You may be excited about going to a new school- new teachers, making new friends, getting a locker, and ditching old, mean friends can be a relief to many kids who found out that being in middle school means that a bunch of people are new to you. Some people will know you from elementary school (if they go to the same school as you), but others will be from different elementary schools. If you are nervous, that’s normal! Middle schools are often larger than elementary schools, and teachers expect students to be responsible for all of their tasks- students need to do their homework, turn it in on time, manage chores, juggle with extracurriculars (which may increase in middle school), and do other things. If you are sad, cry it out. It’s ok to be sad if you are leaving your elementary school. Especially if you have been at your elementary school since kindergarten or preschool (which totals to 6-8 years in elementary school), it’s hard to leave your best friends and teachers that you’ve known for so long!
In the meantime, talk with your friends online! You can get some life updates from them and share your thoughts about middle school together. You could also fill up your time going on a vacation like a regular summer vacation. Travel across the state, across the country, or even to a different country. When you’re nearing the beginning of middle school, happily shop for school supplies. If you’ve used your school supplies for many years already, they’re probably worn out or broken. Purchase new ones at a school supply shop, like Staples, Target, Office Depot, etc. If your school offers you school supplies, just purchase some pencils, a couple of erasers, a glue stick, some pens, a pair of scissors, and a pencil case to put those supplies in.
If your friends are leaving, take time to talk to them during the last months, weeks, and days of school. Make sure to ask them for their contact info, like their email address or phone number. This ensures that you can email or call each other during convenient times even if you can’t see each other. If you have more unique interests, you may be seen as immature. If you still enjoy playing with toys, that’s ok! Same goes if you watch cartoons. Not everyone outgrows these things, and many outgrow them due to peer pressure that liking these things is “immature”, “babyish”, or “stupid”. Don’t listen to those mean/negative people and walk away when they start talking about this. Talk to a teacher about these bullies if they physically hurt you or call you names.
You will need to improve on your studying skills, since tests will increase. Don’t put off studying until the last day- you won’t remember anything you crammed into that study session, and you will get bad grades. Start studying a week to 4 days before the test. Understand that you don’t have to give in to requests from others. You don’t (and shouldn’t) listen to people that tell you to bully others, pull mean pranks, steal something, injure others, gossip, vandalize, drink underage, or do any other unethical or illegal things. Doing these could get you expelled or even arrested.
A month to a week before school starts, you might receive your homeroom teacher, the first class/period you have and what classroom it is in, and/or your schedule. Review these things to make sure you don’t get lost on the first day!
If you usually wake up at 7 AM for school, set your alarm or wake up at 6:30 AM. If you wake up at 6:30 AM, wake up at 6 AM. If you wake up at 7:15, wake up at 6:45 AM at the least.
If your schedule says you go to Room 19, find where Room 19 is on the school map or directory. If it says Room 206, search for room 206.
Before you choose an outfit, groom yourself by shaving off armpit and leg hairs and showering if you do it in the morning. You should also comb your hair to make it presentable. You don’t want to wear overly distracting clothing, like neon or sparkly pieces. Don’t wear anything with swear words or inappropriate slurs on it. You should also avoid overly revealing clothing at all costs. Don’t wear a short crop top or a shirt with a very low neckline. Don’t put on a very short skirt or sag your pants either. If you require a uniform, wear that. Wear your uniform (that your caretakers probably purchased from the school or a uniform company), which could consist of a white, red, blue, or gray polo shirt, trousers with a belt, a plaid or gray skirt, and a school uniform sweater, sweatshirt, or jacket if it’s chilly outside.
The teacher may have assigned seats. Some teachers allow students to choose their own seats on the first day of school. Choose a seat in the front if you can, since it helps you concentrate (and not look at the other things in the classroom). If you can’t choose, see who you’re sitting with. Listen to the teacher’s important instructions. The first day’s mostly going to be introductions to the school, the school’s rules, student introductions, and the first assignments. There will likely be forms for your parents to sign, like welcome letters from teachers and technology use agreements. Remember to tell your caretakers this to let them sign the papers.
The teacher may have assigned seats. Some teachers allow students to choose their own seats on the first day of school. Choose a seat in the front if you can, since it helps you concentrate (and not look at the other things in the classroom). If you can’t choose, see who you’re sitting with. Listen to the teacher’s important instructions. The first day’s mostly going to be introductions to the school, the school’s rules, student introductions, and the first assignments. There will likely be forms for your parents to sign, like welcome letters from teachers and technology use agreements. Remember to tell your caretakers this to let them sign the papers.
The teacher may have assigned seats. Some teachers allow students to choose their own seats on the first day of school. Choose a seat in the front if you can, since it helps you concentrate (and not look at the other things in the classroom). If you can’t choose, see who you’re sitting with. Listen to the teacher’s important instructions. The first day’s mostly going to be introductions to the school, the school’s rules, student introductions, and the first assignments. There will likely be forms for your parents to sign, like welcome letters from teachers and technology use agreements. Remember to tell your caretakers this to let them sign the papers.
The teacher may have assigned seats. Some teachers allow students to choose their own seats on the first day of school. Choose a seat in the front if you can, since it helps you concentrate (and not look at the other things in the classroom). If you can’t choose, see who you’re sitting with. Listen to the teacher’s important instructions. The first day’s mostly going to be introductions to the school, the school’s rules, student introductions, and the first assignments. There will likely be forms for your parents to sign, like welcome letters from teachers and technology use agreements. Remember to tell your caretakers this to let them sign the papers.
First, turn the dial three times to the right (or clockwise). This resets the previous numbers that were turned. Turn it up to the number 0. The number 0 should be turned all the way upright on the last turn. Next, know your first number. Turn right to your first number so that it is at the very top of your lock, like the 12 on an analog clock. If your first number’s 10, turn right all the way to the number 10 so that it is at the very top of your lock. Then, turn left (or counterclockwise) to your first number again. If it’s 10, turn your lock to the number 10 again. After this, turn left again, but this time turn it to your second number. If your first number’s 10 and your second number’s 22, turn left from the number 10 and turn it until you reach 22. Lastly, know your last number. Turn right to your last number. If it’s 41, turn right from 22 (your second number) to 41. 41 should be at the top of your lock. You can then open your locker from the side or on top of the lock by pushing or pulling it. If your lock has a shackle (the upside-down U-shaped piece), pull on it, and the lock should open. You can then open your locker by pulling the door open or pushing on a lever on the locker.
Learn how to open your locker. If you didn’t get time to do this while moving from class to class, do it during break or lunch. Talk with your old friends. This makes your experience of making friends less nerve-wracking, and you can talk about how school’s like so far. You may see some familiar faces in your class and many new ones. Hang out with new classmates. There are probably people you don’t know in the school in your 6th grade class, since 2-4 elementary schools’ students come to one middle school. There are less middle schools than elementary schools. Say hi to someone beside their locker, or catch up to someone walking by themselves and introduce yourself. People-gaze. This is when you watch other students around the school. If you want to find someone to talk to or are shy, do this first for a few days. Look at students walking around, kids opening their lockers, the sporty boys from your old school talking about memes, the kids playing basketball on the basketball court, someone sitting alone on a bench, or teachers walking around. You could also walk up to the school fence or wire and watch things outside of your school. See the cars drive by, leaves rustling and falling to the ground, people walking on the street, or the clouds in the sky (only if the sun isn’t too bright). Eat a snack. Many kids bring a snack to recess in elementary school- you can do the same thing in middle school. Hold your snack and eat it while talking to your friends near the lockers, or walk around with your snack. You could also sit down to eat slower.
Ignore people who try to distract you. Your best friends or the class clown may try to distract you by making funny faces, passing notes, tapping your shoulder, or whispering to you. Ignore them, and after class, tell them to stop talking during class, since it distracts you. Avoid talking during class. Sure, it may be really challenging in class to not share a cool story to your friends, laugh at a funny joke, catch up with your friends with PC games, or talk about a meme with your friends. But those can wait until after class. Whenever you’re about to start a conversation during class, think to yourself, “I need to pay attention to get a good participation grade. " or “This meme can wait. I should close down this meme website, since it’s not related to school. " Try to pay attention even though people around you are talking. You should tell the teacher about the noisy classmates if they are disrupting your concentration or disrupt your ability to hear the teacher.
Don’t spend 10 minutes or even 5 minutes chatting with your friends. You might get carried away and waste all of your time in class talking instead of doing classwork. If you have extra time left over, do other assigned homework from school, read a book, or relax. If your teacher assigned a web article, read it. If your teacher gave you a worksheet to do, write it. If you need to take pre-algebra notes, start taking them. If you need to work on a project (alone or in groups), start on the project. If you are in a group, talk with your group members about which roles everyone gets in the project.
Common electives in middle school include a computer science, graphic arts, visual arts, performing arts, cooking, journalism, Spanish, Chinese, and crafts electives. Some schools only allow middle schoolers to choose electives in 7th grade, so you may have to wait until next year to choose.
Some schools have sports that rotate on a schedule- during the fall, they may offer boys’ football and girls’ volleyball. In the winter, they may offer sports like boys’ and girls’ basketball. In the spring, they could offer boys’ soccer and track and field. Understand that not making the team is not the end of the world. You can always practice your skills when you’re not on the team to try out again for next year.
Some clubs your school may have include a book, newspaper, writing, journalism, student council, synopsis, environmental, math, ACSL, robotics, coding, history, art, music, speech and debate, drama, and a choir club. If there isn’t a club suited to your interests, ask a teacher or head of your school (usually the principal or headmaster) if you can make a club. You should join more clubs in 6th or 7th grade than future years. You might not have time to join that many clubs in 8th or 9th grade because of preparation for high school. Join 2, 3, or even 4 clubs if you can to enjoy them.
Bullying is never fun nor is it good, so it’s crucial to immediately tell a trusted adult- whether that’s a teacher, counselor, or even the principal at your school. Anyone can bully you in different ways- they may make fun of your clothes, say that your interests are “silly” or “stupid”, gossip about you, make you late to class, or do physical things to you (punching, shoving, kicking, pushing, pulling, or slamming you). These are all warning signs of bullying, so it’s important to tell someone about this.
If there is time during a class transition, try to make some small talk. Say something like, “How was your first class? For me, I felt pretty nervous. " or “I’m so excited to have our first pre-algebra lesson! I can’t wait for all of the introductions to be over, since math’s my favorite subject. " or “How are you feeling today? I still haven’t memorized my schedule, even though it’s been a week of 6th grade already. " During lunch, sit next to a new group of classmates. Don’t judge them or hold prejudice against them. Assume good faith, and don’t think that “Oh, they already have friends, so they won’t want to talk to me. “, “They are probably mean/they hate me. " or “They don’t seem to have anything in common with me. “. You could also sit next to a person sitting alone and try to talk with them about school, clubs, and personal life.
Do you feel your heart pounding and your face turning beet-red when the curly-haired girl sits next to you in class? Do you keep trying to talk to this boy you really like next to your lockers? (if they are next to each other). Are you daydreaming about this person every day in many classes? Do you try to flirt with them during break or tell funny jokes? Do you feel overjoyed if you’re in the same class as them? If so, you probably have a crush on this person. You could get into a moderately serious relationship with your crush if they like you back, or you could focus on other things and talk about your feelings if they don’t like you back/you are rejected by them.
