For our sixth graders, here's some answers, some ideas, some thoughts and maybe also advice from last year's sixth graders:

• Backpacks:
• you'll need one - but you are not allowed to carry it around in classes. It will have to go in your locker so practice getting stuff in and out of it.
• School supplies:
• that list you get from your teachers over the summer - it's real - get the stuff.   If you can't afford it, counselors can help you get supplies anyway.  If you have extra, teachers (and friends) will love that!
• Detention:
• don't worry about it. yes it exists, but you'll learn the rules and most students do NOT get after-school detention!
• Lockers:
• the school provides you a lock IF YOU WANT one, for a deposit of five dollars ($5.00). You cannot use your own lock, it has to be one from the school and it's good to remember the locker is school property, not yours.
• you can decorate the inside of your locker as long as it's nothing permanent or with permanent stickers.
• Teachers will help you find your lockers and teachers are almost always in the hallway between classes to help out or give directions.
• Eighth Graders:
• No, they don't shove you into lockers! They are pretty cool most of them... but we didn't see them a lot when we were in sixth grade because their classes are all in the other hallway or on another floor and we don't have gym at the same time, or lunch at the same time as they do. And we come in the front door of the school and leave by the front door, and they use the side doors.   Our school has started a peer helper program this past year to encourage 8th graders to work with sixth graders and it's been fun!
• Lunchtime!
• Lunch is fun because you can be with your friends, but it isn't very long. Usually about twenty minutes or so. Teachers also have lunch at the same time in the cafeteria too. The cafeteria is huge and looks intimidating, but the cafeteria folks are awesome and very helpful. They tell you which line to be in, they help you with getting lunch - they help make it one of the highlights of the day.
• Gym
• Yes, you need to bring clothes to change for gym, but we don't have to shower. We all change clothes in either the boys or the girls locker room at the same time - but those rooms also have stalls if you want to be private. The phys ed teachers teach us a little bit about every single sport and other cooperative games and we do fun stuff in gym and we have gym at least twice a week!
• Homework
• Yes, we do get a lot more homework than we used to in fifth grade, but usually we have a little more time to work on it. Sometimes, like with big projects, we get a couple of weeks and teachers give us a page that tells us what part of the project is due and when it's due. They call it a "rubric."  A "planner" or "agenda book" is a real help in sixth grade and you will use it.   If you write assignments in it and use it each day you will be a LOT more organized and that will feel like a huge help to you!
• Friendly Teachers
• People always ask us if the teachers are friendly or strict. Sometimes they are both -- they are friendly, plus they are strict. We like most of the teachers and once you get to know them, you will too.
• Hard to make friends??
• No, it is not hard!! That's one of the things that might be surprising. Sixth graders come to this school from all over the City of Portland, and there's a lot of kids who don't know each other at first, and a lot who do. The teachers mix it all up and you make friends pretty quickly here.
• Problems with school?
• There's lots of places we can get help IF we are having trouble at school. The teachers help a lot. There's also special ed teachers who work in the same class sometimes and they help anyone who wants help. If the problem is about other stuff, there's a counselor just for the sixth grade. And as students, we can go to the principal or the assistant principal too if we need to tell them about some problem we notice.
• Bullying
• Our school has done lots of big workshops about bullying and making sure it doesn't start, or stopping it right away if it does. We learned that we can't stand by if we see someone bullied -- we need to tell someone and not be a "by-stander."  We also learned that teachers and all the other adults here care about making the school a bully-free school. A big group of sixth graders had a lot of leadership training last year to be mentors and helpers to the school and to new sixth graders. This helps keep our school safe and fun.

and finally, some random thoughts...

"Things I wish I had known before I started Middle School"

(as written by our sixth graders)

"...that gym would be one of my favorite classes."

"...that the food was so good."

"...how big the school was."

"...how many kids are in a House."

"...that we would not have recess."

"...that we don't have a free class."

"...that I would have 8 new best friends."

"...that there are not a lot of mean people."

"...the teachers are nicer."

"...that I actually want to get to school earlier, to talk to my friends."

"...how long classes were."

"...that we barely have any time at our lockers."

"...that it is more fun than elementary school."

"...that we never get a flex time."

"...that there is no recess."

"...that they sell ice cream at lunch."

"...that the days are long."

"...more about the principal and vice principal."

"...that there was more than 30 kids in a gym class."

"...that it was easier than 5th grade."

"...that it was hard to open the lock on your locker."

"...that people say some things that are not true."

"...that I could get good grades."

"...that middle school would have a lot of homework."

"...that gym was more fun than Spanish."

"...that I need to really be organized."

"...I wish I'd practiced my Math Facts."

"...how hard it is to get to a bottom locker."

"...that teachers are so nice."

"...how short my lunch is."

"...my multiplication tables."

"...to get a bigger binder to hold my things."

"...that the lunch lines are sometimes like survival of the fittest."

"...that me and my old friend would become best friends again."

"...that it is fun this year."

"...that my friends were going to change."

"...why people are so noisy."

"...to get more pencils."

"...that sometimes you can lose friends easily."

"...that ice cream is addicting."

"...that it would change you in big ways."

"...that the teachers care what my mom thinks."