Students in middle school begin to have multiple teachers and need to change classrooms periodically. The student must head to his locker during the roughly five minutes between class periods, quickly pick out the correct book, notebook and folder and head to class. It is therefore important to purchase a five subject notebook, to maintain notes for all the subjects in one large notebook that the student can bring from class to class. The five-subject notebook technique helps avoid the mistake of bringing the wrong notebook to class.
The multiple classes that a student attends daily come along with worksheet handouts and returned assignments that need to be filled in a folder and brought to class daily. Some students choose to have multiple folders for the different subjects, but the problem with this method is that it is hard to keep track of so many folders for different courses. Chances are a folder could be left at home and the student will not have the homework he must turn in. The easiest method to keep all the papers organized and always on hand is to place them in an expanding filer. This filer opens to multiple sections that can be labeled according to subject. The student will then only need to make sure he has his five-subject notebook, expanding filer and classroom book with him at all times.
Every teacher has his assignments and test dates that he expects his students to mark down and remember. It can be very difficult for a student to remember this information since he has many subjects, each with its own tests and assignments to remember. Any student should have a personal calendar at the beginning of the year. Have the student mark down all assignments for the day and future tests on the proper test date. There are also special stickers that can be purchased with things written on them such as "test", "study" or "assignment due." Many students find these helpful in the classes that do not allow much time at the end of the period to mark things down. The stickers help make it easier.
A student will stop at his locker multiple times a day to pick up the things he needs for his next class and to put away the book that he has finished using. It is important to keep the locker organized since there is not much time between classes to prepare for the next class. Set up the locker so that the materials that are constantly needed are easily accessible and keep this order throughout the year so that it becomes second nature. Each book that is placed in the locker should have a unique book cover, allowing the student to know which one to grab for the class he is headed to. It will also be helpful to place the books in the same order as his classes are scheduled each day. The most important thing is to clean out the locker once a week from all the junk that needs throwing out, such as fliers or undesired returned assignments.