How to Keep Organized Until the End of School
It’s the last quarter of the school year and summer is around the corner. It’s also the hardest time to keep motivated for students. Regardless of whether your student had a successful school year or not, you want to help them end strong. Here are 4 tips to keep in mind as you keep organized until the end of school.
Keep organized with routines
As it stays lighter longer, it’s harder to keep your evening routines in place. It’s also hard to get up as daylight comes later. Keep routines like homework time and evening wind down at the same hour as all year long. A good night’s rest makes it easier to get up in the dark. Starting homework and packing up the back pack at the same time makes sure that all homework is completed and returned to school.
Keep prioritizing organization
At this point if you look in your student’s backpack, there’s papers everywhere and no order in binders. Get everything back in order with your student once a week to keep organization a priority. Remove the papers that are not needed in school and place these in an accordion file that stays at home to use for semester exams. Replace pens, pencils and other tools so the back pack is fully stocked for work.
Keep organized with visual reminders
Your student’s planner may not be used completely as they slip into the “why does it matter now” phase of school. Use post it notes and dry erase boards to help reminder them why writing in their planner matters. Use your family calendar and family meeting to share your own stories of why you write stuff down. Most student’s hate being told what to do, so keep reminders visual.
Keep the end in mind as you move through the final phases of the school year. It’s about keeping on keeping on! A big finish makes the year as successful as can be.
More tips for student organizing here!
Great tips, Ellen. I love that you mentioned, “Use post-it notes and dry erase boards to help reminder them why writing in their planner matters.” Great idea! I have to remind my kids to write everything down. My son is pretty good. My daughter is still finding her system but lucky for her she has a good memory. =) Thanks for sharing.
Great post Ellen! As a former teacher and a parent, this time of year can be so hard for everyone to stay on track. Having priorities and routines can really keep everyone on track and make the last few weeks of school a time to thrive rather than just survive!
It gets so hard to stay motivated as the daytime hours lengthen and the weather warms. We go to school until the middle of June up here, so it is very challenging. I also find many classes have a “long term” project toward the end of the year. I suggest students schedule this in as an after school activity to make themselves work on it each day.
@Seana – good points! Having a designated time to work on projects makes it much easier to break them into manageable chunks. Sunday afternoon is also a good time to get a big chunk of time to work on these.
It’s hard to stay motivated as the semester continues. Find small rewards that help keep your student going. It’s sometimes the little things that make for motivation.
Yes, you know that as both the teacher and students want to find a way to keep moving forward!
@Sabrina – even when students acknowledge that writing homework down is important, it’s hard to keep on top of it. Glad you are helping your kids create a great habit.
Great tips, Ellen! I really like what you said about organizing the backpack – pulling the papers out, having a place to put the papers to study from & getting everything ready for the next day. It’s so much easier to stay on top of everything when you start the day organized!
The backpack can be a disorganized mess! It makes a difference for students to be able to turn in their work. Thanks for reminding us!
Great advice Ellen! Since I’ll be working from home this summer I still need to have a summer routine for Sam when he’s home with me. Right now we have three weeks of school left!
That summer routine can be a bonus for work at home moms!