As a part of our Tips on How to Stay Organize series, organizing your school supplies early will give you the best chances of managing all of your work throughout the year. It is suggested that for the first day of school, you bring the materials that you want to put in your locker. It is great to have a binder, folder, notebook and loose leaf paper for each major subject.
- For your pencil case, include blue and black pens for writing, red pens for correcting, whiteners (liquid is better), highlighters in several colors, paper pins, number two pencils, lead/mechanical pencils (with 0.9 lead, because everybody will have 0.7, and if they ask you for lead you won’t have to spare any because you don’t have their lead type), extra lead, erasers, and colored pencils. Each of these items has a specific purpose
Have a place to put papers for each class. Don’t just stuff them in your textbook or backpack. You need to keep track of things so you can verify grades with teachers and ace those upcoming quizzes and tests.
Get a separate notebook for each individual class. It might seem like a good idea to have one huge five subject note-book for all your classes because there is less to forget, but honestly, do you really want to bring three classes worth of notes and homework home if you only need the things from one? If you don’t want to get separate notebooks, at least get two or three subject ones.
- Color code your school materials for each class. It is very important to keep everything for the subject together.
- Write your name, teacher, and subject on each notebook. Use duct tape and a permanent marker for this. To make it appear cooler, you can add pictures, doodles, and stickers (as long as it doesn’t get too messy).
Get your locker and backpack/tote in good shape. It is impossible to be organized if your locker is jammed with loose handouts, old folders, and broken pencils or when your backpack is filled with gum wrappers and scraps of paper. Clear everything out! Throw out all the stuff that is obviously garbage, and then sort through the rest.