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July 28, 2009

Camp eases transition for middle school students

Rachel Brown

Meaghan Doheny jumped up and down excitedly at the “pop” of a classmate’s Alka-Seltzer-powered rocket launching several feet into the air.

“Oh, that’s so cool!” the upcoming sixth-grader at New Hope Middle School exclaimed. “I want to do this at home!”

Meaghan was among 65 rising sixth-graders attending Camp Kodiak on Tuesday. The three-day event is an extended orientation for new students, including those transferring from elementary feeder schools Pleasant Grove and New Hope. Each middle school in the Whitfield County system has a different program for helping transition its youngest students to their new campus, but Camp Kodiak is the only before-school event of its kind.

Instructional specialist Vanessa Ellison said the camp has worked well for New Hope since it began last year.

“They’re building relationships,” she said, “so when the first day happens, they’re not freaking out.”

Students were able to visit their middle schools as fifth-graders for one day before school finished this spring, officials said. Yet some families were still apprehensive.

“I guess we’re both a little overwhelmed with the transition,” said Wendy Gowin, whose oldest daughter Madison attended New Hope Elementary last year. “After six years, you master elementary school. Then you have to start over again.”

Ellison said sixth-graders countywide this year will have two main teachers rather than four as part of the school system’s effort at building stronger relationships between teachers and students. One of the student’s teachers will lead math and science instruction while the other will handle English and social studies.

The eight teachers at Camp Kodiak are not paid for their participation, Ellison said, but also aren’t required to attend. The camp is funded through parent contributions, a $20 fee and parent-teacher organization money.

Taking a break from guiding students on how to launch their Alka-Seltzer rockets, math-science teacher T.J. Moore said the day’s events were a preview to the kind of project-based work students will do all year. Moore explained the concept of thrust and how expanding oxygen in the Alka-Seltzer tablet created enough energy to propel the makeshift rocket. Students will do a written review of what they learned in the assignment Thursday and will also have humanities-related activities. On Thursday, they’ll preview five of the seven “connections” courses like art, band and physical education.

An orientation and block party for students and their families will be Friday at 6 p.m.

There are 180 sixth-graders expected at New Hope Middle when school begins Aug. 7.

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