Middle school is a new ball game

A group of eager sixth-graders shot their hands up, waiting their

turn to ask questions about how they could decorate their locker,

what the rules for cellphones are and the consequences of not doing

homework.

Students entering Luther Burbank Middle School participated in a

boot camp program Tuesday and Wednesday intended to help smoothen the

transition from the single classroom environment of elementary school

to a daunting new world of multiple classes, figuring out lockers and

calculating grade-point averages.

“They have a lot of anxiety the first day,” said Dawn Brookey, a

sixth-grade teacher who taught a session on the rules of student

lockers and what students will be graded on in P.E.

“This way they get the lay of the land so the first day isn’t so

crazy,” she said.

School starts across the Burbank Unified School District on Sept.

1.

Students at the boot camp were also taught how to understand their

schedules and what kind of homework they could be expecting in

addition to receiving a tour of the school.

“I was kind of nervous I wouldn’t be able to find my classes,”

said Miles Bonner, 11, who attended the boot camp. “Getting to walk

around the school helped; now I know where my classes are.”

Students even got a welcome from the school’s administration, who

made trips from class to class.

“There’s no problem you face here that’s not important to us,”

Principal Anita Schackmann told a group of students, who were busy

learning about the importance of taking their P.E. clothes home to

wash them.

Some students said the boot camp helped them feel comfortable with

the types of students he would encounter.

“I was sort of scared,” said Joshua Burns, 11, who was worried

about a new, socially tiered world based on grade level. “I thought

everyone would pick on me because I’m a sixth-grader, because

sixth-graders are ‘scrubs.’ Now I know people will want to be my

friend.”

Joshua said the boot camp also helped him with the practical

matters he would face in middle school.

“Now I know how to open my locker,” he said. “I got to find out

about my teachers and find out about my classes.”

Eric Boehme, 11, said that he wasn’t scared of older children but

of how middle school teachers would differ from elementary school

teachers.

“I thought they were going to be mean,” Eric said, “But now I know

they’re really nice.”

Eric said the boot camp helped him learn of different activities

the school offered.

“Now I know my way around the school and what’s going on during

the year,” he said.

Parents of students entering the school could also attend an

information session held in the school’s auditorium during the boot

camp.

hey were given information on attendance, tutoring, schedules,

report cards and contact information for the school’s councilors.

“It’s been great and it’s helped me a lot,” said Marjorie Ayala,

who attended the session.

Ayala’s son, Martin, will be her first child to go through middle

school.

“I wanted to make sure he’s confident and not that scared,” she

said.

School officials encourage the involvement of parents in the boot

camp program.

“Sometimes it’s their first kid coming to middle school,” said

Traci Fellman, the creator of the boot camp program. “This helps us

to reassure them, and let them know about support systems and how the

kids can get help at school.”

Fellman, who teaches at the school, developed the program as part

of the thesis for her master’s degree.

“It’s so nothing will be a surprise for the kids,” said Fellman.

“They won’t get into trouble for doing something they didn’t know was

wrong. They have a lot of anxiety, and this alleviates some of that

for them.”