Hi Maggi, I think the best homework is reading at home and documenting the number of pages and/or amount of time read. In fact, I have always kept a running total of number of books, pages, or amount of time read, depending on the grade level. I would have students keep a log with this information weekly, which was due each Friday. Weekends were also on the log. I made my own log, which was pretty simple, just basically a Friday through Thursday column, a column for the title of the book, and then another column for whatever information I wanted.
For kindergartners, they (or their parents) wrote the title of the book only. On Friday, we got into a circle and students counted out units from the base ten blocks according to how many books they read. Then we went around the circle and counted the blocks into a container (which held all the previous blocks from previous weeks). Then we dumped out the container in the middle of the circle, counted units and traded each set of ten units for a ten, and any sets of ten tens for a hundred. Then we counted ALL the block in the container and wrote the number on an index card that was taped to the outside of the container. This container was kept near the calendar area, but students could take it and count the blocks again as a choice. The weekly newsletter had an update on how many books had been read by the whole class. For other primary grades, I had students keep track of how many pages a week, and we kept a running total on a chart on the wall.... all year. A report of how many pages read by the whole class was sent with the monthly newsletter. For third grade and up, I had students keep track of the time in fractions of an hour. We only used halves, thirds, and fourths. Each Friday a group of students was in charge of adding up the fractions (after several weeks of my doing it with the whole group to model this). It was done with pictures and numbers. I got a lot of bang out of the buck with Reading at Home. :-) Renee On Aug 27, 2007, at 5:14 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Hi, > > I am interested in hearing what people give for literacy homework each > night? Last year, I just had the kids do independent reading for 15 > minutes and > write a couple of sentences about what they read. Sometimes I had them > read > something aloud to someone else at home (if there was someone). > > I rarely gave writing or grammar homework because it was difficult to > differentiate and keep up with checking it all. I also think 8 - 4 is > a long enough > school day for 7-8 year olds without dumping a lot of extra work on > them at > night. > > I am planning on using Words Their Way this year, and Lucy Calkins > Units of > Study. We use the HM reading series, although I don't really use the > practice > books much. > > I would really like to have a homework routine that is pretty much the > same > every week, only with different content or skills. That way the kids > and I > would know what was expected. Last year I gave out a weekly packet on > Monday and > collected it Friday. This was great in terms of not spending 20 > minutes > collecting and recording homework each day, plus for families who had > commitments some nights, they could do a little more the prior or next > night to make > up. I don't "grade" homework because children receive various degrees > of help > with it, so it's not really fair. I do record completion. The downside > of the > weekly packet is that I must rely on classroom observation to spot > problems, > rather than on the homework. This really isn't a problem for me, > though. > > It does seem like the kids who put the most effort into homework are > the kids > who need it least and have the most involved families. Is there a way > around this? > > Your thoughts on homework? (And yes, we have to give it ;-) > > Maggi > > > > ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new > AOL at > http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/ > mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > > "I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually." ~ James Baldwin _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
