Dumpster or Backpack? You Decide.

Do you feel like this when you need something in your pack?

Mizz C. knows you're busy. So she’ll make it quick and easy: 

• Get a wastebasket and a recycling bin if you have one.

• Dump out everything from your backpack onto a desk or table.

• Put school books in one section of your backpack.

• Put your notebooks in another section. It's like keeping your peas separate from your mashed potatoes.

• Hunt down all loose pieces of paper. Pile 'em up. 

• Put like with like--math homework with math tests, science homework with science tests, and so on. Find a place in your room—a shelf, a cubby, a box. Put those old tests and homework papers away.* Use them as test tools later on. Hold the bonfire until the end of the school year when all your tests are over!

• Toss or recycle outdated papers, worn-out pens, markers,  pencils, peanut shells, and wrappers of things you ate or chewed in September.

• Add fresh writing tools and paper but not too much.

• Done! Now go find a skateboard.

*Someday when you fall in love with folders the way Mizz C. did many blog postings ago, you can stuff your old corrected quizzes and homework in those.

 

All Together Now: Study Groups

Exams ahead--call in the study buddies! No not these two:

 

                                       

          More like this:

Mizz C. has a few tips for studying with friends so that the work gets done and there’s still time for fun:

• Keep your study group small, 2-4 people tops--the nerdier the better.

• Meet a few days before the big test for one hour max.

• Pick a place where you can talk quietly without distractions—no cell phones until the hour is over.

• Ask all study buddies to do a couple things: bring their class notes and predict two or three test questions.

• Set a timer for one hour. (You remember Mizz C’s kitchen timer, don’t you--the chicken timer she loves almost as much as her granddaughter?) 

• Spend a half hour sharing class notes. Fill in information any of you forgot.

• Ask the questions everyone thinks the teacher is going to ask. Take turns answering the questions out loud. No interruptions, put-downs, or pile-ons. Be helpful.

• Take notes on the answers you hear.

• When the timer sounds, have fun.

Yes, you Khan!

Hey there, Middle Schoolers. Were you home sick when your teacher talked about quadrilaterals, and now the class is onto polygons?

Or were you in class on quadrilateral day but didn't understand what the heck your teacher was talking about?





What if there were a school with a calm, patient teacher who explained quadrilaterals in eight minutes flat? 

Oh wait, there is! It's called Khan Academy! All you need to go there is a few minutes of your time and a computer. No school bus. No attendance. No homework. This free online school offers hundreds of You Tube videos on almost every topic at every grade level.

Here's how it works:

• Go to the Khan Academy home page. No need to register. 

• Type the topic you want to work on.  

• Click the video for that topic. Watch it as many times as it takes to get it down. 

• Optional: Go to the Practice menu. Type in your subject again. Do a quick workout until you've nailed it. 

   
Best part? No report card except the one in your head.