Moving from elementary school to middle school can be a scary time. Whether it’s worrying about being a 20-year-old sixth-grader still trying to figure out how to open the lock on their locker, concerns about moving from class to class on their own, or how to deal with walking down the eighth-grade hall, middle school provides a lot of new experiences. Getting Smart has a great conversation starter for you and your incoming middle schooler to discuss their concerns about this transition with seven things your soon-to-be middle schooler should know.

The article focuses on seven things a teacher would like to talk to her children about doing in middle school. They are:

1. Get uncomfortable
2. Make a friend
3. Find something you are great at
4. Respect the things you struggle with
5. Make a mistake
6. Choose kindness
7. Apologize

In addition to these growth-oriented topics, the article also covers some of the logistical questions to discuss with your child about how to find their way from class to class, how the rules may be different from elementary school, when and where to eat lunch, and other practicalities. Check out the full articleto help you prepare to support your child in this big transition.

Fifty years ago tomorrow, humans first walked on the moon. For some of us, it may have been one of our first memories of an historical event, with our parents waking us up a few hours after our bedtime or letting us stay up late to see those first steps. The Apollo missions also inspired a generation of youth to go into science and engineering. If you’ve got a child interested in the moon landings, NASA has a website dedicated to celebrating the 50^thanniversary and looking forward to the future.

On the website, you’ll find things such as:

• Audio, video, and photos from the Apollo missions
• History on the Mercury and Gemini programs that lead up to Apollo
• Details of each Apollo mission
• Events commemorating the Apollo 11 mission around the country, including an online broadcast on Friday, July 19^that noon on the NASA Live page
• Posters and other printable graphics, including a paper moon to cut out and assemble
• Education resources from the Lunar and Planetary Institute’s Apollo 50^thAnniversary page

The website is chocked full of resources that lets you and your child relive the historic moon landings and provides a great way to get your child interested in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Your PTA can follow up this fall by hosting a STEM + Families event. Two grant opportunities are open now through September 8, 2019 to provide funding and resources for local PTAs and PTA Councils to host a STEM + Families event.

The teenage years are often fraught with tests of a parent’s patience. As they struggle with their growing independence, they often say things that make a parent’s hackles rise. All Pro Dad details how to handle six things that teenagers often say that help you avoid an angry confrontation, turning it into an opportunity for conversation and growth.

These six phrases are something almost every parent hears out of their teenager at one time or another. They are:

1. “It’s not fair.”
2. “Everyone else is allowed to…”
3. “This sucks.”
4. “You can’t make me.”
5. “Whatever.”
6. “I hate you.”

Read the article to learn how to handle these difficult phrases when your teenager fires one of them off at you. Doing so will help you keep your teen communicating with you and lay the groundwork for the sometimes difficult conversations you have to have with them.

With school out for the summer, your kids are probably looking forward to free time, swimming, and spending a lot of time with games, apps, and more online. Getting them to put aside all those fun activities and spend some time reading this summer can be a challenge, but reading is the most effective tool in fighting the “summer slide.” In fact, research shows that students who read over the summer are better prepared for the next grade level than students who don’t. To help you get your reluctant readers cracking a book this summer, Common Sense Media has created a list of six summer reading challenges and resources to support them.

The six challenges are different from the usual “read as many books as you can” that many summer reading programs use. They are:

1. Read the book(s) before you see the movie.
2. Find a book your reluctant reader will love.
3. Have a tech-free vacation.
4. How fast can you finish the series?
5. Get ahead for the next school year.
6. How many essential books have you read?

Each of the challenges comes with lists and guides to help you find the right books for your child’s age, interest, and reading level. Check out the details at Common Sense Media.