Now that we are in the second half of the fifth grade year, I would like to revisit the importance of good organization skills and its relationship to success in school. Organization will be a key factor when your child enters middle school, when there is a higher level of self-responsibility and accountability placed on students. Those of you who have middle schoolers already know how lost, late, or incomplete assignments (and assignments with no names on them) negatively impact grades. Middle school teachers have the daunting task of keeping up with well over 100 students a day (and keeping up with all their papers too). They often don't have the time to track down assignments that are missing or have no names on them. The children will be held more accountable for maintaining good organization to get through each day (maintaining agendas, binders, folders, lockers, assignments, materials, etc.). To help you and your child, I have found some web articles with terrific suggestions for organization strategies. It's never too early to work on getting better organized and staying organized! Check out the following sites:
http://middle-school-life.suite101.com/article.cfm/middle_school_orientation
http://www.education-world.com/a_issues/chat/chat156.shtml
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20425248/
http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Helping_Your_Child/
http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=2004