With kids from elementary school through college, we’ve learned a thing or two about how to help our kids stay organized for school. Check out our school planning wall
For a schedule or calendar, it’s easiest to see everything at once, nice and big!
That’s where our new school planning wall idea comes in.
(Post-it Brand was kind enough to sponsor this post and send us supplies, but we were already obsessed with Post-it Products!)
You can try this for any of your middle-school, high-school or even college-age kids, relatives, friends!
I’ll share some printables with you, but you can just as easily write everything by hand!
Here’s how we did it:
We created a simple grid, with classes on the left, from top to bottom and weeks on the top. For the vertical column on the left, we wrote in names of classes. For the top horizontal row, we wrote in weeks and dates from left to right, like this:
If you have a horizontal space, like we did, you can lay it out that way. If you have a vertical space, like the back of a door, you can simply swap the columns and rows! Just put the classes along the top and the weeks along the side.
(from left to right: Post-it Study Notes in Electric Glow, Post-it Study Notes Lined and Post-it Study Full Adhesive Notes)
For the row and column headings, we used 3×3″ Post-it Study Notes (Electric Glow), but you might also want to try using the 3×3″ Post-it Study Notes Full Adhesive.
We then filled in the grid with blank Post-it Study Notes — the lined ones — in yellow — to help with accurate placement for calendar items. The color’s important: here’s why.
Check out the top left of our School Planning Wall — there’s a legend, or key, to help our student fill out her calendar.
We designed it to match the Post-it Study Message Flags she uses when she’s studying (see my previous “study habits” post):
When she reviews her notes, calendar and to-dos, she can look for Post-it Study Message Flags or Post-it Study Page Markers that correspond to the three colors and add items to her wall calendar:
pink Post-it Study Page Markers show tests, quizzes, finals
blue Post-it Study Page Markers show when studying for something is needed
green Post-it Study Page Markers show due dates for papers as well as other “to-dos” like “start midterm essay”
We used the Post-it Study Message Flags to show the legend, and the Post-it Study Page Markers in corresponding colors to mark calendar dates on the planning wall.
(The Post-it Study Page Markers come in a pack with a rainbow of colors; we used only the corresponding colors for this project.)
Now she has a great way to view all of her upcoming deadlines and tests in one place — and it’s easy for her to see deadlines at a glance. It’s also easy to keep things updated and move deadlines around as things change.
Thanks to Post-it Brand for letting us try their new Post-it Study Collection!
Keep up with Post-it Brand on www.post-it.com, Twitter (@postitproducts), Pinterest (@postitproducts) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/postit).
What’s your favorite way to keep your students organized?
Let me know in the comments. I would love to hear YOUR ideas!
xoxo
This post was sponsored by Post-it® Brand … but the opinions and project are all mine! For more information, see my disclosures.
What a great way to help your daughter! Good job MOM! I would Color coordinate the tabs for each of my kids (4) . That way we could ALL use the wall at one time! Great! Wendy
I love this idea both for my kids’ studying and for my work projects! I am constantly writing and re-writing my work timelines
Thanks for sharing!
Awesome idea!
I linked to your post on my collection of color-coding ideas today! 🙂
http://www.operationorganizationbyheidi.com/2013/10/10-ways-to-simplify-your-life-by-color.html
Cheers!
~H
I can’t find your post on “study habits.” Can you let me know how to find it?
Thanks,
Lisa
Brilliant!
This is such a good idea!! Defiantly trying this!! thanks.
GREAT idea Jen!
Not a bad idea at all! It’s similar to what I do with dry-erase boards to keep my to do lists in some sort of order.
My students are only 5 and 6 years old so we’re still getting the hang of things but I made over and area of the house as a homework station last week and it’s helped immensely, we used a ton of Post-it products too!
I love the idea of a post it wall. I’m going to see if I can modify your idea to create monthly planner.
http://www.petitestyleonline.com
Fabulous! Do you happen to have a printable template to go with this?
Stay tuned :).
Ohh I love love post-it notes and tabs! My favorite to keep me organized. Fabulous post!
Love this idea Jen!!
This will also help my son keep track of where he is on earning his Eagle in Boy Scouts. While he has over 5 years left to do it, it’s a lot of work and he has to be very deliberate in what he works on when on top of his school work.
I’m totally nerding-out reading this! I’m HUGE on post-it notes and as a college student (nursing to be exact) I don’t think I would be able to function without them. I LOVE the study, on test, and to-do ones! Those are absolutely brilliant! I also use the tabs to bookmark where I’m supposed to read in my books for the week… it’s so helpful!
Jen – I think my daughter would love this!! She loves lists and is a very visual person like me! Pinning and trying 🙂
OMG Jen – I’m sooooo going to use this as a way to map out my editorial calendar for my blog. Right now I’m using a basic wall calendar – which works – however, having the flexibility to swap posts and ideas easily is not so easy. And I’ve tried a zillion suggestions for having an editorial calendar – didn’t stick with any of them. (possible pun intended!) Thank you, thank you, thank you! Perfect solution for me!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! My daughter and I have tried so many different ways to stay organized with different calendars, but have never tried this modular approach that allows for ongoing changes!! This approach just might stick! (sorry – couldn’t resist! 🙂
LOVE it Jen! So fun, bright and best of all- organized! Post-it products are awesome. Thanks for sharing a fun idea. xo
Love the idea! the wall looks so colorful. Great way to involve the kids into learning about organizing their activities. Jen, one question though, won’t these come off? like my wall is textured, so I suppose these wont last more than a few days of mine. Can you suggest another surface?
Eva » You might want to try the Post-It Notes in both their Super Sticky and Full Adhesive varieties. I used the full adhesive on these. Alternately, you could hang a mirror or even a poster to put them on!
What I meant to say is that I used the full adhesive Post-it Notes on the classes and date columns and the regular ones on the rows in the middle. The full adhesive Post- it Notes are should stay on your wall as long as you need them 🙂
Oh I see! Will try this soon! thanks jen!
xoxo