It Takes Teamwork!
Take Home Folders
Your child will have a folder they bring home each night. It will include a paper copy of my Peek At The Week which has important dates, reminders, and notes. It also has a place for you to write notes for me or reminders for your child. Please keep this in the folder to reference each day. The folder will also house completed work, permission slips, and other forms/letters. Therefore, it is very important for our home/school relationship that we are all in the habit of checking the folder, cleaning out the folder, and talking about the contents of this folder on a daily basis. Thank you in advance for helping your child with this organizational tool and skill.
Reading "Homework"
Every Monday (or start of the week) your child will set a weekly at home reading goal on their Peek at the Week. Your job is to help them meet this goal while keeping reading fun and enjoyable! This includes you reading to your child, having them read aloud to you, or a combination of both- partner reading! You could pick out a chapter book and read just a few pages a night, reread some of their favorite picture books, or enjoy their weekly LMC choices. Reading at bedtime provides a perfect chance to unwind and spend quality time together. You can model and encourage fluency by reading at a nice smooth pace and with expression or model decoding strategies by stretching words out into chunks or parts. Don't forget to check in on their comprehension skills by asking questions about the characters, problems, solutions, and vocabulary in the stories and books too. You'd be amazed what sort of connections and insight they have. If reading a book at bedtime isn't part of you and your child's nightly routine I encourage you to give it a try this school year. It is so beneficial and very relaxing once it becomes a habit!
As the year goes on your child will likely be bringing home Reading Fluency Passages. These are great for reading at bedtime as well!
Math
We've gone back and forth about math homework for years. I think it can be a useful tool to teach time management and responsibility and to see what your child is working on. But I also know how busy families are. I want to help free your evenings to focus on quality family bonding (and reading :) time. I've found that sending one math page PER WEEK is a good balance for those families who do want this practice and routine. However, your child will NOT be penalized in any way for not completing the worksheet if you are not finding the time or benefit in it at home.
Heart Words (usually 2-3 per week)
These are words seen often in text, but are irregularly spelled. We call them Heart Words, because they have to be memorized BY HEART (or sight) since they don't follow the phonics, or sounding out rules we are learning to read by. There is nothing required to do at home with these words, but I will include them on the Peek at the Week in case you want to incorporate a little spelling bee action on your way to school or soccer/football/volleyball/gymnastics/etc. practice :)