Our 4th grade Beasley students gained a new moniker last week: Rising 5th Grade Middle School Students! Moving up to a new division can be exciting, even while making students nervous and anxious. Thankfully, our teams are in place to ensure they feel as comfortable as possible as they prepare to transition to the next part of their academic journey.
Everything kicked off with a Zoom meeting just for rising 5th grade families on April 21. “It was exciting to have both our current and our new families together for the first time as a class,” said Eric Brunt, Director of Enrollment Management. The class heard from Jen Schuckman, Head of Middle School; McKay Baur Mills ’92, 2021-2022 Parents Association President; Christine Mayer, 5th Grade Dean; and a group of current 5th grade students who shared their perspectives on life in the Middle School. Each student covered an important topic, such as academics, technology, advisory, the arts, and the most important topic for many students: lunch! Families were able to participate in a question-and-answer session after the presentations, and students inquired about a wide range of topics from how long are classes to how much homework is assigned and what is Flex Period, exactly?
Current MICDS students enjoyed guided tours of the Middle School the following week on Lower School Community Day. Brunt and Associate Director of Middle School Admission Peggy Laramie conducted tours of the entire Middle School campus for each 4th grade cohort, taking time to show them all the classrooms, art studios, resources, and special nooks and crannies, in addition to answering a ton of questions.
Fourth graders at Beasley move off the main Lower School hallway to Shoenberg Hall, a step toward their big leap to Middle School. Normally, they share Shoenberg with 5th graders, getting a sneak peek into their future. For the pandemic, though, to keep cohorts separate for safety, our facilities crew over the last summer erected a temporary wall and door to divide the two grades. One of the surprising highlights of the 4th grade tour was that the students were, for the first time this year, able to go past this mysterious door and finally see the 5th grade hallway they’ll be enjoying in the fall. Brunt laughed as he described the excitement of the 4th grade students as they opened the door and passed through, “It was like crossing a portal into Narnia!”
Fourth Grade Teacher Donna Waters agreed, “The most surprising and amusing thing to me was that one of the things the kids were most excited about was walking through the temporary door at the end of our hallway. They have not been able see what was on the other side all year.”
The students also enjoyed seeing 5th grade classrooms, the MAC and fitness center, choir room, cafeteria and courtyard, Freeman Arts Building, Danforth Hall, Messing Library, the Middle School office, and Eliot Chapel. They learned that, once we get past pandemic restrictions, they’ll get to sit wherever they want for lunch, including outside in the courtyard on nice days. They were thrilled to discover that dessert and chocolate milk are available every day. Two highlights included the visual arts studios, large, light-filled creative spaces chock full of possibilities, and the Reading Room in Messing Library, which boasts large shelves stuffed full of books and comfy chairs perfect for cozying up in anticipation of a good read.
“Touring the Middle School and letting the kids see the spaces they will occupy next year eases their worries a little bit,” said Waters. “They also begin to feel like big shots. The tours generate all kinds of questions such as What if I get lost? What if I am late for class? Do we get dessert every day?” Everyone involved in the transition reassures the students that it is okay and even normal to be nervous about Middle School, but they do not have to be afraid. Thankfully, the tours went a long way toward helping students feel more comfortable about their upcoming transition.
The rising 5th graders also expressed a lot of interest in in the history of the Mary Eliot Chapel, pointing out the large painting of the School’s founder, William Greenleaf Eliot, that hangs high between two large windows. They’re beginning to comprehend the rich history of MICDS, and intrigued by these references to our storied past scattered throughout our campus.
Questions were freeflowing again, and students learned about homework load, which sports are played in physical education, and how long lunch and recess are. They’re also excited about the separation of boys and girls into the single-gender model for core classes next year.
What did the students have to say? Read for yourself:
- “The art room looks so cool and you can go there after school to work on projects.”
- “The library is so big and there are couches and so many books!”
- “The tours helped us to know where everything is so we will know how to get to different places.”
- “The fitness center looks like fun.”
- “I feel much better about middle school than before because now it seems that 5th grade will not be as scary as I thought.”
- “I learned who the people in the painting in Elliot Chapel are.”
“The tours were fantastic,” Waters said. “We are so thankful we were able to do them this year.”