My youngest son is in 6th grade and finished up elementary school last year. They were definately the big kids last year. Our school did quite a few kids for them.

At the author visit in the fall, all fifth graders got a hardback book autographed by the author. Each one got a free yearbook and they were handed out at a pizza party held at the school. Mom's that had their last child going through were invited to attend. This was just an extended lunch period. Parents brought in snacks and drinks. Strangely, we had 3 families in our group of 58 fifth graders that opened pizza resturants so we got 10 pies from each one. All gave us a good discount. We did ask a few dollars from the families for that.

We also offered a t-shirt that I had screenprinted from a local company. On the front it said So-and_So High School class of 2012 with a drawing of the highschool logo and on the back it had the name of the elementary school, small picture of that mascot and then all the kids names printed out. We only have one high school that all the elementary and middle school goes to so that worked out well. Also, school colors are the same - royal blue and white so I had the T-shirts royal blue with white lettering. They cost about $5 or less a piece and looked really nice. I got one for my son in an adult size so he can wear it again in HS.

A mixer with the other elementary schools would have been good, but many do know each other from sports.

My daughter was in 6th grade last school year, making her one of the “seniors”. Our 6th grade teachers spearheaded the events that were held in our school for our departing students. The parents paid “senior dues” and the 6th grader held fundraisers.

There was a cookout during school hours with a luau theme. The menu was hotdogs and hamburgers, chips, side dishes (which the parents made), and sodas. The tables were decorated with trinkets and colorful plastic stemwares. The 6th graders didn’t have to wear uniforms that day.

One evening, there was a dinner dance in the cafeteria and the students got all dressed up. The tables were decorated, I think the school cafeteria staff cooked the dinner, the teachers and parents served the students.

The PTA gave each 6th grader a yearbook as a gift. This was the first time for the PTA and we actually were the ones who did the project from taking pictures, scanning, creating the yearbook on the computer, picking up the printed pages from Kinkos, and binding them at home using a comb binding machine. The books were given out at the 6th grade promotional ceremony.

My daughter also has a t-shirt from one of the clubs she was a member of as a tutor. Everyone connected with the tutoring program autographed each other’s shirt using permanent markers. She likes that shirt. It's part of her room decor.

How about tie-dying? You could get white t-shirts imprinted with the school name, something simple, and set up tables on the playground with the tie-dye supplies. You would have to coordinate getting the shirts washed and redistributed to the kids at a later date, but then everybody would have a really cool, individualized school t-shirt.

A picnic sounds nice; the picture frame craft might not go over so well with the boys (I have one who is in 6th grade, and that would not have worked for him, I can't speak for all of them). Maybe making t-shirts with their friends pictures on them, or something...mine and his friends are always up for another fun t-shirt.

Our PTA supports two elementary schools (k-3 and 4-5). We have another elementary school in our district with their own PTA. As a gesture of goodwill and as an introduction of these kids who will now be going into 6th grade together, our PTA is having a picnic for them in May. Nothing too fancy, just hot dogs, chips and a beverage. But I am also looking for some activity,so if anyone has any ideas, they are much appreciated.

I'm thinking that pictures will be nice, established and new friends shots, maybe we could offer a pic frame craft? Would 10 year old boys like that?
There are about 135 kids, so I don't know how any kind of introduction games would work. They will be touring the middle school and signing up for classes that day also, so we won't have too much time with them.

Thanks again for any ideas.

If you have any ideas that you are willing to share for a 6th graders social and how to preserve their last year of grade school please help us THREE moms who give a rip!! TIA
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