In the middle school grades (6-8) students are just that "in the middle" not our youngest or oldest students in the K-12 educational system. Middle school students are, for the first time, become independent learners academically, socially and emotionally. One aspect of the middle school experience is the expectation that students, while at school, learn to organize and monitor their materials and personal possessions. One concern that we have been challenged with has been the heavy weight of the student backpacks that are carried around with students through out the day.

Even though each middle school student is assigned a locker at the start of each school year to help lighten the load during the school day, it seems that the culture of the middle school students is the desire to keep their backpacks with them at all times. One might think that the backpack to a middle school students is a developmental "security blanket" and therefore the weight of the bag can have an negative impact on students.

Middle school teachers met collaboratively in grade level teams and as a middle school team to discuss changes for the 2009-2010 school year, that clearly put into place backpack guidelines so that students are not carrying around volumes of paper work that is not for daily use. Please read the following guidelines regarding the contents of backpacks. We hope you find this information helpful and that you will support us as partners in making sure that your child learns to become an independent learner and citizen of El Rodeo School.

Students are encouraged to place all valuables in their locked locker (money, phone, ipod)at the start of each day and remove them at dismissal. It is the responsibility ofall students to ensure that their lock is engaged and locked prior to leaving their locker. Combinations should not be shared with anyone other than the homeroom teacher. When opening a lock, students should pay attention to their surroundings and protect their combination from view.

6th Grade:

·  Students will use a "2" binder (formally "3")

·  Every 5 weeks, each subject area teachers will lead the students ina "binder clean out"to identify which papers should be thrown out, put in a home file orcontinue tokeep in their binder.

7th Grade:

·  Students are required to keep all class work and homework with them on a daily basis for the current unit of study in each class or as otherwise directed.

·  Students are expected to establish a "home file" for each class and store papers in the file.

·  After the completion of a unit of study, students will be directed to remove papers from their binder and place in home file. Keep for entire school year.

·  Teachers may request that material in home files be brought back to school for review within 24 hours of notification.

·  It is the responsibility of the student to keep their binder organized.

·  Students may select the appropriate size and number of binders that best faciliates the above.

8th Grade:

·  Textbooks are to be kept at home if there is a class set.

·  Students are required to keep all assignments in their binder or spiral notebook from the current unit of study.

·  After the unit test, materials associated with the unit should be transfered to a home file and kept for the remainder of the year to use to study for mid-term and final exams.

·  Students are encouraged to clean out their binders on a weekly basis to downsize and organize their materials.