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Name _____________                                                                     

Class 311/Lodge

For the week ending Friday, October 26                                                         

Homework Out-of-School Opportunities for Practicing Academics and Habits of Mind

A copy of the weekly opportunities can always be found on the JES website on Lodge “homework” page


  1. Reading Log

To become stronger readers we need to practice by reading, reading, reading.  If you read at home 5 times a week for 15-20 minutes you will become a better reader and get a


Check if read 15-20 minutes

Friday


Saturday


Sunday


Monday


Tuesday


Wednesday


Thursday


Books/magazines/comics read  (titles should be capitalized and underlined)



Parent signature____________________________________________________




2. Fluency

Random playing cards were pulled to generate numbers. Use some or all of them in an equation to try to get as close to the target number as possible.

  • You can only use each card once.

  • You can’t break numbers apart (i.e. 8 can’t become 7 and 1)

  • You can’t put numbers together (i.e. 2 and 5 is not 25).

  • You can use any operation; add, subtract, multiply, divide, exponents…

Card 1

Card 2

Card 3

Card 4

Card 5

Target Number

2

2

3

8

9

68



Your best answer(s)

______________________________________________=______________

                                              (equation)


= An equation, to show your thinking, that is closest answer to the target number that you could find

= Target number

3. Keyboarding

Keyboarding is an essential skill! In an analysis of student typing, all students are currently hunting and pecking, mostly one-handed with a few two-handed. To become more fluent I set up a class typing account;


lodge.typingclub.com

To log in all they need is their username which is their first name and last initial. The password is 311. It teaches home row and extra practice will only make them faster!



4. Maths

By the end of fourth grade all students are expected to be able to know their addition and subtraction, multiplication and division facts . To this end all students have a Reflex Maths account for additional opportunities for practice.


https://www.reflexmath.com/

They know how to log-in. The teacher name is nlodge, the class is 311,  their name and the passwords are


Jaden jb48   Lyla lb19    Emma eb41    Hailey hb69    Zoie   zc83   Abby af49    Chase ch34    Layla lh69     Casey ch77     Skylar sk70     Violet vl91    Estes er51     Emily es88     Dylan dw48


Prodigy

Ripleys37/food49 CarterV858/cow10 EstesR/orange7 CalebW5148/book41


Homework Philosophy



Dear Green Mountaineers and Families,


Perhaps it is the time of year to dive head-first into the stormy waters of homework! Reading the local papers recently, the topic is making headlines and stirring debate;


“South Burlington school subtracts homework” Burlington Free Press, September 9th

“Homework is banned at this Massachusetts school” Boston.com, September 6th

The letter that went viral on the internet;




I see two sides to the whole homework debate. For example;


For Homework

Against Homework

  • Homework allows students to practice responsibility. Two of the habits of mind are self-direction and responsible and involved citizenship. Homework is an opportunity to practice these.


  • Middle school and high school certainly will assign homework, and so by giving it in younger grades they can start to form habits that will make transitions to the older grades easier.


  • To achieve certain goals in life, practice is needed. If you don't practice your band instrument, the piece of music will never be played. If you don’t exercise frequently, your fitness level will never be where you would like it to be. So too with reading and math fluency! The more you practice these skills, the stronger you will become.

  • There is no compelling data that shows homework in elementary school leads to increased academic performance.


  • Homework is a stress on families. As a parent myself, I know how hectic the typical American family’s life is; between trying to pay the bills, take kids to extracurricular activities, maintain the house... I know the additional, conflict and stress that homework assignments can cause.  In addition, after a long day at work I would rather have quality family time rather than nag and hassle. Talking over dinner, reading a book as a family, going for a walk are surely more beneficial than a grammar worksheet.

  • Homework tends to lack equity. Not all students have the same level of support with homework, resources to do homework, and environment to do homework in. As such, grading homework as part of a grade has never sat well with me.  With the new report card there is no room for this anyway, as we are measuring observed work against Common Core expectations.




As such a compromise position is offered on a weekly basis!


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