When it is time for your child to transition out of the elementary school into a middle school, what can you do to make the transition a little easier for your son or daughter? How can you help your child learn his or her way around the school? What can you do to help him or her adapt to the larger building and more independent learning methods that typically start in middle school? My third son is about to transition into middle school this coming school year and I am not nearly as worried as I was with my older two. Now, I have the information I need to help him get through the transition with ease. Visit my blog to learn everything you need to know to help your child.
transitioning from elementary to middle school
Morning Meetings: A Private School Concept That May Be Difficult For Your Child
Ella Morris
Morning meetings are an idea that has become popular in many private schools. Essentially, the children and the teacher have a brief discussion about the day and perform other simple activities to get the day off to a fun start. If your child is transitioning from a public school, they may struggle with this idea. Here's how you can help.
What Happens During Morning Meeting?
Morning meetings take place every day and follow a pretty simple schedule. A typical morning meeting includes the following activities:
- Teachers and students greet each other by name
- Students discuss important events
- A group activity or game is performed with the class to encourage learning and sociability
- Everyone reads the teacher's morning message
This simple activity is designed to get the students in a classroom excited about their day and on the same page with their teacher. In a private-school setting they can be particularly useful, due to the smaller class sizes.
Encouraging Your Child To Participate
If your child is shy, a morning meeting can be a difficult problem, as it will force them to participate in an environment where they might not feel comfortable. Encouraging your child to participate in a morning meeting is tough, especially since you won't be there. However, there are a few ways you can get your shy child to participate:
- Talk to their teacher and explain that your child is a little shy
- Avoid putting them on the spot by forcing them to talk: let them come out of their shell on their own
- Show them a lot of love in the morning to make them feel more comfortable
- Ask the teacher to let them watch several morning meetings before getting them to lead one
- Do a mock "morning meeting" with your family before school to get them used to the concept
Creating Their Own Activities
Often, children are encouraged to bring their own activity ideas to morning meetings. There are a few reasons for this: it helps integrate them into the day's activities, and it challenges their creativity. There are a wide range of group activities and games that are appropriate for morning meetings, and it may be difficult for a child to create their own.
However, with your guidance, you can help them create their own games using this process:
- Think of an activity that includes the whole group (like "Duck, Duck, Goose") and use it as a base
- Integrate some kind of education lesson in the game (such as sorting people according to the alphabetic order of their first name initial)
- Come up with a fun name (such as "First Name Dance")
- Create a list of simple rules and a structure for the game (like having one person arrange five people in a row according to their first initial)
- Although this is only one example of an appropriate morning meeting game, it can be easily modified or disregarded to come up with a completely new game.
Following this process will help your child get excited about their morning meeting activities. It can also help them transition to the more demanding environment of a private school. In this way, they're more likely to succeed.
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