Leader in Me: Putting First Things First

School:: Village Oaks Elementary
Subject:: Other
Teacher:: Lucinda Nunez
: Maria Tello, Eric Elg, Lunia Mervilus
Students Impacted:: 93
Grade:: 4
Date:: July 17, 2023

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

Sue & George Sherwin - $439.55

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 73

The impact that these student planners had on our 4th-grade students, is that it allows the students to work hard on using Habit 3: Putting First Things First (Work hard, then play). The organization skills that the students demonstrated were profoundly exceptional in the majority of the students. These planners, not only held the students accountable for keeping and organizing their assignments for homework but also had visual aids and skills for all academic subjects, such as math, language arts, science, and social studies. Additionally, it included art and music information, along with a sign language alphabet. Another impact it made was a weekly discussion on the weekly pages that provided a vocabulary word for the week and an interesting fact that the students could share and discuss with their peers. Most importantly, I loved how this student planner kept the students focused on their goal setting and study skills. These all go with Habits 1 Be Proactive and Habit 2, Begin with the End in Mind. These three habits alone had the greatest impact on how a scholarly student should maintain a planner. This hugely impacts how well prepared our fourth graders will be for becoming role models as they transition to 5th grade and beyond.

Original Grant Overview

Goal

Our goal is to provide all fourth-grade students at Village Oaks 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 for our 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 the students’ parents regarding their child’s progress in all subject areas.

What will be done with my students

Each student will use their planner by writing all homework assignments in the appropriate subject area and date on a daily basis. Any homework papers will be placed inside a purple vinyl folder in the back of their planner which will be stored in a one-inch binder to help keep them organized. We 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 we regularly check the planners, we 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 will assist in building a community of leaders in my classroom.

Benefits to my students

Village Oaks will begin its second year of 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 our belief that utilizing student planners will have a huge impact on our 4th-grade students mastering these first three habits and providing them with the support they need to become organized, responsible, and analytical leaders.
Another benefit of keeping a daily planner is that it will help prepare our 4th graders for any upcoming grades up through high school, where all classes are departmentalized and daily schedules are more complex. All middle and high 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 the upper grades. Actually, by teaching the art of organization, time management, and a strong work ethic, we feel we will be setting our 4th grade students up for a lifetime of success!

Budget Narrative

Planner Features
STEAM content included
8 ⅜" x 10 ¾" pages
104 full-color pages with student resource pages
3-hole drilled and bound with plastic coil
Dated Aug. 3, 2023 to June 30, 2024
Teacher Wall Chart (for modeling and reminder of homework assignments)
Sold 5 per case for $35.
Two chart designs are printed back-to-back on a two-sided wall chart. Charts are an excellent daily planning tool for all grade levels.
Wall charts 37½ x 24½ inches.
Page Marker Rulers help the students turn quickly to the page of the month and week in their planner.

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	93 Student Planners	$339.45
2	1 case Wall Chart (5 teachers)	$35.00
3	Page Marker Rulers	$18.60
4	Shipping	$46.50
	Total:	$439.55

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