On our last morning together, we talked about the importance of taking responsibility for organizing ourselves. We talked about how no one can keep us organized except ourselves and that it is okay to rely on people for help, but we have to be willing to work too. We then talked about how keeping a mental checklist (or write a checklist) can help keep us organized. If we run through a list of things we need before leaving for school or leaving for home at the end of a school day, we are less likely to forget something.
This afternoon we will continue problem solving with mysteries, attend the bake sale, and attend the Friday performance in the theater!
Friday, July 10, 2015
Thursday
On Thursday we talked about Note-Taking. We discussed that teachers tell students two important things: Things "To Do" and Things "To Know" and what we should do with that information.
In the afternoon we talked about organizing information and taking note of important details when reading. We read three mysteries, organized the clues, and tried to solve the mystery!
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Wednesday
Today we talked about two important subjects: Planners and Rubrics.
In the morning, we discussed how important planners can be in middle school. We discussed that a planner should have three things: schedule, school plans, and personal plans. We also talked about how there are two things we need to do to make our planner effective; write our homework down in it, and then check it at home to ensure we've remembered everything. We talked about what we can write in planners and how to save time when recording long term assignments or upcoming tests by using a "study line" where we write "test" or "project" and the due date on the day it is assigned followed by a line that crosses through all the days until the day it is due. That way, when we look at our planner and see a line, we know that we have something previously assigned to do for homework without having to write it four, five, six times. We also talked about different abbreviations we can use in the planner to save space. Finally we talked about prioritizing. By including our personal plans in our planner, we can better plan for things like longer assignments or upcoming tests by seeing that one night we are very busy with extracurricular activities while another night we have additional time. We talked about managing our time and remembering that we should tackle to most important items first before moving on. I encouraged them to number their assignments 1, 2, and 3 with what they are going to work on first, second, and third when they begin homework. They practiced writing down assignments in a planner and created "Homework" assignments for other students to practice writing down.
This afternoon we discussed rubrics. We talked about how important it is to use the rubrics to double check our work according to what the teacher is grading us on. We looked at a student's health project that they received a poor score on and compared it to the rubric to discover what they did wrong and could have done differently to improve the grade. The kids had a great discussion regarding self-checking and using the rubric as a sort of checklist when looking over our work.
Tomorrow we will discuss note-taking strategies!
In the morning, we discussed how important planners can be in middle school. We discussed that a planner should have three things: schedule, school plans, and personal plans. We also talked about how there are two things we need to do to make our planner effective; write our homework down in it, and then check it at home to ensure we've remembered everything. We talked about what we can write in planners and how to save time when recording long term assignments or upcoming tests by using a "study line" where we write "test" or "project" and the due date on the day it is assigned followed by a line that crosses through all the days until the day it is due. That way, when we look at our planner and see a line, we know that we have something previously assigned to do for homework without having to write it four, five, six times. We also talked about different abbreviations we can use in the planner to save space. Finally we talked about prioritizing. By including our personal plans in our planner, we can better plan for things like longer assignments or upcoming tests by seeing that one night we are very busy with extracurricular activities while another night we have additional time. We talked about managing our time and remembering that we should tackle to most important items first before moving on. I encouraged them to number their assignments 1, 2, and 3 with what they are going to work on first, second, and third when they begin homework. They practiced writing down assignments in a planner and created "Homework" assignments for other students to practice writing down.
This afternoon we discussed rubrics. We talked about how important it is to use the rubrics to double check our work according to what the teacher is grading us on. We looked at a student's health project that they received a poor score on and compared it to the rubric to discover what they did wrong and could have done differently to improve the grade. The kids had a great discussion regarding self-checking and using the rubric as a sort of checklist when looking over our work.
Tomorrow we will discuss note-taking strategies!
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Tuesday
Today we discussed the importance of keeping an organized binder. We talked about things that a middle school student might find in their binder and what we can use to keep our binder organized. We talked about cleaning out binders periodically and recycling old papers (or keeping them in a spot at home) so we aren't carrying around a huge binder of things we aren't using on a daily basis.
Students were given a very unorganized Language Arts binder and had to work together to sort through the mess. They organized the binders together and talked about what the student could have done differently to avoid such a huge task of organizing today.
This afternoon we talked about how categorizing things into different categories helps with our organization, because things can be grouped or organized differently.
Students worked together to categorize different words into categories and explain why they put those words together.
Students were given a very unorganized Language Arts binder and had to work together to sort through the mess. They organized the binders together and talked about what the student could have done differently to avoid such a huge task of organizing today.
This afternoon we talked about how categorizing things into different categories helps with our organization, because things can be grouped or organized differently.
Students worked together to categorize different words into categories and explain why they put those words together.
Monday, July 6, 2015
Monday, July 6
Today we spent the morning getting to know each other. After sharing a little about ourselves and what our interests are, we looked at Ms. Readmore's class. Together we tried to figure out the names of Ms. Readmore's students and what organizational problems they may have. We then took a questionnaire entitled: "How organized are you?" The questionnaire and results will be sent home on Wednesday. We discussed how organizing doesn't just mean that you are neat and tidy, but that you know where things are, you're responsible for your own things, and you can easily find things you need.
This afternoon we talked about priorities and what it means to fill our day with important items first. We worked through a visual representation in which a vase (representing our time) was filled with rubber duckies. Then we added marbles, and we finally added water to make the vase entirely full. We discussed how we would not have been able to fill the vase with as many rubber duckies (important things we need to do) if we had started with the marbles (things we want to make time for) or water (things we don't necessarily want to make time for but would enjoy doing if we had time). The students made their own list of what rubber duckies, marbles, and water they have in their own lives.
We organized the supply closet and discussed how organizing things ourselves helps us remember where things are. We also tested our brain power with brain teasers in which we had to determine where all of the unorganized student's laundry fell on the stairs from a word problem.
Tomorrow we will dig into organizing binders and planners as we continue to get to know one another!
Friday, July 3, 2015
Welcome!
Welcome!
In Organization 101, we will begin preparing for the challenges students face in school and provide students with strategies to meet them! We will learn what kind of organizer we are and strategies to stay more organized in middle school! We will discuss test prep, time management, and ways to stay organized!
On this blog, I'll post daily updates of what we've accomplished each day as well as pictures and resources!
In Organization 101, we will begin preparing for the challenges students face in school and provide students with strategies to meet them! We will learn what kind of organizer we are and strategies to stay more organized in middle school! We will discuss test prep, time management, and ways to stay organized!
On this blog, I'll post daily updates of what we've accomplished each day as well as pictures and resources!
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