Going from elementary school to middle school can be overwhelming for some students. Anxiety can be common, after all, there are significant changes, for one, middle school at PCSC is housed at a much larger building, and when students arrive for the fifth grade, they are the youngest students in the lowest grade – quite the opposite in the elementary setting. The transition can be tough for some students to handle. This is one of the reasons why Riverside Intermediate School RIS hosts an open house type field trip for fourth-grade students during the school day who attend the corporation’s elementary schools. Principal Kyle Coffman said, “Change can be scary for everybody, and this is one of the real, first, big changes that our students in the district face. Our goal at Riverside is to make sure that there is no anxiety with that and that our students eagerly await and anticipate this transition.”
This year’s field trip took place during the morning on both Tuesday and Wednesday of last week. Fourth-grade students from Webster, Menominee, and Washington were bused over to get an inside look as to what their fifth-grade year may look like at Riverside Intermediate School.
Fourth graders were divided into groups and were led throughout the school by current student council members. Terri Dennie, a fifth-grade teacher at Innovation Academy @ RIS, the Project Based Learning PBL school housed inside of Riverside, helped organize the field trip. She said, “We have been doing these student-led tours since Riverside was first opened. We try to pair up fourth-grade students with RIS students who attended the elementary school that our guests currently attend if possible.”
Students were able to visit fifth and sixth-grade classrooms in both the traditional setting and in the PBL setting. They made stops in the Riverside gym, cafeteria, library, and the front office. Fourth-grade students even had the opportunity to meet and speak with Principal Kyle Coffman and assistant principal Ryan Welch.
The ultimate goal of the field trip is to establish a sense of familiarity, so fourth-grade students feel more comfortable come fall when the new school year begins.
Photos were captured by PHS senior Yessica Renteria while on assignment in her Career Marketing class.
