It shouldn't be drudgery. It shouldn't be torture. It shouldn't be busywork. It shouldn't take too long! Homework is meant to build brain synapses, and brain synapses are built best in quick bursts of activity spread out over time rather than long marathon sessions. Homework should be independent. My goal is to never send something home that I haven't seen them do well in class, especially in math. See here for reasons behind all of this. Spelling and math together shouldn't take longer than 30 minutes. Often it'll take less time. Reading should be an average of 20 minutes a night, or 100 minutes a week. Please let me know if homework is taking longer than this and we will modify it. Also, let me know if the homework isn't challenging enough and we'll modify that too! Each student will have a planner in which we will list what we did. Please sign the planner and return it to school the next day. The planner is for your convenience. If you would rather, you can check the website to see what we did, and what homework is assigned that day. 1- Students will have a spelling contract to complete each week. These will go home on Wednesdays and are due each Tuesday. I used to hand them out on Mondays and have the tests on Fridays, but many families liked the flexibility and extra time the weekend gave them. Giving them out on Wednesdays also avoids the problem of short weeks, when we don't have school on Monday or Friday, giving students only 3 days to study. The spelling packets look like this file below. The activities change every month.
They'll take a pretest on Tuesday to determine which list fits them best that week. The pretest will be stapled to the page. They will either study list A, list C, or the words they missed on list B. 20 points are required each week. Nine activites are worth 5 points each. These will help them really learn and remember how to spell their weekly words. Four activites are worth 10 points. These are higher level/creative thinking activities that require them to apply the meanings of their spelling words. These activities might take more than one night. You will be able to choose which activities to do, so if the words are trickier that week, or it's a busy night, choose an easier, quicker activity. If the words are easier, or if you have more time, choose a more lengthy one. The goal is to have the words and activities fit your child perfectly. On Monday nights, be sure to give your child a spelling test and have them write any word they got wrong 5 times for practice. That's worth 5 points. Then staple all of your work together and turn it in the next day. 2-Math will go home on a day to day basis and comes from the Go Math reading program. It is always due the next day. We will try to finish half of the page in class and leave half to finish at home. This gives them just enough time in the afternoon to make sure those brain synapses reconnect with the new concept one more time before school the next day. I will have a video for each math lesson available for you to help if they get stuck. Every child who logs in and watches the video gets 2 extra credit points on their homework that night! Our join code is JBGBYDX. 3- Each student will also have a reading calendar. They will each set a reading goal for themselves. Aim for at least 20 minutes each weeknight, or 100 minutes each week. These calendars will go home the first day of each month and need to come back each Friday to be checked by me, so I can see if the student is meeting their reading goal, or if the goal needs to be adjusted. Each student who meets their goal for the month will be able to participate in a monthly class party! If they don't meet their goal, they sadly will have to read during the party, since they didn't read during the month. The calendars will affect reading grades. Click on the file below to see the first reading calendar:
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The Plan. . .My plan is to list what we did each day and the homework for each night on this page. That way you can just click on the date to see the day's entry. I will do my very best to update this daily! Archives
May 2024
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