where's my reading folder?

Keep stuff together.

At school you have a storage area for your stuff, right? Is yours a locker? Cubby box? Desk? Shelf?

Whatever it is, the space starts off nice and clean when your teacher assigns it to you. Think about how you can organize it. Some experienced middle school students keep morning materials on one side and afternoon stuff on the other. Try to keep the reading folder next to the reading book. Put the math binder with the math book. If you have one big binder for lots of subjects make sure you put in pockets for loose papers. Some teachers do notebook checks and count that as part of the grade. Have you ever seen a binder with wrinkled and torn and dirty pages sticking out everywhere? That's the kind of binders we don't like in middle school.
Part of growing up includes taking care of your own materials. Teachers will help you to stay organized but it's your job to put the papers in the right place and keep track of everything. Every day. For each class. All year. It's a skill.

This skill needs to be used at home, too. Keep stuff together. Be sure your folders and books don't get mixed up with the mail. Keep your books separate from your brother's stuff.

Doing school work on the couch, yes, that's fine. Leaving your folders under the couch is not fine. Doing school work at the kitchen table, yes, that's fine too. Leaving your folders on the table is not fine. Finish one assignment then put the materials away. Get out the book and papers for the next assignment. Finish the work then put the materials away. Keep everything together. Oh, did I say that before? Yeah. That's because you have to do it.

Put everything back in your school bag before bed. If there's a paper to be signed or something you want to go over before school then leave them on top of the bag. Take care of the things you kept out in the morning but be sure to put everything in the bag before you head out the door.

I hope you won't be yelling, "WHERE'S MY READING FOLDER?"

Have a great school day.