Transition Handbook

In the spring of 2010, a group of St. Paul middle school students wrote a "student-to-student" handbook for incoming 7th graders. The handbook addressed topics such as classes, attendance, time management, friends and extra-curricular activities. This year, students expanded on their work by editing and revising the handbook and creating both a seventh and ninth grade version. Students discussed and researched the challenges faced when transitioning from elementary to middle school and from middle school to high school. Working collaboratively, students determined what information would be important for incoming students to know. Students visited sixth and ninth grade classrooms to discuss potential topics, created a distribution method for the handbook and an electronic media form to go along with the handbook.