Starting sixth grade will take on new excitement this year when 175 incoming sixth-graders, like Annie Camlic of Sleepy Hollow, join seventh- and eighth-graders under the same roof at Sleepy Hollow Middle School.

“It’s a new school. You can explore more passageways and things you haven’t seen yet,” Camlic said. “I’m excited because I’m going to be with my sister,” she said, referring to Sarah Camlic, a junior at Sleepy Hollow High School.

After two years of construction and much anticipation, Sleepy Hollow Middle School now encompasses grades 6 through 8, which education experts say are more developmentally related than grades 4, 5, and 6, formerly located at the Washington Irving School.

“Young adolescents are developmentally unique and require curriculum, instruction and assessment to be tailored to these needs,” middle school Principal Elizabeth Lopez said.

In particular, 6th grade is a time of transition on many levels, and the middle school is prepared to help transitioning students with two full-time guidance counselors, a full-time psychologist and a part-time social worker, Lopez said. In addition to experiencing the A/B academic team structure, 6th graders will also benefit from services that support college and career awareness, she said.

At the middle school, sixth graders will encounter a mix of new opportunities and favorite pastimes: the chance to qualify for honors math and science, a Spanish heritage program for former dual language students, as well as favorite programs from WI, like the Math Olympiad and the Geography Bee, Lopez said.

District superintendent Howard Smith said he anticipates a smooth transition, especially since each of the three grades will have its own floor. “Each grade will have its own domain,” Smith said.

Parents need not worry about the integration of middle and high school students, as the only potential shared space is the east hall corridor, which middle school students would use only when inclement weather prevents them from traveling outside to get to the gym, or if they (7th and 8th graders) have a foreign language class there, he said.

“There is no reason for high school kids to be in the middle school, period,”Smith said.

In preparation for its larger student body, (7th grade has 187 students; 8th has 195), the middle school has hired an assistant principal, Levi Litman, formerly a math teacher and curriculum coordinator from Byram Hills High School.

“This is the first time the middle school has had a principal and an assistant principal,” Smith said, noting the reassignment from WI, which no longer needs an assistant principal.

Lunchtime will also be more manageable, Smith said, “because there are only three grades, everybody pretty much will be eating lunch at prime time. It will be much more civilized.”

As the middle school shifts and adjusts, so too will WI. With 30 percent fewer students, (168 4th graders; 186 5th graders) classes can spread out into rooms made larger since walls between some small, temporary rooms have come down.

“All specialty areas will have their own space,” Smith said. “It’s a real luxury we haven’t had in the district for a long time.”

Without the pull of 6th graders’ increasing concern with peer pressure, WI Principal Bill Greene expects the school to become an easier place for focusing on character development.

“There is a big developmental difference between fourth and sixth graders,” Greene said, noting 5th-graders are “more interested in trying to save the world. We want to capitalize on that in programming.”

As a fourth- and fifth-grade school, WI also will be able to enjoy certain traditional activities, like field day, with a less competitive edge.

“We’re hoping to go more toward elementary field day where everybody competes against everybody else and is there to have a good time,” Greene said.

He said he is eager for the chance to tap into students’ leadership abilities, while watching 5th- graders enjoy being the school’s top dogs, landing lead roles in school plays, and having a greater voice in student government.

“It is a much smaller and more intimate building,”Greene said.