Homework Folders

We had a true "First Six Weeks of School" followed by Fall Break. Now that we are back, my students are embarking on their first weeks of 2nd grade homework.

I've always felt good about the homework I assign. Parents seem happy, it's not too much of a headache for me to grade, and it gives students good practice. I've never let myself fret too much over homework and I don't intend to start anytime soon.

Being at a new school this year, though, caused me to reevaluate and reorganize my homework. For one thing, my students don't have agendas and agenda notebooks to keep their things in. Another difference is that we don't have Spelling homework here. In addition, we have a very strict homework policy by grade level.

So it basically took me this entire first six weeks to figure out what exactly I was going to do. But now I have, and let me just say: I LOVE my new system! 

To introduce it to my students and parents, I created a video and uploaded it to YouTube. The video held my students' attentions and parents have let me know that they appreciated it as well. I sent the video out the week before homework would begin.

The Gist:
Students have a homework folder that is due on Fridays. Their homework includes:
1. A short skill review. I'll create this weekly to target things we have studied and need to work on. This can also be a way for me to circle back around to old concepts as the year goes on. The page will get changed out weekly.
2. Reading homework. I expect them to read at least 20 minutes a night. I have them track some of their reading on a Book BINGO card. The card gets changed out monthly. I use differentiated boards based on reading grade levels. You can read more about my Book BINGOs and my reasons for using it in the post linked above.
3. Math Facts practice. Students have flashcards, game ideas (including one game I teach them in class), and internet links to bring home to practice our current skill. Most games can be played with a deck of cards. We will work on most skills for two weeks at a time. After two weeks, they will be assessed with a quick Mad Minute that can be found by clicking on my flashcards link above. No, I do not differentiate this. I've tried. It was more trouble than it was worth for me. In addition, we learn skills through cooperative games and number talks, which means I am supporting a specific skill in class, so it makes sense that they are working on a particular skill at home (for example, Near Doubles).

Product Spotlight: Book BINGO

The Book BINGO idea was born when I needed a way to provide direction and inspiration to students during their free choice reading at the end of the year. It was May, and pretty much all of my soon to be 3rd graders had lost their focus, stamina, and ability to choose "Good Fit" books.

Enter book BINGO. I created a book BINGO board for them to use during their free choice reading during our ELA block and challenged them to fill in at least 15 squares. It worked! It breathed life back into their work as readers and it was just FUN.

Although it is not the size of a regular BINGO board (this was on purpose as I felt that 25 was not a realistic number of tasks now that I've designed them as monthly reading homework), the idea is the same. Students can choose different reading tasks and challenge themselves to fill up a whole row or column or even the whole board! Here is my example for March:

Many 2nd graders get very attached to specific series or genres, which is wonderful! As an elementary student, I was very devoted to Baby Sitters Club, Sweet Valley Twins, and the American Girl series. Similarly, I had one student a few years ago who would only check out presidential biographies. This isn't a bad thing. This student knew what he wanted to read and how to find it. He gained familiarity with the structure and vocabulary used in these books. However, as teachers, I know we all want to expose our students to a variety of texts. Book BINGO was a simple way for me to do this.

I now use this Book BINGO as monthly reading homework. It replaces the traditional reading log that I used to assign my class. The kids do not have to fill in a square every night, because as 2nd graders I want them to read longer books and I also want them to have the freedom to choose something not listed on the BINGO board at times. At the end of the month, if students get 15 or more squares filled in, they earn a trip to the prize box.

My 2nd Grade Book BINGO for March is up on my TPT for free. See the TPT product here. 

My Book BINGOs for the whole year for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades are also up on my TPT site for a small price. The 1st and 3rd grade boards are new additions for me and I cannot wait to use them to differentiate for my 2nd graders! See the 2nd grade product here. 

I hope you'll try Book BINGO out and let me know what you think!