Organizational Skills DESTINATION COLLEGE Organizational Skills The One-Binder System

Why Should We Use the One-Binder System?

Why Use a One-Binder System? The binder will help train students for an organized life as a middle schooler – no lockers, no homeroom, and no desks to leave daily materials. Students will learn organization and responsibility by maintaining the binder. Students will have their needed materials. Students can locate their homework assignments that need to be turned in.

Why Use a One-Binder System? Students entering any AVID middle school will be using this system. Students’ parents can check their work regularly. Communication between student, parent, and teacher is more convenient. An informal survey of 6th grade teachers in Orange County found that, in teachers’ opinions, the number one skill students are lacking when entering middle school is organization.

What will my child learn?

What will my child learn? Instruction will focus on two areas: Organization Responsibility

Materials Needed

Materials Needed 2” White 3 ring binder with clear cover 3 Ring pencil pouch—no pencil boxes 1-package of 5 subject plastic dividers with pockets 2 packs of wide rule notebook paper Windy Ridge School planner

The order of the binder

Binder Order Pocket of the front cover parent information Pencil Pouch Goal sheet inside protective cover Planner Dividers Reading Language Arts Social Studies Math Science

Frequently Asked Questions and Concerns

Do the students have to take the binder home every night? Yes. At middle school, students will not have access to lockers and/or homerooms where they can leave their materials at the end of the day. By having the students take their binders home now, you are preparing them for the expectations of responsibility at the middle school level.

Do the students have to take the binder home every night? Yes. The point of keeping a binder is to have everything you need in one place to do everything that needs to be done. By taking the binder home nightly, the expectation is that the students are studying and reviewing what was learned that day at school, as well as preparing themselves for tomorrow by reviewing their student planner.

What happens when the student forgets or loses their binder? This is the point of the one-binder system – to put the responsibility back onto the student. If a student forgets their binder at home or loses the binder, they now have no materials to be a successful student for that day- and this should lead to a very poignant discussion with them.

How can I help?

Parents can help by… Asking to see your child’s binder so that you can check their work and see what they are learning. Do not organize or clean out the binder for your child- this should be their responsibility.

Final thoughts… "A place for everything, and everything in its place." - Isabella Mary Beeton