THE POWER OF ORGANIZATION FOR JUNIOR HIGH STUDENTS While navigating the educational bridge between elementary school and high school, junior high students must take a big leap in the classroom. In math class, this means tackling increasingly complex subjects such as algebraic and trigonometric functions. Any experienced math teacher will agree that organization is essential to success. When your child’s coursework intensifies, keeping studies organized is more important than ever. “Organization is the key to success in grammar school, in college and in adult work,” says Richard E. Bavaria, Ph.D., vice president of education for Sylvan Learning Center. “So start early and give children the skills that they need.” Bavaria says the best way to teach organization skills is to be a role model to your children. “Show them you have a work area you rely on to be organized. It might be in the kitchen or a desk where you write the monthly checks,” Bavaria says. “When children see that their parents organize their lives, they will recognize that organization is necessary not just in school but for their parents as well.” Help your student stay on top of schoolwork with a user-friendly planning tool that corresponds to the school year, delineates class schedules and provides helpful reference information. For a student new to organizers, consider a standard notebook-sized planner that can clip into a three-ring binder. The Homework Organizer Assignment Notebook and Guide features a Monday to Friday schedule and provides plenty of space to record assignments, as well as extracurricular activities. For more information visit the Homework Organizer’s Web site at www.homework-organizer.com. If a weekly planner doesn’t give your student enough space to record his assignments, he might want to use a daily planner. Look for special “to remember” sections that provide space for listing items to take home and bring back to school, along with messages from or for parents and teachers and special activities. Jericho, N.Y.-based Quality Planners sells a wide variety of student planners that can fulfill the organizational needs of most students. Visit its Web site at www.qualityplanners.com for more information. Once you find the right planner for your child, help him devise a system for recording important information, such as essay deadlines, test days and long-term projects. With larger assignments, using a planner can help your student break down the workload into daily amounts—making it seem more manageable. Show your child that reviewing the planner both before and after classes will prepare him for any upcoming exams or important school events. If your child is expected to manage a large amount of information, you may consider purchasing a computer software program. Used both on desktop computers and in hand-held devices, these personal data managers provide an accessible storage center at your child’s fingertips. Your child will enter useful information—such as important phone numbers, key dates and reminders—into a keyboard or stylus and retrieve it the same way. The information is then displayed on a computer monitor or small liquid crystal display (LCD). Features and capabilities vary a great deal depending on the product you choose. Some hand-held units must connect to a computer to exchange information while others allow you to enter and retrieve information by speaking into the device. Software can be purchased online or at computer stores. Office supply stores and electronic stores sell many low-cost electronic organizers, as well as higher end electronic, portable handheld organizers called Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) that vary in price and features. But before you go out and buy all of these bells and whistles, make sure you’ve reinforced basic organization skills. Time management skills are crucial to staying on top of a heavy workload, and a planner—either paper-based or electronic—provides an optimum place to understand the elements of organization. Encourage your child to plot out each activity and how much time is required to complete it. Help him evaluate his class work on a weekly and monthly basis to gauge what kind of preparation he’ll need to stay on top of his work. “Have your child create a long-term calendar so long-range projects don’t get done the night before but are spread out evenly over a long period of time,” Bavaria says. Along with time management, learning how to prioritize a varied workload is crucial to successful adult learning. If your child is experiencing difficulty in completing several different projects, ask teachers or guidance counselors how he can manage his work more effectively. Talk with your child about which projects and coursework are more important and why, and create a system to prioritize each item. “The most successful students are those who have learned to organize their busy lives,” Bavaria says. “This is a skill that will follow them through to adulthood.” By Natalie Bauer Junior High Worksheet Word Problems: Mean and Average 1.) Sheila is playing in a tennis doubles tournament. The rules say that the average age of the pair of players on each side must be 10 years or younger. Sheila is 8 years old. How old can her partner be in order to play? Answer: Her partner must be 12 years old or younger. 2.) John has played in four baseball games this season. He struck out an average of twice per game. In the last three games, he never struck out. How many times did he strike out in the first game of the season? Answer: John struck out eight times in the first game of the season. 3.) Jerry took five spelling tests. He scored 100 percent on all but one. His lowest score was 80 percent. What was his mean score for the spelling tests? Answer: His mean score was 96 percent. 4.) Tina bought seven pens. Four of the pens cost a dollar each. Three of the pens cost 30 cents each. What was the average cost of each pen? Answer: The pens cost an average of 70 cents. 5.) The Adams family wanted to buy a car for $5800. The car dealer offered the Adams family two options for buying the car. They could pay the full amount in cash, or they could pay $1000 down and $230 a month for 24 months on the installment plan. How much more would they pay for the car on the installment plan? Answer: $720 more for the installment plan. 6.) Lisa Lilly was the best runner in the eighth grade. One day she ran 100m in 40 seconds, 200m in 1 minute and 10 seconds, and 200m over low hurdles in one and a half minutes. How many more seconds did it take her to run the 200m over low hurdles than it did to run the 200m dash? Answer: 20 seconds longer. 7.) What is the sum of all the digits in the sequence 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, ... 99, 100? NOTE: (Sum of the digits, not the numbers!) Answer: 10 (45) + 10 (45) + 1 = 901 1 + 10 * (the sum of the digits 1 to 9) + 10 * (the sum of the digits 1 to 9) = 901 (Note: The ones digit goes from 1 to 9 ten times. The tens digit contains 10 of each number from 1 to 9) 8.) Silver's Cleaners raised the price of dry cleaning a sport coat from $4 to $5. The same percentage increase was applied to dry cleaning a jacket. The old cost of dry cleaning a jacket was $10. What is the new cost of dry cleaning a jacket? Answer: $12.50 is the new cost of cleaning a jacket. 9.) Four strips of paneling 40 cm long and 4 cm wide are arranged to form a square. What is the area of the inner square in cm2? Answer: 362 = 1296 cm2. 10.) Chip said to Dale, "If you give me one acorn, then we will have an equal number of acorns." Dale replied with delight, "If you give me one acorn, then I will have double the number you have!" What was the total number of acorns they had in their tree? How many did Chip have and how many did Dale have? Answer: C = 5 and D = 7.