Our school uses Everyday Math. I teach 1st grade and the children get homework (except weekends) as a support of our day's lesson. Parents receive a letter at the beginning of each unit that explains concepts and supplies homework answers (I'm always surprised when parents tell me how relieved they are to get them!). Parents are advised to help since the children can't read the directions as yet. However, it's also a window into their child's day, which I feel is important to home/school communication. It lets them know if their child is struggling with certain concepts which helps if a conference is necessary. 10 minutes at night is usually sufficient to complete it. In our district, some parents want more. This can be a struggle since I try to impart that their child does so much in school already and other than reading, they need to relax and play. Does anyone else have a different way to address this or feel as I do?
On another note, vacation homework. Specifically vacations outside the scheduled school vacations. We are advised not to give any, but some parents try anyway. Personally, I'm relieved not to have to create all the extra work, but professionally I dread how much they will miss and catching them up if I don't. How do other districts handle this?
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I was starting my comment by saying that my school uses Everyday Math as well, then read who the author of the post was, and realized that KarenA and I teach in the same school!
One thing we did to help parents be more on board to help their kids with homework was to offer the Student Reference Book (part of the EM kits) for sale to families for school cost plus shipping. These books offer explanations for many vocab words, routines and directions for some games they can play at home with ordinary materials. That might satisfy some parent's requests for more work, and at the same time, give them familiar and fun activities to do with their kids.
Ten minutes of homework for first graders is all I usually ask but what I ask them to do varies other than reading every night. I'm finding that parent support isn't there like it used to be and as you said first graders need there parents behind them.
Our homework policy for vacations taken outside of the scheduled ones is the same as yours. I usually ask them to keep a journal and tell the parent what we will be working on and ask them to try to incorporate our learning into their vacation. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Yes, I have had similar requests from parents about homework. Oftentimes in the classroom we discuss how to extend work or homework assignments. Extensions can be making up your own problems, showing how to solve a problem or making a connection, etc. Ownership is student-centered and not dependent on the teacher, as good thinkers in Second Grade can create their own extensions. This work is shared with the class which Second Graders love and is counted as a *Bonus* which parents love.
We are definitely on the same page. I teach third grade and we also use the EDM program. I don't always give the homelinks (some are too confusing), but sometimes I use them to review the previous day's lesson. I give math fact practice, word study, and reading most nights. I try not to exceed 30 minutes. For math practice I use AAAmath.com. The kids really like it. I make a recording sheet and then I quiz them in the computer lab. Parents check that their child recorded accurately, and help by providing quiet, focused time for them. I definitely don't give h.w. over vacations. I'm with you... this is family time and time to relax and play!! If parents want work, I send them to Play and Learn for a workbook! :-)
I have been using the Math Expressions program for two years. It has a homework sheet and a remembering sheet for each lesson taught. The remembering sheets tend to be reviews of topics covered previously. The homework sheets tend to focus on topics currently being taught and are usually too hard for my students to do, especially if the topic is something newly taught. If I send the homework sheet home without first making sure that ALL my kids understand the concept, it generally comes back done incorrectly. Parents get frustrated, kids waste time practicing something incorrectly, and I don't discover that they don't understand until I correct the homework, which may or may not be that day. So now I use the Remembering Sheets as the homework and use the homework sheets as practice in class (or not at all).
I also see whose parents are involved in homework and whose are not. My kids have a reading/homework notebook in which they record their nightly reading and their nightly homework. I have parents sign the reading part, but I like Val's idea of a heart check and signature. I think I will revise my homework notebook so that parents will have to sign off on the homework as well as the reading. Of course we all have those students who don't bring back their homework, but I often find that parents don't know that they have any homework other than reading (and some don't know that). So I usually make sure that kids have written down what the homework is before I check that they've done the work for the night before. This can take quite a lot of time and practice in the morning before kids begin to do it automatically.
As for homework over vacation, my kids ask for it! I put packets of math practice sheets and other fun puzzle-book type exercises together for them. Some come back completed, others are never seen again. They are not for a grade, my kids just enjoy having other things to do at home. Oh, and all my books in my classroom are allowed out, they usually take stacks home particularly around vacation time and the weekends.
You would also be pleased to know that just before summer school let out, almost every student requested additional practice and work for the rest of the summer! I sent them off with overflowing folders!
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