Reading Each school night, Monday through Friday, your child should read from a "Just Right" book of their choice for a period of twenty minutes. Your child can read silently or read aloud to you or another family member or friend. After reading a parent should initial the homework calendar to verify that homework was completed for the night. At the end of the month I will check for completion and give coupons to those who filled their calendar for the month! Why Can't I Skip My 20 Minutes of Reading? Let's figure it out -- mathematically! Student A reads 20 minutes five nights of every week. Student B reads only 4 minutes a night...or not at all! Step 1: Multiply minutes a night x 5 times each week. Student A reads 20 min. x 5 times a week = 100 min. /week. Student B reads 4 minutes x 5 times a week = 20 minutes. Step 2: Multiply minutes a week x 4 weeks each month. Student A reads 400 minutes a month. Student B reads 80 minutes a month. Step 3: Multiply minutes a month x 9 months/school year. Student A reads 3600 min. in a school year. Student B reads 720 min. in a school year. Student A practices reading the equivalent of ten whole school days a year. Student B gets the equivalent of only two school days of reading practice. By the end of 6th grade if Student A and Student B maintain these same reading habits, Student A will have read the equivalent of 60 whole school days Student B will have read the equivalent of only 12 school days. One would expect the gap of information retained will have widened considerably and so, undoubtedly, will school performance. How do you think Student B will feel about him/herself as a student? Some questions to ponder: • Which student would you expect to read better? • Which student would you expect to know more? • Which student would you expect to write better? • Which student would you expect to have a better vocabulary? • Which student would you expect to be more successful in school....and in life? Word Work In your child's Word Work folder you will find the daily activities that need to be done each evening, Monday through Thursday. Each activity is developmentally appropriate, explained explicitly, and should not take more than 5-10 minutes to complete. Patience is a virtue at the beginning of the year as we learn how to complete Word Work homework, but after a couple of weeks, it will be a piece of cake for both of you! Click here to view or print your child's weekly words. Math Each week your child will bring home a Math review Packet that contains skills previously taught or skills for enrichment. These packets will come home on Fridays and will need to be returned by the following Friday.  To view your child's packet for the week or print one out, please click on your child's letter.        "Guidelines for Helping With Homework So You Don’t Work Harder Than Your Child!" by Dr. Charles Fay, Love and Logic Institute • Set aside a time each day for family learning. Set aside at least 30 minutes, devoted to “family brain cell development.” During this time, there should be no TV, video games, computer games, etc. Model your own excitement for learning by reading a book, writing letters, etc. Your child may learn by doing their homework, reading about something they love, writing stories, etc. • Help only when your child truly wants it. Some parents make the mistake of forcing help upon their kids. This only creates frustration, anger, and kids who believe they can’t learn without their parents’ help. • Help only when there’s an absence of anger or frustration. When either you or your child gets frustrated or angry, learning becomes associated with frustration and anger. • Help only when your child can describe what the teacher said. This ensures that your child continues to believe that it’s important to pay attention to teachers. Unfortunately, some kids learn that it’s best to “tune-out” at school and let their parents do all of the teaching at home. • Move away from your child before he/she “gets it.” Some children believe they can only learn something, or “get it,” when an adult is in the same room…or is guiding them every inch of the way. To prevent this dependency, avoid falling into the habit of sitting at the table as your child does their homework, especially when they are on the brink of learning something new.