In the Bag: Packing Lunch

While school bags are common to all age groups, lunch packs aren't very well received at the middle and high school levels.  Buying lunch is a popular option, but carrying lunch is more cost effective for many families weathering an economic storm.  Brown lunch bags are an obvious solution, but there are also many simple, insulated lunch bags available now.  The nice thing is that this removes the stigma associated with a lunch box, as a lunch bag is pretty low key.  You can find a wide range of insulated lunch bags here, ranging from simple solids, to decorative designs.

If you are looking for coordinating school bags for girls, with matching lunch packs, read here.

In The Bag: Gadgets in School Bags

School bags are helpful for organizing kids, but make sure that you lay out a set of ground rules for what goes into your kids' school bags.  Tech gadgets for tweens, teens, and younger students, are very popular, but taking them to school is asking for trouble.  I remember the frustration of a soccer mom, bemoaning the fact that her son took his new iPod to school, and ended up losing it.  As a teacher, I confiscated distracting items, but the student who brings a small tech gadget to school is in danger of damaging the item, or in jeopardy of having their electronic item stolen.

iPads are popular with tweens and teens, as are iPods and cell phones.  Video game systems are small enough to easily sneak into a school bag.  If the item belongs to your student, a common sense chat about the consequences of taking such items out of the house will place responsibility in the hands of your child. 

In the Bag: Pencil Boxes

School bags for tweens are often laden with pieces of pencil, pen lids, eraser bits, and all kinds of junk.  While girls may be a little better at keeping their school bags tidy, there are plenty of disorganized middle school students who pay little attention to the sea of stuff at the bottom of their school bag.  A good pencil box can help protect your investment in your daughter's school bag, by keeping it clean, useable, and by preventing pencils poking through the fabric.  Vaultz pencil boxes are stylish, and attractive, as well as sturdy.  Work with your tween  or middle schooler on making it a practice to put things away neatly, and storing writing implements and math tools in a pencil pouch or pencil box.

Organizational Tips for Your Middle School Daughter's School Bag

Take some time at the start of the school year to work on organizational strategies with your middle school daughter.  If you have a tween daughter who is already neat and tidy, this isn't a big deal, but in my experience with tweens and middle school students, organization is not learned by osmosis, and a little guidance can go a long way.  Down the road, a lack of organization can seriously impact grades, and one of the first places to look, when grades drop, is at your tween's school bag. 

Middle school students make a transition, from self-contained classroom, to rotating schedule, from one teacher, to many.  This alone can throw things out of kilter for a student.  Books can be stored in lockers, but many schools only allow locker stops before and after school, and during lunch break.  Planning is essential, so that your tween makes it to class with all needed supplies. 

The best school bag choices for disorganized students are those which are easy to store books in.  Messenger style school bags are ideal, as the spacious design is easy to open and view, and is well suited to organizing and retrieving books and paper work.  Backpacks are fine, as long as your tween learns to carefully store materials.  Too many tweens cause themselves problems by shoving books into a bag, along with papers and materials, creating a sea of academic materials that have no sense of organization.

A good binder, as well, can be a tremendous help in maintaining organization in a school bag.  Case It binders are great, with good organization, and strong closures.  For more about academics and organization for tweens, read here.

High Sierra Messenger School Bags for Girls

High Sierra is a great choice in your search for a great school bag.  Messenger school bags for teens and tweens are fantastic in terms of carrying position (cross body bag style or shoulder school bag style).  The messenger school bag is also spacious, and the design is well suited to helping your student to be more organized in storing school books and materials in a neat and tidy manner.

High Sierra has many unisex messenger bags, but as well, provides some pretty, girly designs in messenger school totes.

Images for High Sierra Messenger School Bags are clickable, for current pricing information at BagKing.











































Find many more messenger school bags for teens, tweens, and girls of all ages, at BagKing.

Jansport Messenger School Bags for Girls (Shoulder School Bags)

Messenger bags are extremely popular, and many of the tried and true makers of quality school bags for kids have taken on the style, making many of their popular fabric patterns applicable in this trendy shoulder school bag style.  Jansport has some great messenger school bags for girls available, in plaids, prints, and solid colors.

Plaid Jansport Messenger Bags

Elefunk Messenger School Bag for Girls in Electric Purple Perry Plaid
If your daughter loves purple, or plaid, this is a fantastic design.
The crossbody shoulder bag style makes this school bag easy to carry.
Spacious design makes the messenger bag a perfect choice for teens and tweens.
Click image for current pricing and availability.

Jansport Elefunk
Messenger bag for girls, in White/Punjabi Purple Magic Plaid

Jansport 9 Track Messenger Bag
in Red and Black Plaid

Jansport Turnpike Laptop Messenger in Brown Sugar Madras Plaid

Elefunk Messenger School Bag for Girls
Black Cabesa/Blue Perry Plaid
Plaids are popular in school bags for teens and tweens.

Jansport Elefunk-Printed Messenger (New Chocolate Chip Saddles)



JanSport Elefunk (Printed) Messenger (Calypso Blue Dark Side Plaid / Blue)





Jansport Messengers in Prints

Elefunk Messenger in Black/White Bleeding Heart Print

Elefunk ZigZag Messenger School Bag for Girls

Jansport Elefunk Messenger (White / Rosebuff Pink)



Jansport Elefunk-Printed Messenger (White / Dina Blue Soda Shop)



JanSport 9-Track Messenger Bag (Chocolate Chip / Shell Tan Double Fun)



JanSport Elefunk Messenger (Black/ White Cosmo Zebra Poly)



JanSport Meshenger Mesh Messenger (White / Hot Pink Breakdance)



JanSport Elefunk Messenger (Black Animal Frenzy)



JanSport Meshenger Mesh Messenger (Black / White Day Dreamin)



JanSport 9-Track Messenger Bag (New Bud Pattern Dots)



JanSport Elefunk (Printed) Messenger (White / Plum Violet Tree Flower)

Jansport Messenger School Bags for Girls in Solids, and in Color Combinations:













Jansport Elefunk Messenger (Cabese Blue / White)






JanSport Elefunk Messenger Bag (Hot Pink / Storm Grey)



JanSport Elefunk Messenger Bag (Grey Tar/ Red Tide)



Jansport Elefunk Messenger (White / Rosebuff Pink)


Find more Jansport Messenger School Bags for Girls