Organization Will Be Key for Middle School Students and Teachers in Transition

Portsmouth Middle School fifth-grade teacher Lori Stone says organization is a "huge thing" she emphasizes to her students. For fifth-graders, it will be their first time with lockers and rotating classes.

For the middle school itself, organization will be key as the school welcomes both fourth- and fifth-graders for the 2010-11 school year.

In April, the School Committee voted 4 to 3 to close Elmhurst Elementary School due to budget concerns, causing a re-organization of the remaining schools.
 
As a fifth-grade teacher, Stone will be in the thick of the transition occurring at Portsmouth Middle School.

Four years ago, she and other fifth grade teachers moved from the middle school to Hathaway Elementary School. Now, Stone is unpacking again.

"What I do is teach kids,"  Stone said. "What walls surround me, surround me." Stone says she thinks the majority of people feel that way.

Stone is in her 10th year of teaching in the Portsmouth School Department. Always a fifth-grade teacher, her subject areas are English language arts and social studies. This year, she will teach social studies.

A Portsmouth native, teaching is Stone's second career. Her first career path was fashion after receiving a degree in the field from the University of Rhode Island.

She worked in buying and selling and as a retail manager for the GAP. However, as a mother of three, Stone says she loved being in and working with the schools.  Discovering this passion, she pursued teaching at Roger Williams University. 

"I haven't looked back," Stone said.

With a wide smile and resounding laugh, Stone talks of her teaching with ease and confidence.

As the floors in her classroom were being waxed, Stone sat amongst the bookcases of the middle school's library as she discussed the benefits and concerns surrounding the transition.  She says she is not opposed to the merge, having previously taught fifth grade at the middle school. The school was built originally in 1971 to house fifth through eighth-graders.

"This building is wonderful," said Stone. "It has been kept in tremendous shape - the computers, the library, the gymnasium - just for them to be able to experience that and have that is a great benefit for them."
 
The organization of the school is key; each grade has their own entrance and hallway. Each hallway is painted a different color, signifying the grade level.

Due to this organization, students outside of their own grade level will have little interaction, Stone says. In the fourth and fifth grade, teachers line up and escort the students to co-curriculars, such as gym.

"I think the transition has gone pretty smoothly, people behind the scenes have done a tremendous amount of work with placing the students," Stone said.

A major concern for parents, Stone says, is having fourth- and eighth-graders on the same buses.  Understanding but optimistic, Stone pointed out that the older students could be good role models.

"In my opinion they are going to do fine because they have caring teachers, they have caring parents," Stone said. "The walls are the walls."