Middle School Survival Handbook

The first day of school in a new middle school can be overwhelming and bewildering-the maze of hallways, the hundreds of identical lockers, the locker combinations and sticky locks, the far-flung classrooms, the many teachers, the lunchroom full of unfamiliar faces. Anxiety over the strangeness and newness of all this can be running high, and making the transition from scared new student to supremely confident and self-assured middle schooler can take some time. This book helps reduce the stress, while easing and shortening the difficult transition. Full of extremely useful tips regarding orientation, locker organization, time management, choosing a lunch table, and adapting to new situations like increased homework, changing for gym in the locker rooms, and getting from class-to-class between periods, this book will turn even the most trepidatious new student into a seasoned middle school pro in no time.

This guide for middle school students will instill confidence for test taking. They'll find proven tips to help prepare for each test and learn how to beat test anxiety before it can beat them. Topics include how to get motivated, take notes, organize time and thoughts, and win at studying. Readers discover where to turn for help and how to tackle different kinds of tests. Common test mistakes and how to avoid them are also explored, as well as what to do after a test is graded and returned.

Middle school is the ultimate transitional time in a young person's life. Amidst all the other changes-physical, emotional, academic, social-one's friendships are also growing, evolving, expanding, and sometimes ending. Students from several different elementary schools are suddenly thrown together and new peer and friendship groups form. During a period of such momentous change and flux, the shifting and expanding of friendships and acquaintanceships can be unsettling and disorienting. This book provides a wise and reassuring guide to the seeming chaos, offering insightful and gentle advice on how to make new friends, maintain old friendships, get along and work well with new classmates, and confront the end of friendships that no longer work with compassion and empathy. Full of useful strategies for spotting and dealing potentially toxic friendships, "bad crowds," and bullies, this book provides all the tools a young person needs to surround him or herself with kind, dynamic, engaged, and mutually supportive and nurturing friends-for-life.