How to Help 6 Year Old Be More Organized and Neat in School

you know, you said you had his hearing tested. My niece has excellent hearing, but has a developmental issue...where she has disrupted hearing & comprehension. She processes 2 out of 3 words. It's like the power supply, the plug, is being pulled on every 3rd word. When you're a kid, you can't always make that intuitive leap of comprehension & you end up being unable to follow along.

Do you think this is part of what's going on? & I will be honest: I am not impressed with this teacher....so I think she is part of the problem.

Moving on, I would recommend contacting the school counselor. I would also consider a developmental assessment. There are too many factors here....all adding up to the need for assessment. This is not just a case of messiness....& an old teacher.....there are issues here & I would seek help. Peace!

Get him out of that class. This teacher should be retired or fired. I come from a family of teachers. All she is doing is stifling his curiosity and enthusiasm for learning. Neatness can be improved within reason, but redoing a paper elf 4 times? Talk to the principal, talk to her and be firm that you wont tolerate this. Do whatever you have to do.

This post made me tear up! Give me a break - he's in first grade and six years old. Standing in front of him is not going to make him neater!!! Scaring him is not going to make him neater! It's going to make him nervous and he's going to "space out" more.

Schedule a conference and ask if you two can "work together" to "help" your son to be the best he can be learning in the style that he learns in. Forcing your child to conform to this woman's teaching style just ain't gonna cut it. Unfortunately, she's going to have to figure out how your kid learns, and tailor her style to him to a certain degree. A good teacher makes the kids see things her way and makes them want to do it her way. Not scares them into doing things her way.

I was in my daughter's classroom just yesterday for her holiday party. She's in 2nd grade. About half the desks in there were a total disaster...my kid included.

OH! I'd be livid if the teacher kept my son inside at recess for not being neat enough! (and I'm a teacher, I'm usually on the teacher's side) My oldest never got over the messy, sloppy handwriting. Work with your son at home one page of handwriting and one fun fine motor activity (play dough, drawing, legos, Operation, Perfection games etc.
My youngest was the same about directions as your son. If Kindergarten they seemed concerned,the teacher recommended we play more board games to get him to follow directions. in First grade the teacher seemed to feel it was just how he was and she would smile and pull him over to her desk to do his work, she seemed to accept him for who he was and did not have unrealistic expectations for young boys. Two hours of working alone in first grade is ridiculous!! I cant believe other children are able to work to this woman's standards. Tell her you're concerned, Ask for a conference with another staff member as well as the teacher (principal, learning consultant, literacy specialist, someone. Voice your concerns about him missing recess affecting his ability to learn studies show physical activity helps to "cement" the learning. Discuss that at this age ALL children could benefit from a visual aide to remind them of the work they should be doing. (again good to suggest this in front of the principal) It's Her job to help him understand and follow the routines and directions in the classroom, how is she differentiating for him (missing recess sounds like a punishment not a differentiation) Getting a third party involved would help to figure out if your son really is way behind the typical first grader or this teacher is off the mark-as most of us are guessing.
In second grade my son is better, only sometimes needs reminders to stop spacing out and do his work. That's the thing about immaturity, they grow out of it.

I don't know if he sounds gifted as Jenny O. may suggest, but he does sound stressed by this teacher and the new environment. God bless.

Her satisfaction? Eek!!!!! No! Killing his love of learning and creativity is not worth her. Couldn't do it right - pasting? Get him out of there. She is what is wrong with education. What is he learning?

I have to edit: my frustration isn't directed at you, the parent, but by this old school notion that the our system of education is correct. You just beautifully illustrated an example of exactly what is wrong. Where is the innovation, thinking outside the box, questioning, the room for your son to be himself? Again, eek!!

I think it's worth working on the following directions, but I would try to get the teacher to stop stressing the neatness. Some kids are neat. Some kids aren't and focusing on trying to be so hard makes remembering all the other stuff too hard. Maybe she's right that he does know what to do, he's just avoiding it because he can't live up to her strict expectations.
If I were you, I would politely let her know that I'm not concerned about the neatness. It looks okay to you, your husband has terrible penmanship too, your daughter outgrew it so you're not worried, whatever. I'd add that I think it's stressing him out, and I feel it's important that he enjoy school and have good self esteem about academics right now. I would ask to focus on more important things, such as peer interactions that he misses while staying in at recess to redo work.
The school has to do what's in the best interest of the kids, which does include discipline, but if she doesn't listen to your concerns I would bring them up to the administrator because it sounds like he's being beat down a bit by her.
As for following and remembering directions, that could be just a maturity issue but it is important for school success. Practice at home. Give him a couple directions (wash your hands, then come set the table, or get out your homework and a pencil, sit at the table, and put your name on your work, for example). If he's not able to remember and complete a few steps there may be some issue going on or you just need to practice, otherwise it may be the class environment is too stressful or too distracting for him, or her standards are unrealistic.

I'd look into a different school environment. He sounds gifted. Montessori? The "sit there and put an elf together and do as I say, and be neat about it" seems to not suit him.

It'd be great if he could be passionate about learning and have teachers who encourage, not force neatness. So...a different type of school.

There are tactics to help with neatness that a good teacher should be able to suggest that fit her classroom. When my daughter was in older elementary grades and into middle school, they all used a file binder, one slot for each class, and that was for what needed to come home (papers, homework, graded things to be removed form the desk, and a slot for announcements from school or the class).

As far as getting things done/following directions, maybe a rebus chart that can be put on his desk, or laminated so he can take it with him. Is there a folder, clipboard or some other thing he carries with him as he does the centers, that this could be permanently taped to the back of? or on the desk to go back and refer to? A rebus is a picture chart (can have words too if there are reading skills in place), for ease with following things in order. I do them with kids in my daycare (mine are all 3 and under) for stuff all day long...handwashing directions, the order of the day, and now, the order of getting dressed for play in the snow. Visual clues to stay on task. If it is laminated, it could be crossed out with a dry erase marker as they go along and wiped clean at the end of the day or center time, etc.

And re-doing the Elf craft. That just makes me angry, as an Early Childhood educator (I have a degree and am in a program for a further one as we speak). I am mostly opposed to product "art", and it should be process and let the child create what they want. I am doubly of this opinion as my daughter is an artist! Add to that that your child excels in Math, and quite often in my experience, Math kids need creative chances as that can be stifled by their rigid "math-ness" at some point!!

My daughter, as an artistic personality her entire life, has also always been a bit of a slob. When she was in elementary school, we had to arrange for her to stay after school every so often (when my husband could go get her), just so she could clean out her desk. There was no allotted class time for this, at least not as often as she needed it. I was constantly on her about using the file folder organizer for papers, asking her questions about papers and assignments and staying in contact with the teachers.

Best of luck to you!

Get him out of the class and if you fidn a way to turn a relaxed kid into a neat kid let me know becaues my 11 year old is like that Teacher is spending to much time on just one child that she has to do this with all the other kids in the class. He is probably being overwhelmed and expected to be perfect. Dont give him a complex. Just get him the heck out of that class and congradulate him when he does a little thing like remembering all his books one day or remembering something else. Postive reinforcement

I would try hard to get him into a different classroom. No level of neatness is worth destroying his love of learning. Who cares if his papers have eraser marks.

I don't exactly have advice that will fix the problem, but my 5 year old 'spaces out' too. He could be looking right at me, shake his head yes and tell me he understands, then he'll walk off completely unaware of what I just said. I usually need him to repeat what I said or I have to stop frequently and remind him to focus. His mind is always off somewhere else. I guess I can't blame him...when I get bored I zone out too.

Seriously, she had him re-do a paper elf 4 times??? Aren't those projects meant to be fun and creative? That seems a bit extreme to me. That said, it is good that she is being proactive and trying to help him now with neatness, organization, etc. b/c school only gets harder and those are important skills necessary to being a successful student. I hate to say this but it sounds like ADHD to me. My stepson has it and everyone always assumes he doesn't b/c he isn't hyper but there are 3 different types and hyperactivity is not always present. The lack of focus, the forgetfulness, the lack of neatness and organization - all classic ADHD. I hope I'm wrong b/c it's so incredibly difficult to deal with in the school environment. My stepson is in 10th grade and we are still dragging him through school year after year. He too loved kindergarten; all of his problems started in 1st grade when people started expecting more from him - reading, writing, math... You can have your son tested now. 1st grade is generally when they start. Good luck.

They most definitely can and should test him NOW for things like an auditory processing disorder (APD) or possible petit mal seizures. My best friend's son had similar issues in first grade and the expensive private school all but wrote him off as lazy. She had him tested and found that he had APD AND was having so many little seizures per minute it was like hearing only every 4th word of what people were saying. Once he got help and was put on the correct anti-seizure medication it helped him a lot. He is still disorganized and a bit forgetful, but he is now a A/B student in high school. It might be just that your son is bored by the work and sees little point to it or has yet to develop the fine motor skills necessary to complete the work to this teacher's standards, but it could be something much more serious. Either way, the sooner you know what the real problem is, the sooner you can take steps to help your son.

Hi, CW:

Your child is doing the best that he can.
He doesn't learn like the other children.
He may have a hearing processing disorder or
something like that.

His teacher probably has never had this
type of learner in her class before.
If there is a learning center near where you
live, take him there and see if they can help
you out.

Good luck.
Merry Christmas
D.