Homework Expectations

in Mrs. Naimey's class

Parents,

        Each child will have different homework each evening.  First and MOST IMPORTANT is that your child continues to read each evening.  It is essential that your child enjoys this reading experience.  If they do not love to read, they will not continue to read and they will not become a better reader.  Please, make this an enjoyable experience with your child, free of distractions.  Also, continue to read to your child as this helps them to enjoy books and understand the rich story language that are in all books.

        Each child is bring home a different book or books depending on where they are on the reading continuum.  For early readers, they will be bringing home a reread to read with you or a book with which they are comfortable reading.  This is to expose them to sight words and get them excited about being able to read books and to see these words over and over again so they become part of your child's known words.  Remember to remind them of reading strategies.  They should read this aloud to you.

    As they get to be better readers, they will start to read chapter books.  They may be reading chapter books with a group in school or they may be doing a free read.  If they are reading with a group they may be required to read only one or two chapters so that we can discuss these on the next day as part of a group.  If this is the case, they should have another book so that they could continue to read if they want to read more.  They can read aloud or to themselves but at this stage, but you will need to assist them with both fluency and comprehension.

        If they choose to read silently, you may have them read a little bit aloud.  Remember the Assisted Reading that I told you about at parent night.  (Assisted Reading is after they read, choose a page and read it to them with a lot of expression, then have them read it with you with the same expression and finally have them read the same passage one more time by themselves with expression.  This does not take too long, but is wonderful for assisting children with fluency.)   Show them how to read with expression, make sure they pay attention to punctuation, and also make sure they are not reading word to word.  Try to assist them to read with short phrasing to longer phrasing.

        To help them with comprehension, look at my comprehension page.  Ask them to retell the book to you, remembering every detail.  This is different than a summary which only gives you the most important details.   Have them try to remember as many details as they can when retelling.  Ask them to think about the book in whatever capacity that they are able, does it remind them of someone, somewhere, do they like it, can they think of a different ending, what would happen if....,  Reading is a meaning making process, have them think about their reading.   When they are ready, I will include a reading journal so that they can start writing about their reading and this also assists in the development of their writing. Some children have these reading journals and others do not.  If they are focusing on strategies, I want them to just keep reading and only when they are really comfortable reading will they have a reading journal. 

        They should have a baggie book from Monday to Thursday to read.  Sometimes, it is  a self-selected book and other times I select the book.  Part of literacy is that the children need to be able to select a book that is appropriate for their reading level. It is their responsibility to take the baggie book out of their backpacks each morning so I can change the book. It is very important that these books are returned each day.   Not all my books are labeled with my name, if you find one that you think may be mine, please return it to me.   

        Your child should be reading about 45 minutes each day.  They read at DEAR (Drop Everything and Read), during center time and at choice time in school but they still need to read at home. On some days, I am able to read with each child and on other days,  either I or a parent volunteer will read with your child and on busy days, I may not get to read with your child at all, but I always try to be sure there is a book available for your child to read at home.  If for some reason, there is  not a new book in your child's backpack, please continue to read with a book from your bookshelf.  That may mean that they did not take it out of their back packs to change the book and you may remind them to do so. 

        There is a Math Home Links on many evenings that compliment our Every Day Math program.  These should be easy for your child as they are a review of something that is done in class.   If your child is having difficulty, please go over it with them but remember that the concepts are revisited often in this program.   It is important to do these the night that they come home because we do talk about them the next day and they do solidify the material presented that day.  Please correct them with your child that evening and put a small star or checkmark in the corner so I know that you have looked it over.  It is better to correct errors as soon as they occur.

        Another way that you can help your child in math is to practice addition and subtraction facts, practice adding doubles (8+8), doubles plus one (8+9), adding ten (8 +10), and other random addition and subtraction facts.  The sooner students solidify this, the quicker they will get their work done and it will be invaluable when trying to learn multiplication.   You can easily do this while driving in a car or while waiting somewhere, just ask your students 10 math facts and then wait for another time to ask 10 more.   You could also use your math fact triangle cards that came home earlier in the year. Practice money and time every day by asking your child to count out money or change and look at the time to tell you what the time is to the minute!

        Our spelling program is changed this year and is now called word study.  In this word study, we will be studying sounds of words or spelling rules.  The students will be introduced to these on a Monday and study these sounds or rules throughout the week.  On Friday, they will be given random words which have these spelling patterns in them to spell correctly. It is the hope that this will be better applied to their writing in this way and students will be able to put these rules towards unknown words.

        We will have several long term project to complete this year.  Students will be doing a state report, several book reports, an endangered animals report and some science experiments  More information will be coming about these projects as they come closer..

        I hope this clarifies any questions that you may have.  If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at nnaimey@msad71.net. 

                                                                            Mrs. Naimey

Another  Note about Homework

I give homework to students to help accelerate their reading and writing progress in the classroom.  A math home link is given to reinforce the math that was done during the day. This should not take a long time and it is just for reinforcement. This is usually every day.   If it does take a long time, please do not frustrate your child but just send a note with the home link to let me know what your child was having difficulty with.

Reading and writing develop simultaneously and students need to practice both. Writing about their reading is also a way to increase comprehension.  I send baggie books home Monday through Thursday, and only if requested on Fridays.   They should read 45 minutes a day and while, we do a lot of reading in the classroom, we do not do that much.  That is why I ask that they read 15-20 minutes an evening.   

The reading journal is the usual writing homework.  They should answer one question an evening.  Again, this should not take a long time.  If your child has spent the time reading and does not have time for writing, just send me a note that tells me that. 

The exception to this is when I try to put children in reading groups and then they have a requirement to read a certain number of chapters an evening or do a certain amount of questions.  This is because we discuss the reading or the questions the next day as part of a literature circle.  If this requirement is too much, just let me know. 

There will be a couple of long term projects later on in the year. 

As an aside, the fourth grade students have come back to me and have told me that they get a LOT more homework in fourth grade so it should be a progression.  Other teachers may not give as much but having had three children go through the elementary school, high school and beyond, I am a believer that the sooner children start doing homework and see the results, the better habits they get into for future schooling.  This is a life long skill and the earlier it is learned and reinforced, the easier it is for you.   Please just communicate with me if there is a problem. 

I am more than happy to speak to anyone about homework and adapt it, if it is too much. Just email me and let me know at nnaimey@msad71.net

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