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Preparing for the first day of school

School supplies and clothes are the material items that may come to mind, but there are emotional considerations to make as well.

BETTENDORF, Iowa — It's back to school time for many students and families. There is a lot of preparation that goes into the first day of school. School supplies and clothes are the material items that may come to mind, but there are emotional considerations to make as well.

"The students are nervous," said Jayme Olson, Associate Principal at Bettendorf Middle School. Olson is greeting students as they get dropped off in front of the school. There is grass seed planted, and new blacktop at the school, the ever-familiar result of summer construction. "We just greet them, get them in the right place," said Olson, as she pointed a student to his destination.

It's 'Moving to Middle' day at BMS. A week-long session in which incoming sixth grade students are invited to spend time at their new school. Six elementary schools feed into BMS. They go from elementary school and having one teacher all year, to middle school and having a different teacher for each class.

"I'm kind of excited. I mean,  I'm not really worried, but I have like...  kinda nervous about making friends and stuff but that's it," said Rosetta Schulte, incoming sixth-grader to BMS.

Between subjects, it's no longer as simple as opening a new book; in middle school, they will walk the halls among 1,100 students to get to their next class.

The middle schoolers at BMS get four minutes between classes; time to stop and pick-up or drop-off a book in their locker. Which brings us their biggest fear.

"Usually their biggest fear is their locker," said Olson.

She says students worry about the combination, and getting into their locker with enough time to make it to their next class. 'Moving to Middle' lasts 3-hours. Some of that time is set aside for students to practice getting into their lockers.

"Well I've been practicing with padlocks throughout the summer," said Noah Raso, an incoming sixth grader to BMS. "I find it easy, but a few people are having trouble," he said.

While students have concerns of their own, so too do parents.

"I wouldn't blame them for being anxious," said Nikki Armstrong, teacher at BMS. "We just tell the parents, to obviously, kind of trust us. We've done this for a long time, and we're trying our best to make this experience as good as we can for these kids," she said.

Armstrong encourages parents to participate in their student's education.

"Be involved in their student's education because that's super important to their students education as well," said Armstrong.

Outside of the classroom, a proper night of sleep is important to a child's education. The National Sleep Foundation suggests parents start getting their kids back on a school-sleep schedule well before the first day.

"What I usually recommend is about 2 weeks before school starts, start inching that bedtime back by about 15 minutes and getting them up 15 minutes earlier, that way the first day of school is not such a stressful disaster," said Dr. Aimee Behnke, Pediatrician at Genesis Health Group.

Dr. Behnke has a daughter who is going into second grade.

"For her, the biggest thing is organization, we try to make sure everything is laid out the night before make sure the back pack is set homework is done, find out what the school lunch is," she said.

And as for dealing with the woes or friends and homework, Dr. Behnke tells parents, just be there.

"Talk to them at the end of the day how their day went, make sure you're talking to your children on a regular basis, not just the beginning of school about stress anxiety depression things that kids can face during school," she said.

The time is now for parents, and students to get emotionally ready for the first day.

"I'm sure it will be fun," said Raso. "I think I'll get lost in the school a few times at first because it is so big. But, we only have to stay in like two halls so it'll be pretty easy," he said.

"Probably by lunch," said Shulte, when asked how to will make friends, "That's like where everybody comes together. When I sit with my friends, they'll probably be different friends sitting by us," she said.

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