ORGANIZATION and MANAGEMENT

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Remember the 10-second rule: If you can’t find what you are looking for in 10 seconds you lose your focus. 

Organize Your Materials

Backpack

Use for transport, not storage.

Use special pockets designed for specific items.
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Lighten the load:

• Schedule a 5-minute period each week to clean and reorganize.
• Keep minimal notebooks, binders, texts, extra paper, and supplies.

Binder

Fill with CURRENT WORK only

Use a 3-Ring Binder

• Allows for easy addition and/or deletion of papers
• Allows for rearrangement of papers
• Keeps papers securely
• Allows for color-coded, tabbed section dividers
• Provides storage for needed supplies

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Use Colored Dividers

Assign a different color for each subject.  Example: green for science, blue for language arts, etc.
Place clear tabs behind each colored tab divider and label them:

• Class notes
• Handouts
• Homework
• Add any extras as needed: lab (science), writing projects (language arts), maps (geography), etc.

Additional Tabs

​Consider special, labeled sections for:

• Class requirements/rules
• Monthly calendars
• Lists of classmates and phone/email information
• Extra notebook paper

Desk

Place computer to one side to allow room to study

Use a good lamp, positioned below eye level and focused on reading material

Use a pencil/pen holder
Regularly discard used pens and replenish lead/erasers in mechanical pencils

Use a 4-section paper tray for quick, easy access to:

• Notebook paper
• Scratch paper
• Unlined paper
• Special paper (graph, colored, construction, etc.)

Create a reference section (on desk top with bookends, or a shelf easily accessible from chair).
Dictionary, Thesaurus

RECOMMENDED STUDY SUPPLIES

Drawer divider organizers for:

• Rubber bands
•  Ruler
•  Compass
•  Protractor
•  Tape
•  Scissors

Box, if desired, for home filing system Timer (to time 30-min study blocks)
Colored file folders for home filing system file drawer
Extra file folder for new assignment sheets, monthly binder calendars, reports in progress, etc.

 Lamp
 Pen/pencil holder
 Pens, mechanical pencils, extra lead, extra erasers
Water soluble transparency pens (for large calendars)
Colored highlighters
 Colored pencils
 Paper divider trays
 Notebook paper
 Computer paper (or any paper without lines)
 Special paper (graph, colored construction, map, etc.)
 Bookends (if appropriate) for reference books 

Stapler, Staples
Staple remover
Paper clips
Binder clips (for large stacks of papers)
Push pins for bulletin board
Calculator, extra batteries if needed
 Colored 3" x 5" index cards
Post-it® Notes
​White out
Rubber cement