Middle School Registration

 It is that time of year again…middle school registration for our fifth grade students!  It is such an exciting time for these students.  I love hearing them discuss the electives they want and how they can’t wait to have lockers. It’s also a busy time for school counselors as we get all the paperwork and necessary information to our families.  I thought I’d share two fun ideas that I use to communicate with the fifth grade families at my school.  A couple of years ago I adapated a fabulous idea from another school counselor and created a “Moving to Middle School” brochure.  It is a cute way to let parents know important deadlines, websites, and “transition  tips” that will be helpful to them over the summer and at the beginning of next year.  You can open the example of my middle school brochure here:  Middle School Brochure[1].   Before giving the information to parents, I make a two-sided copy and fold it into a brochure.

Another idea that I came up with this year is an instructional video or “videocast” for parents on how to fill out the middle school registration form.  I referenced the videocast in the middle school brochure so that parents would know about the resource.  I created the videocast in Photo Story, which is a free program that I have used for a TON of different projects (I’ll share more on Photo Story projects in another post).   The videocast is linked to my school’s main website at www.dillardes.net .  Scroll down to the bottom left side of the page and check it out!!  Although it isn’t the most visually stimulating video, it provides necessary information so that parents can fill out their child’s form CORRECTLY, saving everyone time, which makes me happy!    
~Angela