Learn everything you need to know about back to school- Junior High

1. READY,
SET,
M I D D L E
SCHOOL!
GRADES 6-8
Junior High Edition
Get Educated about Middle
School Supply Essentials

2. •
Elementary School VS
Middle School
Unlike elementary school, where students are
asked to creatively integrate material, middle
school demands that students learn, memorize,
and repeat back information
• The ability for your child to do work well is
within him/her- he/she is responsible for
making use of his/her study habits. It is in
middle school that your child will realize that it
is his/her responsibility to perform well in
school
• Homework assignments are much more
common in middle school than they are in
elementary school
– Transporting homework materials and
textbooks back and forth is a challenge
alone!

3. Middle School is T
O into Junior High means
UGH!
• Transitioning
buckling down! It is not the easiest
transition for all children, but it’s your
child’s first major transition into adulthood
• Subjects like math, science, history, and
language arts become more challenging–
Make sure your children stay organized,
keeping stress at bay!

4. Academic Planner
It is of UTMOST importance that your child
maintain his/her academic planner– academic
planners teach students time management skills
that will help him/her out when he/she enters
high school.

5. Three to Five Star Notebook
• Each “subject” should be reserved for a
specific class your child is taking.
• Encourage diligent note taking
– Students who take good notes do a better job
at listening during class
– Good notes give students a better starting
point for studying
– Read over the note you took everyday before
class

6. Colored Pens and Highlighters
Color-coding, hi-lighting, and underlining
are important habits for your child to
acquire when reading important schoolrelated material
-Benefits of color-coding:
-Improves study morale
-Studies show that students who study
color coded material using color ball pens or
highlighters score higher than students who
study conventional black and white formats
-Color coded material means fewer eye
fixations, which means that studying becomes a

7. Pocket Folders
• To transport all of your middle
schooler’s homework, creative writing
brilliance, and everything in between!
• It’s useful to color code your child’s
pocket folders according to a specific
subject

8. A Calculator
• We can’t tell you which EXACT type of
calculator to purchase for your middle
schooler, but he/she probably won’t
need a graphing calculator until High
School
– Safe bet: Your middle schooler will do
well with a basic intelligent calculator,
like this one.

9. Graph Paper and
Loose Leaf Paper
• Middle schoolers eventually learn how
to plot a graph in their math classes.
They will be asked to draw graphs on
their own graph paper and hand it as
homework. Graph paper is a
necessity!
• Loose-leaf paper is essential to
handing in assignments too! If your

10. Flash Drive
• Flash drives are a crucial item for your child
to own. Flash drives enable students to
work on the same project both at home and
at junior high.
• While online software systems, like
Dropbox, provide services that are similar to
that of a flash drive, flash drives provide
extra assurance to your middle schooler,
since it guarantees that all of his/her
assignments will be in on time.

11. A Sturdy
Backpack
In the United
States, 92% of
kids carry
backpacks that
hold 10-22% of
• Pick a backpacktheir body
that has
weight
– Chest and/or hip straps and a padded back,
to decrease stress on the back and enhance
comfort
– Has reflective material on the back, so that it

12. Never Forget #2
Pencils & Big Pink
Erasers!
Standardized testing
usually requires the use of
a #2 pencil. Do NOT have
your middle schooler be
without one!

13. Hand Sanitizer
• Nearly 22 million days of school are missed
annually due to the common cold
• A case control study of 6,080 schools reported
that those who enforced classroom-dispensed
instant hand sanitizer at specific times
throughout the day experienced 20% fewer

14. A Reusable Water
Bottlethe planet!
• Keep our pre-teens loving
Especially during hot months, a reusable
water bottle makes all the difference.
Keep these facts in mind:
– In response to public concern,
manufacturers have developed BPA-free
reusable water bottles.
– When you use a reusable water bottle,
you help reduce the production of
bottled beverages and therefore, the
landfill and recycling burden of the
bottles.

15. Shoplet is the leading purely online office
supply retailer. Founded in 1994, Shoplet is
one of the original e-marketplaces.

16. SOURCES
• http://www.itsasnap.org/snap/statistics.asp
• http://eyetrackingupdate.com/2009/11/10/pupil-trackingreveals-why-color-coding-study-materials-is-a-good-idea/
• http://home-school-online.blogspot.com/2013/06/tipsnote-taking-exercises-for-middle.html
• http://www.edudemic.com/2011/10/heavy-backpacks/
• http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-aboutarts-education
• http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/thinking-aboutkids/201201/keep-your-middle-schooler-organized