My Thoughts About Homework
Math:
If your child spends their math instruction with me (this year I’m teaching
2nd grade math), be prepared that they may not have homework every night.
Homework is a tool to reinforce skills learned in the classroom. It is not a
time for parents to “teach” a skill because that would be my job. But, if
your child is still learning a particular skill, I may wait until they’ve
gotten a pretty good understanding before I send something home. My job is
not to frustrate the parent and child - if I sent homework home before the
child understood what I taught, this would cause you problems.
Spelling:
We will start out slow and steady with spelling homework. In the past, many
parents found it frustrating if we offered several choices for spelling
homework. By providing choices, we are able to serve the various learning
styles but for now, we’re going to keep it simple. I am going to spend time
in the next few weeks by showing the students various ways they can work with
their spelling words to make it interesting and hopefully, fun! Please keep
in mind that our goal is to teach a specific phonetic pattern through spelling
so your child can carry it over into their writing. Oftentimes, a child is an
excellent speller on their weekly assessments but do not apply the patterns in
their writing assignments. This is a trend we need to work on.
Reading:
It’s a well known fact - I LOVE to read and it’s my desire that my students
will become avid readers as I am! But, in order to become a good reader, it
requires a lot of practice. I equate learning to read like learning to ride a
bike with training wheels. It takes a lot of practice but when your dad takes
those training wheels off and you don’t realize he’s no longer holding on to
your bike from behind, it’s a thrilling moment. This is what happens when
reading finally “clicks” with a child - it’s a thrilling moment! There is
nothing more exciting than watching a child enter my classroom with a poor
attitude about reading because they don’t know how but then a transformation
starts to take place. To witness the moment when they realize they “no longer
have their training wheels on” is monumental because they’ve discovered they
actually can read and they’re ready to take off!
To sum it all up…
Mrs. Delahoussaye and I take homework seriously! We have repeatedly said that
those students who consistently do their homework are the students who make
the biggest progress in our classes and their regular education classes.
This year we are teaching 2nd and 3rd graders. The workload is going to
increase as is your child’s responsibilities in the school work. The 2nd and
3rd grade students are held accountable for much more than before. Your child
will be responsible for studying for science and social studies tests in their
regular education classroom and these tests will count towards their grade in
these subject areas. Please help your child study for these tests.
Therefore…
We expect homework to be complete on the day it is due.
We expect it to be neat, not sloppy.
If the homework is not complete, your child will complete it during recess.