Document text
More fun, less sun for sixth-graders By AMBER FOSSEN Ashland Daily Tidings Cloudy skies didn't dampen the spirits of students attending Sixth Grade Fun Day. More than 100 students flocked to the Ashland Middle School campus Thursday morning for an array of activities designed to introduce students to their new peers and their new romping grounds. The hour-and-a-half long event featured a number of relay events and games that required area students to meet and rely on each other. Dale Rooklyn, AMS principal, said the school has hosted the event for at least the past five years as a way to ease the transition from elementary to middle school. "It's a really nice introduction for students to be on campus, see the teachers and meet each other because they all went to different schools," Rooklyn said, later adding, "Now they truly become the class of 2010." School officials estimated 245 sixth grade students registered for classes at AMS Wednesday -with approximately 40 new students, like seventh grader Lizzie Ruby, entering the district. Ruby, 12, just moved from California to Ashland with her family and attended Sixth Grade Fun Day as a way to meet classmates before the start of the year. "I am kind of nervous because my old school was kinda small and this is big," Ruby said, scanning the AMS campus. Ruby and the throngs of other students gathered on the AMS field rotated through a number of activities that had them running with balls between their knees, splashing water into cups held by their peers and other relays designed to have students work together. Several of the activities were led by Ashland High School students and even some AMS seventh and eighth graders turned out to help. "I did it last year and I had tons of fun," seventh grader Maggie Witt, 12, said as she led a game of telephone. "My old school never did this so I think this is really cool." The transition from elementary to middle school can be stressful. For eleven-year-old Lydia Zowada, the change from Walker Elementary to AMS is a little nerve-racking. However, she said she is looking forward to having more freedom and meeting new teachers. "With the teachers I'm going to have I think it's going to be fun and they'll be nice," Zowada said. AMS students will attend a half-day Sept. 3 before returning for the first full-day of school Sept. 4. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -