Whether you’ve got reluctant readers at home or you just need a break from adult novels, Young Adult Fiction is the most rapidly growing genre and includes good books for teens and young adults as well as good books for book clubs.
“Looking for Alaska” by John Green launched his career as a popular young adult author. Green also has podcasts you can listen to here as well as a series of YouTube videos you can watch here.
“Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson reigns as one of her most popular novels. It was adapted into a movie in 2003 starring Kristen Stewart.
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky is his first and only novel. Chbosky wrote the novel in the form of letters. It was adapted into a movie in 2012.
Pencils and papers and binders, oh my! Below are some organization ideas to get you started this school year.
Everything should have its place in the backpack.
Photo credit momoftheyear.net
Whether you use one binder with tabs or an individual pocket folder, it’s important to designate a place for each subject. This prevents losing papers in the shuffle. You can take your folders to the next level by color-coding them! Don’t forget to declutter your student’s backpack every night to keep things organized.
Everything should have its place in the house.
Establish a routine for all things school related. Designating a distraction-free area as the “homework zone” can help your child stay focused when completing schoolwork and it can also help you keep track of all the necessary materials your kiddos need for projects. Most importantly, these organization ideas will also prevent late night runs to the store for glue sticks and markers.
Use a transfer folder you check every night.
This folder’s sole purpose is to transfer incoming and outgoing papers. The pocket on the left is always for important incoming papers—field trip permission slips, t-shirt order forms or noteworthy information from the school. The right pocket is always for outgoing papers—signed syllabus, lunch money or permission slips. You can also apply these organization ideas to subject-specific folders. The left pocket is for homework that needs to be completed. The right pocket is for homework ready to be turned in.
Practice using an assignment notebook early.
As soon as your children are old enough to write, teach them how to use an assignment notebook to keep track of their responsibilities. If your student gets in the habit of keeping a list of tasks early, they are more likely to stick with it as they get older. Checking items off the list is also a satisfying way to keep track of all they accomplished that day. There are some great options out there for kids of all ages. Try this student planner for elementary school kids. Start your younger kids on a daily checklist to get them used to keeping track of their responsibilities from an early age.
Add it to your calendar.
At the beginning of each year, take 20 minutes and peruse the school calendar. This is usually posted on the school website. Add relevant dates to your family calendar. This can be an actual wall calendar or the calendar you keep in your phone. Never used Google Calendars before? Now is a great time to give it a try. You can sync this calendar with all your devices. In addition, you can share it with other people so everyone in the family is in the know. Check out this quick tutorial to get started.
Parent teacher conferences are right around the corner. Here are seven easy steps you can take to better prepare yourself for a productive conversation with your child’s teacher.
Talk to your child in advance of parent teacher conferences about any concerns or issues.
These parent teacher conferences are an opportunity for you to talk with teachers about any areas of concern as well as possible solutions. These may be academic concerns, but this is also the time to bring up conflicts with peers or disciplinary issues. The teacher may be able to provide information that will help you and your child resolve the problem.
Check your student’s most current grades and any missing assignments.
Most schools have moved to electronic grading systems that rely on live data. This means you can view your child’s grade for each assignment as it is updated in real time. These websites also keep track of how many assignments were turned in late or were never turned in at all.
Bring work samples to the parent teacher conference.
If you are concerned about how your student is performing academically, or you want to better understand the teacher’s grading standards, make sure you bring in samples of your child’s work as a reference. It’s much easier to discuss these expectations with concrete examples rather than in the hypothetical.
Bring a list of questions or topics you would like to discuss at the conference.
Parent-teacher conferences are usually about 10-15 minutes. That’s not a lot of time to cover every facet of your child’s education. Be prepared with a list of questions to keep your conversation on track. You can even rank the items on your list in order of importance to guarantee the most productive discussion.
Take notes.
No doubt these conferences can be overwhelming for some parents, especially at the middle school and high school levels where your child has upwards of eight different teachers. Bring a pad of paper and pen to keep track of what you discussed, as well as any future steps you or the teacher proposed during the conference.
Ask about upcoming events.
You can help your student stay on track by knowing what’s coming his way. Are there major units coming up? Ongoing reading requirements? Field trips you should know about? Some teachers use classroom websites like Google classroom, Edmodo or Weebly to help parents and students stay organized. Don’t forget to ask your child’s teacher about these resources to stay informed.
Follow up.
After the conference, add important dates to your calendar and set a reminder to follow up with the teacher on any significant topics discussed. Reference your notes to be as specific as possible. If there’s nothing that needs following up, consider sending a quick thank you; this can establish rapport with the teacher to ensure a positive relationship throughout the remainder of the school year.
With Black Friday sales starting earlier and earlier every year, the spirit of Thanksgiving seems to be getting lost amongst the shopping bags. Below are some unique ideas to put the focus back on giving thanks and making the Thanksgiving dinner even more special for your family.
Bring the gratitude of Thanksgiving dinner to each family meal for the month of November.
Every night when your family eats dinner, go around the table and share one thing you are grateful for. Too busy to sit down for dinner together? Hang a chalkboard or dry erase board in a prominent location in your house. Each day of the month, one family member writes something he or she is thankful for.
Making personalized placemats to use at Thanksgiving dinner is a great way to get the kids involved and add a little something special to the table décor.
Use construction paper to design and color individualized placemats for guests. These can include finger paintings, acrostic poems using the person’s name or a simple drawing of a turkey. You could also include one reason your kids are thankful for that person. Then laminate them. Not only will you have custom-made placemats, but your guests can take them home—grandparents will especially love this!
Ask your kids to help plan the Thanksgiving menu.
You can teach them how to make a family recipe or a delicious new dish you’d like to try out. There are tons of Thanksgiving recipes for beginning to experienced cooks. Check out our list of Thanksgiving side dishes and Thanksgiving desserts for people who can’t cook!
Start a new family tradition of charity.
This is the time of year we should be giving thanks for what we have, but many of us are often busy compiling a list of presents for the upcoming holidays. Share an experience with your family that reminds them how lucky they are to have each other. Clean out your closets and donate clothes to a local thrift shop or shelter. Take your kids to the toy store to pick out a gift for donation to Toys for Tots. Volunteer at a food pantry on the weekends or donate to Feeding America.
Host a Thanksgiving food scavenger hunt party for your kids and their friends.
Divide kids into even teams and ask an adult to chaperone each group. Contact the local food pantry and ask about the most needed, non-perishable items for Thanksgiving dinner. Give the list of items to each team to use as a scavenger hunt worksheet. The team that collects all the items on the list the quickest wins!
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” by JK Rowling sold more than 400 million copies worldwide and is worth an estimated $15 billion.
” by Kazuo Ishiguro.
” by JK Rowling sold more than 400 million copies worldwide and is worth an estimated $15 billion.
” by Kazuo Ishiguro.
for elementary school kids. Start your younger kids on a 
to get them used to keeping track of their responsibilities from an early age.
With Black Friday sales starting earlier and earlier every year, the spirit of Thanksgiving seems to be getting lost amongst the shopping bags. Below are some unique ideas to put the focus back on giving thanks and making the Thanksgiving dinner even more special for your family.
or 
in a prominent location in your house. Each day of the month, one family member writes something he or she is thankful for.
