Mrs. Pike
Student Services
“HOME FOR EVERYTHING AND EVERYTHING IN ITS PLACE"
Middle School is filled with lots of changes that can sometimes overwhelm our students in the area of organization. One helpful way to stay organized is color coding each subject. Our team has chosen to use red for Math, blue for Social Studies, green for Science, and yellow for English. Each student should have a separate folder and notebook for each class. Regardless of what color each individual student chooses, matching the color of the folder to the notebook is helpful during locker break and dismissal. Students may find it helpful to carry a binder with pocket folders from each class as well. In addition, all students need to have a dry erase marker, Social Studies and Math books covered, and agenda to write down all of their homework. If students are interested, agendas are now available for purchase for $5.00.
NO LOOSE PAPERS!!!! Your children may be coming home saying they hear this phrase throughout the day. It is important that they are putting papers away in the appropriate folders. Some students find it helpful to use a binder system with individual pocket folders for each subject while others prefer to use individual folders. Whatever their system, they need to be committed to using it.
Students should have the following with them each day:
- Pencils (lots of them!!!)
- Highlighter
- Dry Erase Markers
- Books should be covered
- Agenda (Please check this to make sure they are writing in their assignments)
Tips for mastering homework
Sure, kids may universally dread it—but for a parent of a child with ADD/ADHD, homework is a golden opportunity. Academic work done outside the classroom provides you as the parent with a chance to directly support your child. It’s a time you can help your child succeed at school where you both feel most comfortable: your own living room.
With your support, kids with ADD/ADHD can use homework time not only for math problems or writing essays, but also for practicing the organizational and study skills they need to thrive in the classroom.
Helping a child with ADD / ADHD get organized
With organization, it can help to get a fresh start. Even if it’s not the start of the academic year, go shopping with your child and pick out school supplies that include folders, a three-ring binder, and color-coded dividers. Help the child file his or her papers into this new system.
- Establish a homework folder for finished homework.
- Check and help the child organize his or her belongings on a daily basis, including his or her backpack, folders, and even pockets.
- If possible, keep an extra set of textbooks and other materials at home.
- Help the child learn to make and use checklists, crossing items off as they are accomplished.
- Help organize loose papers by color coding folders and showing the child how to hole-punch and file appropriately.
Helping a child with ADD / ADHD get homework done and turned in on time
Understanding concepts and getting organized are two steps in the right direction, but homework also has to get done in a single evening—and turned in on time. Help a child with ADD/ADHD to the finish line with strategies that provide consistent structure.
- Pick a specific time and place for homework that is as free as possible of clutter, pets, and television.
- Allow the child breaks as often as every ten to twenty minutes.
- Teach a better understanding of the passage of time: use an analog clock and timers to monitor homework efficiency.
- Set up a homework procedure at school: establish a place where the student can easily find his or her finished homework and pick an appropriate and consistent time to hand in work to the teacher.