5th Grade Gets Organized

School:: Village Oaks Elementary
Subject:: Other
Teacher:: Andrea Strom
Students Impacted:: 25
Grade:: 5
Date:: September 15, 2020

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

Perna-Rose Foundation of Hope - $101.25

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 17

Keeping an agenda this year has made a huge difference in the organizational skills for my students. In addition to keeping track of their nightly assignments, students kept track of upcoming events in our school, holidays, and the school/district calendar. Students also used their agendas as a reference tool, specifically using the multiplication chart and both customary and metric measurements for conversions. The math references additionally included geometric shapes, angles, money and time units. Students regularly referred to their agendas for key terms and definitions in Language Arts, Science and Social Studies. The World Map and the map of North America came in handy as a reference for continents, countries around the globe, states and capitals. Each week, we focused on the informational box in the bottom corner of the page to learn a new Healthy Living Habit, solve a Brain Teaser, learn about a new Career or explore a Timeline. Lastly, our agendas were used as a communication tool between teacher and parents, using the Parent/Teacher Comment boxes provided on each page.

To sum it up, our agendas were used daily across the curriculum and played an essential role in teaching students the importance of goal-setting and organization. Not only will this experience prepare my fifth graders for middle school next year, but these are skills will benefit them for the rest of their lives.

grant photo

Original Grant Overview

Goal

My goal is to provide my students with a Student Planner, which will serve as an organizational tool to teach them the importance of time management, goal setting and responsibility. It would be an expectation of my students to have their parents sign their planners nightly after all assignments are completed. This requirement would serve as a secondary goal of using Student Planners, which would be to facilitate regular communication with my students parents regarding their child's progress in all subject areas.

What will be done with my students

Each student will use their planners by writing all homework assignments in the appropriate subject area and date on a daily basis. Any homework papers will be placed in the vinyl packet in the back of their planner, to help keep them organized. I will be carefully monitoring each student to facilitate their learning to keep a daily planner, as well as teaching them how to set daily and weekly goals. As I regularly check planners, I will provide my students with incentives when goals are met and all assignments and parent signatures are completed. The Student Resource pages, which are built into the planners, will be at my students fingertips, saving valuable class time searching for resources in different subject areas. In the Character Education supplement, there is a review for mini-lessons on positive character traits, such as self-discipline, courage, fairness, caring, sportsmanship and cooperation. These lessons tie into our Social Emotional Learning and will assist in building a community of leaders in my classroom.

Benefits to my students

This year, Village Oaks has initiated the Leader-in-Me Program and we are teaching Steven Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective Kids. Habit 1 is to Be Proactive, which means to focus on being responsible for one's own choices. Habit 2 is To Begin With the End in Mind, which means to have a plan. Habit 3 states Put First Things First. This habit teaches our students the value of prioritizing their tasks, or in other words, Work first, then play. It is my belief that utilizing student planners will have a huge impact on my students mastering these first three habits and providing them with the support they need to become an organized, responsible leader.
Another benefit of keeping a daily planner is that it will help prepare my fifth graders for middle school, where classes are departmentalized and daily schedules are more complex. All middle school students are expected to maintain planners, so it would certainly benefit my students to have a working knowledge of this organizational skill. Staying organized, learning time management and goal-setting are all important tools to master, especially as they prepare to transition to middle school. Actually, by teaching the art of organization, I feel I will be setting my students up for a lifetime of success!

Budget Narrative

Schoolmate.com
Planner Features
NEW STEAM content
8 " x 10 ¾" pages
104 full-color pages with student resource pages
3-hole drilled and bound with plastic coil
Dated July 27, 2020 to June 27, 2021
Cover P-813 Do Your Best!
Student Planner $3.60/each
One vinyl pouch is bound in the back of each planner.
Large size holds papers or other items.
Includes Student Resource pages: multiplication chart, grammar rules, states/capitals, writing process, measurements, geometric shapes, scientific method, and more!

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	25 Student Planners	$90.00
2	Shipping	$11.25
	Total:	$101.25

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