Hey 4th-8th graders! Today’s post is for you! 

Once upper elementary school hits, life gets so busy that juggling your schedule becomes much harder.  According to researchers, more and more of you are choosing not to make time for reading.

For your teachers and parents, this can be frustrating.  Maybe it’s frustrating for you, too.
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​My observation as a teacher, librarian, and parent is that sometimes selecting a book off the shelf is actually the hardest part of reading. (I will add here that student self-selection of books is fantastic and if your teacher allows it,  say thank you. You have higher odds of increased achievement.)  

Luckily, I’ve got a few books to recommend that I’m willing to bet you’ll enjoy.  My recommendations have nothing to do with Lexile scores (an often misused tool) and everything to do with fabulous stories that lots of kids have loved.  These are tried and true favorites. If you need a book for class—or just for fun—I dare you to try one of these. Give it to chapter 3 and then let me know what you think.
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1. Anything by Raina Telgemeier.
​They are all super popular:  Smile, Sisters, Drama, Guts, and Ghosts.

Graphic novels of any kind are a good bet. If your teacher balks at allowing graphic novels in class, invite them to read my article about the benefits of graphic novels.

 2.  Anything by Rick Riordan.
​ The Lightning Thief is the first book of his first middle grade series, but if you are in middle school, you might prefer starting with Book 1 of The Heroes of Olympus series. The characters are older, and the storyline is more complex.

If you’ve already devoured all of his books, consider another upper middle grade fantasy.

3. The Last Kids on Earth, by Max Brallier. 
Humorous tales are always a win, and Last Kids on Earth has the bonus of some inside artwork.  Plus ZOMBIES.

​See also: Wimpy Kid,  Big Nate,  and  I, Funny.

4.  Love That Dog and Hate that Cat, by Sharon Creech.  
Short, easy-to-read, and totally gripping, Sharon Creech tells this story in a one-sided conversation made of poems. Even my students who claimed to hate poetry loved this book and its sequel.

Other novels-in-verse books to consider as well include The Crossover by Kwame Alexander (especially for basketball fans) and Mountain Dog by Margarita Engle. 

5. Scary books are constant favorites. 

​You don’t have to stop reading scary stories once you outgrow Goosebumps. Try a novel by Mary Downing Hahn—she’s the queen of ghost stories for young teens.

If you’re ready to kick it up another notch, try Coraline, Doll Bones, or The Night Gardener.
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If you don’t love a book within the first three chapters, it's okay to abandon it and try a different book. If you find yourself abandoning books all the time, though, consider asking your librarian or teacher for some advice on books you might enjoy.  But I would be surprised if none of these worked for you!

Bonus— If you have younger siblings, try reading aloud to your younger brothers and sisters. No, I’m not kidding. Books are magical, and little kids will remind you of this truth if you've forgotten. Watch their eyes sparkle as you read to them. Here are some great books for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, as well as reading tips and information for families about building a love of reading.  The adults in your household will probably appreciate both the linked info and your sibling sweetness.

There is a book waiting for you right now!  A perfect book for you!  A good book you'll love--you just have to give it a chance!

​When you have seven or eight classes in a day, with seven or eight different teachers, it can be easy to get a little lost.  In fact, it can be easy to miss assignments entirely.  But consider this: If you earn two 100’s and one zero, your grade averages to a 66.6.  As in, one failing grade can drag your A average way down, into a hole you’ll be hard pressed to dig yourself out of it.  Remember,  a 0 looks like a hole for a reason. Don't earn 0's.
 
The solution?  Use your daily planner and keep papers in color-coded folders.  If you always put your history homework in the green folder (or blue, or red, or whatever says HISTORY to you), then when it’s time to turn it in, you’ll always know where it is.  And if you don’t have homework?  Write THAT down in your daily planner.  A blank space could mean you forgot to write down the assignment, so always put something for every class, even if it’s “no homework tonight!”  Feel free to draw some unicorns on the agenda. Unicorns are never bad.

​There are a lot of ways to do this, but my favorite is an adaptation of Cornell Notes.  I don’t use the summary part on the bottom, and I leave about 2/3 of the page for notes and just 1/3 on the left for noting key words, and summarizing.  You should be taking notes even if your teacher doesn’t direct you to—by high school, they expect you to take charge of your own learning. 
 
Wondering what to write down?  There are some great note-taking videos out there. Crash Course has a whole Study Skills Course that's awesome (and free!)  But for starters, if the teacher repeats something, write it down.  If they tell you something is important, write it down.  If they put something on the board, write it down. Writing something down as you listen forces your brain to analyze the material and put down the most important bits. It’s why typing into your laptop is not necessarily better… the more thinking you do up front, the longer you’ll remember it later.  Speaking of remembering class material…

Your class notes get to play double-duty! If you simply review your daily notes, spending maybe 10 minutes per class, you’ll be way ahead.  Take it one small step at a time. Your memory benefits from repetition and the sooner you see the material again, the more likely it will be encoded in your long-term memory.  Transferring key words to notecards is also helpful, especially if you are taking a foreign language. 

​Know what doesn’t work for the long term?  Cramming.  Trust Auntie Amy on this one. Yes, you might be able to survive a test by studying furiously the night before, but you are making things much harder for yourself when you have to take end-of-term tests or when the material is something that you will be building on in the next chapter, which is often the case for math, science, and languages.

​Your teachers are just people.  I realize that if you are shy, the thought of raising your hand in class might feel impossible.  If that’s the case, send an email after class or write a note and drop it off on the teacher’s desk, but if you don’t understand something, you must ask the teacher before the test.  They will love you for doing so.  They will be amazed and impressed by your willingness to learn.

​And if you have the question, at least a handful of other students do, too.  Be brave. Ask the questions.

Sometimes, another person can keep us on task and motivated.  Of course, choosing the right person matters.  Don’t choose the kid who never turns in their work, but if there’s a person who also seems to care about actually learning the material, don’t hesitate to ask if they want to study for a big test together.  Take turns quizzing each other.  Look at each other’s notes—one of you might have heard something the other missed. 

Having to explain something to someone else is a tried and true method of learning material.  Remember that just because material feels familiar, it doesn’t mean that you know it.  Until you can explain it in your own words to someone else, without looking at your notes, you have more studying to do.  

Thanks for joining me for Auntie Amy's Top 5 Tips for Succeeding in School.  Simple doesn't mean easy, but it will work if you put your mind to it. Remember,  you also need to eat well, get plenty of sleep, and enjoy time with friends and family, too.  School is just one part of your wonderful life.  Now, go get yourself some folders, an agenda, some notebook paper, and rock out those classes.