A whole new, complex world awaits after fifth grade More teachers, bigger campuses and classmates who are virtual strangers make the middle school years some of the toughest. Eighth-grader Veronica Hannah, right, laughs with Jatalia Smith during peer mediation training at Pinellas Park Middle School. The middle school years can come as a shock for students and parents alike. For students, the familiar elementary teacher and classroom are gone. The larger middle school's geography is confusing.
School work seems harder and more complex.
Most other students are strangers. Puberty has arrived with its roller-coaster emotions and swiftly shifting attitudes. For parents, children can become strangers overnight and acquire even stranger habits of behavior and dress. At school, instead of a single teacher, there now is a team of teachers to meet with as parents strive to make sure their child's needs are met. I encourage parents to ask questions, to make an appointment in the fifth-grade summer to walk around their zoned middle school and talk with teachers and staff.