I'm still too busy to compose a letter to begin sharing what I'd like you to know as we begin this year, but want to get this out:
I have been offering work to students that can be done at home. Some of the work is simply to take home what we've been working on in class and continue it. Sometimes it is an extension of work in class - maybe a challenge. Sometimes it is a good old-fashioned math worksheet! (In fact, it has generally been math this year.) So far, there have been three to five items per week. Some were handed to students (one copy each student), some I set out for students to take.
In addition, I encourage students to bring their writing notebooks back and forth from school to continue writing at home. I insist that students MUST bring home library books they've checked out, and return any I find on tables or in lockers overnight! Reading is always number one with me.
Maybe you have seen some of this work, maybe you have not. I certainly hope students (and their families) recognize the value continuing to think about our studies at home and seek help and additional challenge with class studies from family members and friends. That said, homework is a HOME thing, and it is nothing I can require. I do not base grades on it. Instead, I offer the best I can with the resources and time I have, and trust families will make choices that foster the intellectual development of their child at home based on your child's unique interest, abilities, and needs, as well as their own capabilities.
If the homework I offer in class is something you want your child to do, please tell your child. Ask your child to bring home work they've completed in class, work in progress, additional items (like worksheets) that I set out, and their black composition writing books and math journals. (Please make sure the comp. book and journal get back to class in the morning!)
Probably on Friday I will also give students the first weekly issue of Time for Kids, along with a homework suggestion (worksheet or prompt based on an article).
Just tomorrow I will offer a short guide to our current math unit written for families. It will help you see what we are working on.
And, as always, you can stop by after class (or, on Thursday, drop by during Open House) to see the various items I've offered to students in the past days/weeks. I pile up the extras!
Thanks! Jonathon