differences in their socialization impact by race. Children in the sixth grade at a rural school were surveyed with regard to their participation in four types of games: individual, sports, board/card and party. Game experience was found to be…

The author describes three "icebreaker" activities she uses to help a class of students get acquainted with one another--learning names and personal information--during the first days of the school year. (SJL)

This article describes the transition program at Goodyear Junior High in Akron, Ohio. Beginning in the spring, it helps reduce the adjustment anxiety of sixth graders and their parents by familiarizing them with the school and preparing them for the junior high school experience. Some evaluative feedback is cited. (SJL)

Camp Armstrong is a summer program which provides rising sixth grade students with a thorough orientation to their new middle school. Activities develop students' familiarity with the school's physical layout and provide hands-on cooperative learning in academic and recreational subjects. A workshop for parents of rising middle school students is…

Directed to the Multnomah County (Oregon) sixth grade students participating in the Outdoor School program, the handbook serves as an introduction to the week-long, resident outdoor education experience which focuses on four natural resources: soil, water, plants, and animal life. Information is provided on the Outdoor School site and staff;…

Educators in Indiana's Duneland School District found the transition from elementary schools to a newly organized middle school unacceptably difficult for both the students and their parents. After assessing student and parent preconceptions of the middle school as revealed in their responses to questionnaires, the middle school principal…

To be used by sixth grade teachers in preparing their classes for the Multnomah County, Oregon, Outdoor School Program, the guide to the Student Preparation Workbook provides general information, descriptions, game materials, and answers to exercises and puzzles. The guide is divided into four resource areas: soil, water, plants, and animals. Each…

This publication contains two reports describing the development and beginning evaluations of two separate programs of the Baltimore (Maryland) School and Family Connections Project designed to increase parents' involvement in their children's learning in urban middle grades schools. The first report, "Reactions of Parents, Students, and…

Sixth grade students can prepare for the Multnomah County, Oregon, Outdoor School experience by completing the workbook designed to provide fundamental information about soil, water, plant, and animal resources. The workbook begins with an introduction to environmental manners, after which a section is devoted to each resource area. The glossary…

An orientation and peer helper program was developed at a public middle school in a rural community to reduce the problems associated with sixth-grade students transferring into the school during the school year. Transfer students and their parents or guardians were provided with a video and brochure that explained the school's services, programs,…

Directed to the Multnomah County, Oregon, sixth grade students who participate in the Outdoor School program, the reusable handbook serves as an introduction to the week-long, resident outdoor education experience which focuses on four natural resources: soil, water, plants, and animal life. Each week, four sixth grade classes from different…