Moon prepares for fifth-grade transition
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Upcoming changes for middle school students in Moon Area range from moving to refurbished digs in the former high school to the addition of another grade to the mix next fall.
Moon's $45.8 million project converting the old high school into a middle school is scheduled for completion prior to the start of the 2012-13 school year. The project, which includes moving fifth-grade students out of the elementary schools, has raised a lot of questions for students and parents alike.
More than 200 students and parents Tuesday night listened to middle school principal Melissa Heasley answer questions, present information about the layout of the future middle school and discuss what student schedules will look like.
Mrs. Heasley, who joined Moon Area in 2008, tried to allay fears of having fifth-graders in a middle school setting by reassuring parents she has "been through this and done this before." She was principal at David E. Williams Middle School in Kennedy during Montour's move of fifth-graders from elementary to middle school.
She said the redesigned two-story building will have an academic wing consisting of the "lower house" on the first floor for grades 5 and 6 and an "upper house" for grades 7 and 8.
To aid in the transition from fourth grade and a small elementary school to being a fifth-grader among students from throughout the district, the students will be divided into teams of about 50 students each.
The fifth grade will be divided into six teams with two teachers per team. The student teams will attend two separate blocks made up of mathematics and science, as well as, language arts and social studies. This will create an average class size of 25 students. Blocks will last 132 minutes each.
Following a middle school philosophy, fifth-grade students will attend encore classes on an alternating schedule. Encore classes are made up of music including band, orchestra and chorus; world language classes, including French, Spanish and German; and an integrated physical education and health course.
Art, family consumer science, computer/keyboarding and technical education will be offered on a rotational basis. Students will receive two of the four classes each year during fifth- and sixth-grade.
A typical fifth-grade schedule will start with an academic block, followed by an encore class and lunch. The afternoon block will be broken up by another encore class. This is done so students can start and end the day with a "core academic teacher," Mrs. Heasley said.
Sixth grade also will adopt block programming with three blocks of 87 minutes each. Students will be divided into four teams with three teachers per team. Sixth grade also will attend two encore classes daily.
Seventh- and eighth-graders will be divided into three academic teams of approximately 100 students each with five teachers per team.
First Published October 20, 2011 5:37 am
