The Daily Planner How to make it work for you and your child.

Overview The Daily Planner will be given to students during the third day of school (August 31). The Daily Planner is intended to provide a way for your child to organize and keep track of his or her assignments, projects, tests, and school activities. The Daily Planner is intended to be used for every class, each day.

Using the Planner Students have several minutes at the beginning of each class to copy that day’s assignment from the board and into their planner. Papers and projects are often broken down into parts. If your child is working on a paper or project in a class, the part he or she should be working on will also be written on the board, along with the date that part is due. The dates of upcoming tests and quizzes are also written on the board. Students should copy this information into their planner as well.

Review Your child has several minutes at the beginning of each class to copy the following information from the board and into his or her planner: The assignment for that day. Parts of a paper or project your child should be working on, and the date that part is due. Dates of upcoming tests and quizzes.

Making the Planner Work Many students resist using the Daily Planner. Getting your child to consistently use the Daily Planner correctly can involve a lot of time and effort. However, if you use the following strategies, you can help your child become accountable for using the Daily Planner correctly and effectively.

The Teacher Strategy Teachers have developed a procedure that helps ensure your child uses the Daily Planner correctly and effectively:  Your child has the first few minutes of each class to copy information from the board and into the Planner.  Your child must then show the entry to his or her teacher sometime during that class period. If the entry is correct, the teacher will initial it.

The Parent Strategy Tell your child that you expect to see an initialed entry for each class, each day. Then do the following:  Communicate the positive consequences (rewards) your child will earn for meeting this expectation.  Communicate the negative consequences your child will earn for not meeting this expectation.  Follow through on the positive and negative consequences in a timely manner.

Set Your Rules At a minimum, your rules should consist of the following: There must be an initialed entry for each class, each day. Entries that are not initialed will not be accepted without question. Statements such as, “My teacher wouldn’t initial it” will not be accepted without question.

Review Many students resist using the Daily Planner. There is a Teacher Strategy and a Parent Strategy for supporting your child’s consistent and effective use of the Planner. These two strategies combined, along with clear rules, can help your child develop the habit of using his or her Planner correctly on a daily basis.

Reflection Middle school presents many challenges for students and their parents but you cannot help your child be successful at everything. Therefore, choose goals that have the most impact across the broadest areas. Helping your child use the Daily Planner consistently and effectively is an important goal because it can have a powerful, positive influence on his or her academic performance.