Homework help

          It was so nice to meet many of you at Curriculum Night Thursday.  One of the questions that came up was how to help your child with homework.  So many people asked that I thought I would create a post dedicated to that subject.

          Franklin Public Schools has a guideline that teachers should take the grade that the students are in and multiply that by 10, and then add 10 minutes.  So third graders would be expected to spend an average of 40 minutes on homework nightly.  That being said, our team has developed a structure whereby children will respond to a reading passage on Monday night, respond to poetry on Wednesday night, have math each night Monday through Thursday, and occasionally have additional work to cover the 40 minutes.  I believe that thus far, I have not assigned sufficient work to reach 40 minutes.  This is in part to break the children in slowly, as well as to encourage them to use the additional time to create a habit of reading for pleasure.

          So, how can you help your child?  They should have a quiet place in your home where they routinely head to get their homework done.  This area should be free from distractions, and have the tools necessary to complete their assignments (usually pencils, erasers, etc.)

          I was pleased to hear how many parents look over their child’s work before it gets put back into their backpacks.  This sends a wonderful message to the children that you feel their work is important. Many parents wondered if they should correct any mistakes at this point.  My suggestion is that if you think they understand the concepts and may have made mistakes from rushing, let them know how many things they should look to correct when they go back and try again.  If they have enough mistakes that you question their understanding of a topic, feel free to help them learn the material.  Spend a little time going over it, and have them try again independently.  I urge you to be careful that if you do go over it with your child, make sure that when the paper is redone, they are doing it independently.  The reason for this is that if you do it together, and the answers are all correct, I am going to assume when I see a perfect paper that your child understands the material.  If there are several mistakes when a paper gets handed in, Mrs. Green or myself will pull your child into a small group to review the material.  They will never be “graded” on homework.  It is really an opportunity to let them give it a try independently, and it guides our instruction daily.

          Lastly, we spoke briefly about the consequences of not doing homework.  I have given this quite a bit of thought since our discussions.  I have decided that one of the things that I will do if homework does not come in is that the children will fill out a slip stating what is missing, and why they did not complete it. This note will get sent home for a parent signature, just so that you are aware of it.  If several notes go home to you, we can open a discussion of further consequences at that time.  I think this may send the message to your child that homework is important, as well as serve as a means to keep you informed.

         I am looking forward to working with you to ensure that your child has a successful year in third grade.