We have daily and weekly routines that we want parents to help us reinforce. Assignments should be recorded on a daily basis in student planners that we call agenda books. We spend time every day completing agenda books and appreciate it when parents ask to see the agenda book on a regular basis. Three assignments should be seen daily: Math Facts, Read, and Journal. We have outlined expectations for these assignments below. Occasionally there will be additional assignments such as projects or math.
Homework supports the following broad goals, which help students to:
MATH FACTS
Math fact practice is a daily homework expectation. We are implementing a facts system that helps monitor student progress with mastery of basic facts. Math fact cards are two-sided cards that a student uses to practice with another person. Using the top of the card, students should meet the practice goal of 100% in 90 seconds or less.
Once a student has reached the practice goal s/he is ready to “test out” at school. This test is done using the bottom of the card with the expectation of 100% in 60 seconds.
We have placed students at an appropriate starting level. Students may take several cards at a time and are expected to progress through a minimum of two cards per week (many students will complete more).
DAILY READING
Students are expected to read at home for a minimum of 20 minutes per day. The complete title of the book should be written in the agenda book at least one time and may be abbreviated on successive days. In addition, students are to keep track of the pages and minutes they read on their reading data sheet. We want kids to read the same book at home and at school. Our expectation is that students learn to select “just right” books.
We support reading aloud (adult to child, child to adult) and encourage parents to find ways to engage in reading with children. Try to carve out time to enjoy books and to think together as readers.
JOURNAL WRITING
Students are expected to write at least three paragraphs in their composition notebooks each week. Journals will be collected on Fridays. Students are usually expected to write on a daily basis (three of the four days) rather than to write all three paragraphs on the same day. We want students to date each entry.
Students should be recording their journal topic for the evening in the agenda book at school. We encourage them to have a topic before leaving school in order to reduce the amount of time spent thinking of a topic at home. We frequently assign 1-3 topics a week to encourage students to reflect on and share opinions about specific ideas or activities. Students will be writing three types of entries each week: informative, persuasive/opinion, and narrative.
Rules for paragraphing vary based on the purpose. The purpose of our journal assignment is for students to use a topic sentence and several supporting details to develop an idea in an interesting way that communicates thought and feeling. As students become more adept at the different types of writing, some journal entries might be more than one paragraph long and be several paragraphs of one type of writing for the week.
Journal writing gives students the chance to experiment with the 6 traits of writing (ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions). We encourage students to take risks with their writing, and we use journal writing to assess student ability to organize, develop a topic, and apply spelling and other writing conventions.
On Thursdays we expect students to reread their journals and to focus on making corrections including doing at least three “have a goes” to make spelling changes. Strong spellers are encouraged to expand their vocabularies and to experiment with new words.
Parental involvement with journaling may be dependent on the skill level of the child. It works well for parents to focus on one aspect of the writing when interacting with their children. You might ask your child what s/he wants your feedback on: development of the message, spelling, punctuation, voice, clarity, etc. Then give help/feedback on that one area. We do not expect perfection, but we do expect that students will make continued progress toward learning to apply mastered skills consistently (thus demonstrating mastery).
Homework supports the following broad goals, which help students to:
- Develop responsibility
- Read daily
- Be accountable and keep records
- Revisit lessons from school
- Demonstrate skills independent of the teacher
- Follow directions and develop memory
- Reflect on their experiences
- Build upon interests
MATH FACTS
Math fact practice is a daily homework expectation. We are implementing a facts system that helps monitor student progress with mastery of basic facts. Math fact cards are two-sided cards that a student uses to practice with another person. Using the top of the card, students should meet the practice goal of 100% in 90 seconds or less.
Once a student has reached the practice goal s/he is ready to “test out” at school. This test is done using the bottom of the card with the expectation of 100% in 60 seconds.
We have placed students at an appropriate starting level. Students may take several cards at a time and are expected to progress through a minimum of two cards per week (many students will complete more).
DAILY READING
Students are expected to read at home for a minimum of 20 minutes per day. The complete title of the book should be written in the agenda book at least one time and may be abbreviated on successive days. In addition, students are to keep track of the pages and minutes they read on their reading data sheet. We want kids to read the same book at home and at school. Our expectation is that students learn to select “just right” books.
We support reading aloud (adult to child, child to adult) and encourage parents to find ways to engage in reading with children. Try to carve out time to enjoy books and to think together as readers.
JOURNAL WRITING
Students are expected to write at least three paragraphs in their composition notebooks each week. Journals will be collected on Fridays. Students are usually expected to write on a daily basis (three of the four days) rather than to write all three paragraphs on the same day. We want students to date each entry.
Students should be recording their journal topic for the evening in the agenda book at school. We encourage them to have a topic before leaving school in order to reduce the amount of time spent thinking of a topic at home. We frequently assign 1-3 topics a week to encourage students to reflect on and share opinions about specific ideas or activities. Students will be writing three types of entries each week: informative, persuasive/opinion, and narrative.
Rules for paragraphing vary based on the purpose. The purpose of our journal assignment is for students to use a topic sentence and several supporting details to develop an idea in an interesting way that communicates thought and feeling. As students become more adept at the different types of writing, some journal entries might be more than one paragraph long and be several paragraphs of one type of writing for the week.
Journal writing gives students the chance to experiment with the 6 traits of writing (ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions). We encourage students to take risks with their writing, and we use journal writing to assess student ability to organize, develop a topic, and apply spelling and other writing conventions.
On Thursdays we expect students to reread their journals and to focus on making corrections including doing at least three “have a goes” to make spelling changes. Strong spellers are encouraged to expand their vocabularies and to experiment with new words.
Parental involvement with journaling may be dependent on the skill level of the child. It works well for parents to focus on one aspect of the writing when interacting with their children. You might ask your child what s/he wants your feedback on: development of the message, spelling, punctuation, voice, clarity, etc. Then give help/feedback on that one area. We do not expect perfection, but we do expect that students will make continued progress toward learning to apply mastered skills consistently (thus demonstrating mastery).