Homework
Expectations and Guidelines

• There will be homework every night. Usually, the only exceptions are holidays and standardized test weeks.
• To find out what your child's homework is, you can check the assignment notebook.  They are given time each morning to write down what the homework will be for the evening.  It is written with page numbers and what texts to bring home.  (If it is missing from your child's assignment notebook, you might want to encourage him or her to copy more completely what is written.)
• On Mondays your child will be sent home with a Vocabulary Packet.  This will contain the vocab. words from our story of the week as well as some extra practice on the week's grammar skill.  This is due on Thursday.  (The entire front page of the end-of-story test is a vocabulary review.)
• On any four nights a week your child should read for 20 minutes...80 minutes are required per week.  There is a chart on your child's behavior chart for you to sign off on to show that you agree that your son or daughter has indeed read for the required amount.  This chart needs to be initialed after the weekend...I check them on Mondays.
• On any four nights a week your child should spend about 5 minutes practicing math facts.  I would like for all children to practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division at least once during the week.  Flashcards, oral drill and practice, computer games, worksheets...all of these are acceptable ways to practice.  The goal is speed and accuracy.  The more automatic they are with their facts, the more "brainpower" they can devote to solving actual mathematic problems.  Again, there is a chart on the bottom of the behavior chart and again, I check them on Mondays.
• Every Friday your child will come home with a "Nothing Notebook."  The minimum you have to do is sign the letter he or she has written to you.  It would be wonderful for you to take a few moments and write them an encouraging letter in return.  The goal of the "Nothing Notebook" is not only to inform you of our academic week and have the students practice writing friendly letters, but also for you to create a keepsake of your child's fourth grade experience.  The signed "Nothing Notebook" needs to be returned on Mondays.
• On any given night your child may be bringing home unfinished work from the day.  It is my goal for them to accomplish assigned tasks within the school day, but that is not always possible.  If it seems your child has an inordinate amount of work to "finish" every day, it could be that s/he is not using time given in the most wise way.
• Finally, I will usually assign a piece or two of work per night as actual Homework that is intended to be HOMEWORK.
• Homework should take no more than 40 minutes to an hour a night.  (Including reading and fact practice.)  If you find that it is taking longer than this, please let me know.

For those of you who are visual learners... try looking at it this way:

*Your child only needs to practice math facts or read for twenty minutes four nights a week.  These are just suggestions.  Complete these tasks whenever it best fits into your schedule. 

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