School Counselor's Corner
6th Grade Organization Edition NFMS Fall 2018
Ponder on this....
Don't be discouraged....
Remember our students learn by repetition and reinforcement. They will need help with these skills at home too. As you read through this newsletter you will see where you can step in and be helpful at home, to help train the brain and assist in creating a more organized child ready to take on the middle school environment. It does take a village.
Yellow and Green Teams ask for the same Organization Tools in their Welcome Letters this year.
ONE sturdy folder for each class, perhaps with three ringed punch holes to be held in binder for easy carrying during the day.
ONE Composition notebook (journal)
ONE three ringed pencil case with pencils, pens and erasers
World Language, Health, Art and Music may want to have a folder as well.
THIS MEANS ONLY ONE BINDER IN THE BACKPACK EVER. ONLY ONE BINDER FOR THE TEAM. OFTEN TIMES THE BINDER DOES NOT NEED TO GO HOME AS MOSTLY EVERYTHING IS DONE ON THE LAPTOP. STUDENTS NEED TO BRING LAPTOP, INDEPENDENT READING BOOK AND MATH COMPOSITION BOOK HOME WITH THE OCCASIONAL MATH WORKSHEET. If your child uses a homework folder, your child will also bring a folder back and forth from home to school. YOUR CHILD'S BACKPACK SHOULD NOT BE OVERFILLED AND BURDENSOME.
2018-2019 NFMS School Agenda is $6.00 and can be purchased in our front office.
Share this information below with your student, please.
Backpack Tips
- Every day before you start homework, take everything out of your backpack. Sort, trash, recycle and put things where they belong.
- Pack your backpack up the night before, so you are not scrambling in the morning.
- Only bring to school what you need.
- Only bring home from school what you need.
- Every day remove any food in your backpack.
- Never put your laptop in your backpack with other heavier items, your laptop should be in a separate computer bag. All school laptops need to be in separate bags. The screens easily crack. NFMS computer bags (perfect for Chromebooks and the like size) can be purchased in our front office.
Your backpack should never be too heavy, ever! If it is then something is wrong and you need to see your homeroom teacher or Mrs. Jacques.
Binder and Folder Tips
- Separate your binder into subject areas with dividers, or use your folders.
- Write the name of the subject on the folder that is meant for that class and only use that folder for those papers.
- Any papers you need to keep for studying should be hole punched and placed in the subject's section of the binder. This way they won't fall out of folders. Folders are for temporary papers.
- Consider one folder for a homework folder and write IN on one side and OUT on the other side. This should go back and forth each night.
- Any papers that need to be signed should go in the homework folder's IN side and then placed in homework folder's OUT side once signed and ready to go back to school.
- Any work returned to you by the teacher should go back into the correct subject folder.
- Every couple of weeks, go through your binder. Recycle anything you don't need or want anymore. But keep older handout, quizzes, and tests safely home, in case you need them to study for a test later in the trimester. If you are not sure what to do with a paper ask your teacher for advice.
9 Great Reasons to use a Student Planner
1. A planner is portable. You can carry yours to and from school in your backpack.
2. A planner never forgets. Unlike the human head, it has no holes in it, so things can't fall out.
3. A planner prevents scheduling problems. Did a friend invite you skating two Saturdays from now? Check your planner before saying yes. Uh-oh, that's the day of the track meet and the day before that big history test!
4. A planner keeps all of your important information in one place. No more paper scraps, sticky notes, or inky, smeared reminders written on your hand.
5. A planner reminds you of what you need to do and when.
You will no longer need parents, teachers, or other adults in your life (just kidding).
6. A planner helps you keep track of important projects. Write down everything you need to do, and you're less like to forget a task or a due date.
7. A planner helps you reach your goals. Break down a big goal into smaller steps. Write each step in your planner, and finish one step at a time. Before you know it, you're there.
8. A planner can be whatever you want it to be. Yours might be a simple list of homework assignments, school projects and activities. Or it might include your address book, list of books you want to read and movies you want to see, your daily journal, notes about ideas you have, and/or your hopes and dreams. It's up to you.
9. A planner frees up valuable space in your brain. When you write down many things you need to remember, you don't actually need to remember them. You just need to remember one thing: to look in your planner.
A note for Parents:
- Middle school is not the time to give students more independence, in the way many parents think they need to provide. Students need to have an adult nearby when they are doing homework, or one available to check through homework before "lights out" or coming into school the next day. Guidance, supervision and assistance is going to be needed during the 6th grade year.
- Make sure your child has a proper study space at home, that is quiet, well lit and set up with the necessary tools, such as; pens, pencils, tape, stapler, glue stick, ruler, highlighter, post its, markers, scissors, etc.
- Discuss with your child what works best. Does your child need a snack and a timed break before starting in on homework? Do after school activities start before homework can start? Is there homework club available? Decide when homework will be done and try to be as consistent as possible as to when this will get done, and stick to that schedule.
- Make sure your child reads and studies every day. Even when there is NO HOMEWORK, there is independent reading and time to go over notes (studying).
- Please look at your child's team's homework webpage. It is located on the school's website. Your child should have it bookmarked on their browser, if not they can show you the webpage in their teams Google classroom. Do not let them tell you they do not know how to access it, they do.
- Help your child manage their time with electronics. No videos, apps, or texting during homework time. Some students do Facetime with a friend while doing homework, if you are supervising and can see that homework is actually being done, that is fine. Just keep close supervision. This is their way to have a study buddy, and it can be effective, just keep your eye on it.
- Check on your child's planner whether it is old school or electronic. Help them chunk long term assignments, and plan how much time to spend on each chunk as they get to the end product of their project. Stay in contact with their teachers if you feel your child is falling behind. Email is a great form of communication!
- These electronic assignments may not get handed in, believe it or not. Your child has to actually hit the button "TURN IT IN" and many students do not. Please remind your child to "TURN IT IN." I can not tell you how many times that this is the issue in our one to one computing world! Even with the work right on the laptop our students will miss the step of clicking on "TURN IT IN."
- Lastly, do your best to model organized behavior. Make getting to school on time important, and getting to appointments a priority. If we walk the talk, they will see that being organized matters.
Electronic Organizing is Important Too!
Books to check out:
Where's my Stuff? The Ultimate Teen Organizing Guide by Samantha Moss with Lesley Schwartz
Homework Without Tears: A Parent's Guide for Motivating Children to Do Homework and to Succeed in School by Lee Canter and Lee Hausner, Ph.D.
Dates to put on your calendar for September and October:
September 28th: NFMS Club Festival 5:30pm-7pm Come and learn about all of our clubs!
October 1st: Homework Club starts and meets Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday until 4pm
October 1st: ALion's Pride Club starts and Meets on Mondays until 4pm
REMEMBER ONE TIME FEE OF $35 TO JOIN CLUBS, YOU CAN JOIN AS MANY AS YOU LIKE BUT YOU PAY JUST ONE $35 FEE, payable to NFMS
Contact the front office for permission slips or look on the website.
October 4th: Early Dismissal for Data Day
October 5th and 8th: No School for Fall Break (Professional Development and Columbus Day)
October 9th: 6th Grade Yellow Team Mountain Workshop
October 10th: 6th Grade Green Team Mountain Workshop
Mrs. Amy Jacques, 6th Grade School Counselor
Email: jacques.amy@newfairfieldschools.org
Website: https://sites.google.com/a/newfairfieldschools.org/mrs-jacques-7th-grade-school-counseling-corner/
Location: New Fairfield Middle School, Gillotti Road, New Fairfield, CT, USA
Phone: 203 312 5902
Twitter: @ARCJ1989