Portsmouth Middle School Grade 5 Student Experience

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The 4th to 5th Grade Transition Process

Grade 5 is an important transition year for Portsmouth Middle School.  Typically, students transition to middle school in 6th grade.  With this in mind, we go to great lengths to ensure that 4th-grade families feel connected to our school before their child gets on the bus on the first day of 5th grade.  

We start with a meeting with the Hathaway and Melville Elementary School PTO’s during their January/February meeting.  The school administration provides a presentation introducing the transition process, so families know what to expect for the remainder of the school year.  In March, we offer in-person parent tours during our school day to show parents the building and their children's designated areas throughout the school day.  We then take April and May off from these activities to focus on state assessments.  We will then close the year with the tours for our 4th graders in June.  Both schools will take a bus ride to the middle school on separate days, receive a presentation from the school administration, the same tour their parents received but with our Anchor 4 Life students, and then close the visit with time in a 5th grade classroom with a 5th grade student where they will take part in activities.  

The transition program started in the winter of 2024.  We continually seek feedback on how to improve our processes.  The feedback we received after the first program was overwhelmingly positive.  Our 5th graders, who started on the first day of the 2024-2025 school year, felt like they were already a part of our school before they walked in on day one.    

Growth Mindset

We encourage you to focus on your child’s growth, not just the grades. Learning is a journey, and each child develops at their own pace. Praise their efforts and help them set goals for the next grading period.

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