Homework

Homework can be a powerful tool for (a) reviewing what was taught in class (b) letting parents and other adults know what the child is learning, (c) giving children and parents a reason to talk about what's going on at school, (d) giving teachers an opportunity to hear from parents about children's learning, and (e) teaching responsibility within the students to complete and return the homework by its due date.

The students in room 204 will have homework Monday through Thursday nights. Very rarely will I give homework over the weekend. If your child does come home with homework on the weekend, it will generally be work that was not completed in a timely manner during class or make-up work from when your child was absent. However, every night, including on the weekends, your child should be reading for pleasure. It is a daily "assignment" and is not necessarily considered part of the guidelines as set forth under the Chester Elementary School Homework Policy that is found in the school handbook. Many times we might start our day by sharing our thoughts about books that we are reading at home. It will be quite obvious when a child has nothing to share that they are not reading at home. Please contact me for ideas about helping your child read more at home if this is a problem. I have chosen not to require daily writing about reading. I'm looking for kids to become independent readers and search for books that interest them. However, in order to hold them accountable or help them recall what they are reading, I simply ask for the title of the book and the pages read to be recorded many days for morning work. Students should keep a Post-it with a starting page and another Post-it for the ending page to make this recording the next day easier. I have also created a bookmark that can be used to record this information. You may find these articles that support my thoughts to be interesting. Throw Away Reading Logs and NYTimes Summer Must-Read for Kids? Any Book  On average, your child should be reading 20-30 minutes a night. Please DO NOT set a timer. I do understand that lifetime readers read less at times and more at other times. This is ok. Just keep the guidelines in mind.

Most of my homework will be fairly simple, related to what we have done in class, and should take less time than the guidelines. Please note that the main purpose of homework is to reinforce the concepts taught during the school day. However, homework also teaches students to be responsible not only to complete their assignments in a neat and acceptable manner but also to return them to school when they are due. Students will write down their homework assignments daily on their assignment sheet and bring this sheet to and from school on a daily basis. It is important to set up a consistent after-school routine to complete homework. I recommend completing homework as soon as the children arrive home, possibly after a snack. I explain the homework in class and usually model what my expectations are for each assignment. Therefore, the students should have no trouble completing their work independently. Please be sure to let me know if your child consistently needs your help. Also, please let me know if you feel that your child is adequately working during the allotted time and is still unable to complete the assignment(s) in forty-five minutes. You can jot a note right on the assignment, call me, or e-mail me. Also, on the assignment sheet, students are supposed to record one thing they learned in school each day. This might give you a jump start on that dinner conversation and avoid the all-popular answer of "Nothing!" when you ask them what they learned in school today. They really are learning!!!