Summertime orientations ease kids' first-day jitters at new schools

There was a big party in the Meadowdale Middle School gym recently, and school hadn't even started.

Streamers bedecked some of the school's incoming seventh-graders, Mardi Gras beads dangled from the necks of boys and girls, and balloons, which were supposed to be for a team-building activity, were just as often popped by 12-year-old boys who then collapsed as if shot.

"I did not want to come this morning, but it's been really fun," said Marlee Yeager, who was scheduled to start middle school Tuesday.

Instead of showing up the first day of school scared and not knowing most of the other students or staff members, the new seventh-graders spent a morning last month being welcomed by eighth-grade student leaders who gave them a tour of the school and their inside opinions of different teachers, and showed them where to go to the bathroom or get a drink.

The new middle-schoolers also got to shed their studied cool and play some silly games.

Education leaders around the county say schools are increasingly paying attention to the transitions in students' lives, whether it's starting kindergarten or walking into a high school for the first time.

Many elementary schools in the Edmonds School District are adding two-week orientations in August for incoming kindergartners to familiarize them with their new surroundings and to acquaint their teachers with their needs.

Middle schools are designing orientations and icebreakers for new seventh-graders, and high schools are putting more focus on their ninth-graders to ensure they have positive experiences as they begin their critical last years of school.

"There's a basic need to feel a part of things and to be reassured that you belong. It's not that different whether you're a 5-year-old or a ninth-grader," said David Zwaschka, the principal of Lynndale Elementary and a former assistant principal at Meadowdale High School.

Twelve elementary schools in the Edmonds School District this summer added Jump Start programs designed to introduce kindergartners to their schools and classroom routines. In the program, which was pioneered almost a decade ago at College Place Elementary in Lynnwood, kindergartners meet their new teachers, take some simple tests to gauge their readiness for school and, for two weeks, spend mornings in their new classrooms getting comfortable with pencils and scissors, and writing the letters that make up their names.

"Instead of being timid and shy on the first day or crying when they leave their parents, they're smiling and eager," said Sue Venable, an assistant superintendent for the Edmonds School District who created the program at College Place when she was principal there.

School staff members also meet families, learn a little about their hopes and circumstances, and forge a relationship they hope will continue the next seven years. For parents, it's often their first experience with a school since they were students.

"It can be as reassuring for the parents as for the students," said Zwaschka, who introduced the Jump Start program at Lynndale this summer. "Parents want to know that their students are going to be treated in the way they would like them to be."

But starting a new school isn't scary just for 5-year-olds. The students at the Meadowdale Middle School orientation in August had heard rumors about getting shoved into lockers and being picked on by bullies. They knew that unfamiliar kids from several other elementaries would be attending the school with them.

"Their biggest fear is being able to fit into a group, that they'll be alone with no one to talk to," said Trinity Jackson, one of the eighth-grade leaders in the orientation program, which the school calls WEB, for Welcome Everybody or Where Everyone Belongs.

During the year, the WEB leaders return to classrooms, sharing messages about how to use weekly planners to stay on top of schoolwork, how to study and how to avoid unwanted peer pressure.

"The idea is to help new students make a connection to the school before the year starts, to let them know there are students out there they can go to for help," said Doug McCardle, a teacher at the school who helped coordinate the program this year.

Centennial Middle School in the Snohomish School District also has increased its outreach and orientation activities to make middle school less intimidating. Each spring, Principal Scott Peacock and Assistant Principal Gordon Brockman visit sixth-grade classrooms at the elementary schools that feed into Centennial to answer questions and dispel myths.

The school holds an orientation in the spring for prospective students and their parents to visit each of the middle school's departments and meet teachers. Another orientation in August includes a panel of students, parents and teachers, as well as tours of the school and an introduction to lockers.

"The kids have anxieties about basic things: 'Do I eat lunch with eighth-graders? What's an elective? Do I have to take a shower for PE?' " said Peacock. "We try to ease their fears and make the school a welcoming place."

At the high-school level, initiatives to break down large schools into smaller academies or learning environments are another version of efforts to create stronger relationships between students and their school.

Meadowdale High School, along with Lynnwood High, received a federal Department of Education grant in 2004 to create smaller learning communities. Next fall, Meadowdale will launch its 9th Grade Initiative, a plan to strengthen the transition from eighth to ninth grade and better support new high-schoolers.

In the Edmonds School District, about 27 percent of ninth-graders flunk a class in their freshman year. That figure closely mirrors the percentage of students who will ultimately drop out, said Christine Avery, a former assistant principal at Meadowdale High School who started this year as the principal of Meadowdale Middle School.

Though plans are still being developed, the idea is to "create a safety net for kids," said Edmonds Assistant Superintendent Ken Limón. Ninth-grade teachers will connect with eighth-graders in January of the year they will begin high school. Once the ninth-graders arrive at high school, they'll be assigned to a teacher with whom they'll meet regularly.

At the same time, expectations will be increased, Limón said, with students told early how many credits they'll need to graduate, how their attendance can affect their academic progress and how joining a club or school activity can improve their chances for success at school.

Avery said all of the activities to introduce students to each other and to their teachers have one goal: "Anonymity is not an option."

As the festivities at Meadowdale Middle School wound down last month, another eighth-grade leader shared her enthusiasm for the incoming seventh-graders whom she had led through the school and adorned with beads.

"I love my group," said Danielle Hellickson.

To which one of her group members, incoming seventh-grader Austin Middleton, replied: "She's mean. I hate you."

Hellickson's smile widened, and she fixed the boy with a look.

"I love you," she said.

Middleton clutched his heart and fell backward onto the floor, crying "No-o-o!" It was a sure sign of connection in a 12-year-old boy.

Lynn Thompson: 425-745-7807 or lthompson@seattletimes.com