Why Traditional Homework Doesn't Work and How to Fix it
In 1995 Betty Hart and Todd Risley conducted a study which revealed a language gap that exists between families of different incomes, and shed light on a disparity of parent/child interactions that follow children through their lifetime. It seems the greatest gift that parents can give their children is free and readily available: quality and substantive interaction.
“In four years, an average child in a professional family would accumulate experience with almost 45 million words, an average child in a working-class family 26 million words, and an average child in a welfare family 13 million words.”
Dana Suskind of the Thirty Million Words Initiative and author of Thirty Million Words: Building a Child's Brain explains: "Why is the effect of parent talk so profound? Because its results are not only predictive of academic success in general, but on reaching potentials in math, spatial reasoning, and literacy, the ability to self-regulate behavior, reaction to stress, and even perseverance."
Other studies have also shown that time children spend with parents engaged in positive, quality experiences have great benefits upon their future success. Things like family meal times, emotional involvement, and one-on-one interactions are proven means for student success. Studies have also shown that children need time for both unstructured play, and family game time, during which children build academic skills at the same time that family relationships and communication skills are strengthened.
Although the research is clear in describing the elements that will build children who are strong both academically and emotionally, the actuality of modern life seem to run increasingly contrary to what is best. Parents are busy with demanding jobs and schedules and children are involved in activities that are mostly passive (such as television shows and video/tablet games). While these activities have benefits, they are input activities, which do not generally require the unpredictable demands of interpersonal interactions. In other words, a game or television show is much easier to predict than a person, and far less demanding.
Fortunately, a 2015 study shows that it is not the amount of time that parents spend with their children that makes the difference, but the quality of the activities that occur during that time. Apparently, if we use the time we have with our children wisely, we can achieve great things.
Is it any wonder then, that homework has become a source of debate for both parents and teachers? With our time so limited, and so important, every activity counts, and that's where traditional homework fails. A worksheet of practice activities sent home only for the purpose of fulfilling an obligation of daily homework just isn't going to cut it.
There is compelling argument for doing away with homework altogether, especially in the younger grades, but I would argue for something more moderate. After all, homework can serve as a bridge between teacher and parent, a method of communication that can inform families about classroom academics, children's abilities, and teacher goals. Additionally, when teachers build homework that fits the oral and cognitive needs of children, it can become a tool for parents to use to help them have quality interactions with their children.
I've stopped thinking of homework as extra practice that students take home. Instead, I treat homework as my way of sharing activities that provide families with tools they can use to have quality time together. Instead of sending home a vocabulary page, I send home an activity where students talk to their parents. Instead of sending home a page of math facts to practice, I send home a math game that children can play with their siblings and parents. I ask children to practice reading skills with their parents, and I send them home with a paper book to practice with. I try to make my homework about playing, cooking, painting, making, building, sharing, experimenting, and experiencing; the time that familys have together is valuable, and I want to respect that. I also respect time by sending home my activities as a monthly packet, instead of daily or weekly. That way, parents can use the activities in a way that fits their needs and individual schedules.
The response from parents to this homework has been incredible. They enjoy the time they spend with their children, and their children enjoy the time they spend at home learning and practicing skills. When we use homework in a way that respects parents and their important role as the primary teacher of their children, we are using it in a way that is powerful for student achievement and empowering for families.
So maybe it's time to rethink our goals for homework, and what we're really trying to accomplish by sending it home. My goal is to add to family life, not to take away from it, and to give parents access to materials that help make the most of their time. I hope that's your goal too.
If you would like to see exactly what I mean, here are three homework packets at different levels, designed to teach important skills for March. They are on SALE until the end of March.
Looking For Flexible Play-Based Homework?
Our homework comes in three levels: Preschool, Kindergarten, and First Grade. They can also be used as Below Benchmark, At Benchmark, or Above Benchmark for any of the above named grade levels.
Product Description
Are you looking for some great homework or at-home work that is Developmentally Appropriate and Child Centered and directly linked to standards? You will love this NO-PREP option.
Extend the learning each month by sending home or using with your own child, these early skills homework packets!
You can also use this packet as curriculum for a preschool, preparation for your own child in a home setting, as intervention for kindergarten students, and much more.
These packets are time-tested on hundreds of students. I can easily say that kids and parents LOVE them.
January Packet Includes:
Mitten Match: Rhyming
The Alphabet: MNOP
Numbers: 6 and 7
Ten Frame Melt-Away: Exploring Subtraction
The Mitten: Comprehension Activity
Triangles: Geometry
February Packet Includes:
Rhyming Friends: Rhyming
The Alphabet - QRST
Valentine Bears: Numbers
Syllable Clap: Syllables
Heart Count: Math
Color Worksheets: Colors
Shape-It-Up: Shapes
March Packet Includes:
Weather Rhymes
The Alphabet: U-X
Numbers: 8-10
Rain Clouds: Alphabet
Weather Patterns: Math
Color Flashcards: Colors
The Rectangle: Shapes
April Packet Includes:
The Hungry Duck: Rhyming
The Alphabet: Y&Z
Umbrella Letters: A-Z Practice
Counting Chicks: Counting
In the Meadow: Counting Words i
Bunnies and Carrots: Comparing Objects
A Spring Day: Colors
Musical Shapes: Naming Shapes
May Packet Includes:
Flower Match: Rhyming
Butterfly Letters: Alphabet
Flower Power Numbers: Numbers
Popping Bubbles: Words
Flower Count: Math
The Sky is Falling: Retelling
Flower Walk: Shapes
June Packet Includes:
Rhyming Rhythms: Rhymes
Mr. Sun: Alphabet
Sunshine Bingo: Numbers
Around the Sun: Phonemic Awareness
Measure IT!: Math
Fun in the Sun: Color Words
Shapely Shapes: Shapes
July Packet Includes:
Rhyming Sunglasses: Rhyming
Summer Fun At the Zoo: Alphabet
Going Buggy: Numbers
Family Fun: Phonemic Awareness
Starry Summer Night: Vocabulary
Beach Ball Count: Math
Shell Sort: Shapes
August Packet Includes:
A Day at the Park: Rhyming
The Alphabet: Alphabet
Number Names: Number Recognition
Watermelon Seeds: Counting Words
Number Cookies: Counting
My Crayons: Colors
Shape Memory: Shapes
September Packet Includes:
Mother Goose Rhymes: Rhymes
Apple Picking Time: Alphabet
Numbers 1 and 2
Reading Skills: Vocabulary
Sorting Apples: Math
Crayons: Colors
Circles: Shapes
October Packet Includes:
Rhyme It!: Rhymes
ABCD: Alphabet
Frightful Five: Math
A Fall Walk: Vocabulary
My Name: Sequencing
Colors: Colors
Spooky Shapes: Shapes
November Packet Includes:
Turkey Time Rhymes
Alphabet: E F G and H
Numbers: 3, 4, and 5
The Pumpkin Patch: Syllables
Harvest Basket: Math
Color Book: Colors
The Square: Shapes
December Packet Includes:
The Alphabet IJKL: Alphabet
Cookie Order: Numbers
The Gingerbread Man: Retelling and Story Elements
Gingerbread Decorations: Numbers
Color Worksheets: Colors
A Gingerbread Hunt: Shapes
You can also purchase the complete Kindergarten Collection Here
Or the First Grade Collection Here
Also available at Teachers Pay Teachers!
On Sale Half Price!
Product Description
School To Home Connect
Year Long Homework Bundle
This parent involvement resource will help strengthen the school-home connection as students practice essential preschool skills.
These January to December packets consists of simple games and activities that are fun and easy for the parent and child to complete together, returning only a checklist if you choose. Extend the learning at home by sending home monthly homework packets that are strategically linked to the Common Core Standards. Your students and parents alike will love the easy to use formats, engaging activities, and ease of homework management.
Contents Include
This packet includes contains all 16 Packets in our
Kindergarten Series. And ALL 16 packets have two versions, English and Spanish Translation.
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December. Plus, three bonus packets: Fall Intervention Packet, Winter Intervention Packet, Spring Intervention Packet are included.
January
The Snowman: A book to read together
Snowy Lotto: An alphabet game
Winter Delivery: A sight word activity
Color Match Snowmen: A color word activity
A Winter Wonderland: A blending game
Snowflake Swirl: A counting on activity
Snowman Clock: A math activity
January Calendar: A number handwriting activity
February
"Little Valentine's" A book to read together
Heart Bingo: Flash Hearts--Sight word activities
Don't Break My Heart: A word segmenting game
My Valentine's: Using Valentines to extend learning
Dragon Dance: Alphabet Sound Fluency
Number Games: Math Activities
February Calendar: A number handwriting Activity
March
Guided Reader: Out In Space
Mr. Spaceman: Conventions of Print
Letter Blast Off: Alphabet Letter Sound Naming Automaticity
Race Through Space: Alphabet Letter Naming Automaticity
Skip Counting: Counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's
Alien Planet: Segmenting Words Into Individual Phonemes
Decode it-Defeat it: Reading CVC Words
Alien Snap: Counting From Any Given Number
April
The Pond: A Sight word/Decodable Reader
Slithering Snakes: Alphabet sound fluency
Frogger: A Decoding game
Turtle Lotto: A sight word game
Family of Ducks: Word families
April Calendar: Number writing
Frog Eggs: Composing numbers
Spring Basket: Plus and minus
May
The Jungle: A guided reader (available in two levels)
ROAR!: A decoding game
Safari Sights: A sight word game
The Jungle: A writing activity
Around the Zoo: A sentence game
At the Zoo: A comprehension activity
The Zoo Parade: An addition game
Gorillas in Cages: A subtraction game
June
Capture the Butterfly: A word family game
Mosquito Slap: A sight word game
Flower Garden: A sentence game
I Can Be a Scientist: A decodable book
Lilypad Leap: A number line game
Ladybug Addition: An addition activity
Dragonfly Subtraction: A subtraction activity
Across the Curriculum: A collection of fun learning activities
July
Guided Reader: The Beach (Level C)
Sand Castles: A sight word game
Summer Celebration: A sentence game
Diving for Letters: Alphabet recognition
Shell Addition: An addition activity
Beach Ball Subtraction: A subtraction activity
The Number Swim: Writing numbers
August
Rhyme Book: A mini book of rhymes
My ABC's: An alphabet activity
A Ride to the Park: A color recognition game
The Shape of Things: Shape recognition
Number Flashcards: Number recognition
Name Writing: A handwriting activity
All About ME: Community-building activity
September
The Game: A book to read together
Football Flashcards: A capital letter review
Kick Off ABC Game: An alphabet game
Name Cheer: Letter recognition
Football Rhymes: A rhyming game
The Team: A number game
Huddle Up: Number activity
October (Also includes Non-Halloween Option)
Haunted House: A syllable game
Boo to You: An alphabet game
Spider Race: An alphabet activity
Monster Cookies: A beginning sound activity
Dark Woods Math: A number game
No Tricks, Just Treats: A sort and graph activity
November
My Bear: A Guided Reading Book
Time to Hibernate: An Alphabet Game
Star Gazing: A Letter Sound Game
A Walk In the Woods: An Ending Sounds Game
Letter Trace: Handwriting Activity
Bear Math: Variety of Math Activities
Number Bears: A Flashcard Activity
December
Christmas Time: A Guided Reading Book
Christmas Tree ABC: An Alphabet Game
To the North Pole: A Rhyming Game
Christmas Sounds: A Phoneme Isolation Game
Sound Train: Alphabet Sound Fluency
Christmas Memory: A Number Game
Letter Cookies: A Handwriting Activity
Additional Bonus of Strategic Intervention Packets: Offer concrete help to parents as you build a bridge between school and home, by offering this Intervention Packet as a way for parents to extend the learning at home. These great family games will not only provide additional teaching opportunities for kindergarten skills, they will also give parents opportunity to become familiar with academic concepts and their child's academic strength and weaknesses first hand.
Fall RTI
I like Books: Guided Reader
Alphabet Flashcards
Capital Shake: An Alphabet Game
My Letters: A Fluency Activity
Sound Isolation: Beginning Sounds Game
Rhyming Memory: Rhyming Game
A-Z Handwriting: Handwriting Practice
Number Trace: Number Formation
Winter RTI
Planes: An alphabet sound game
Letter/Sound Fluency: Two fluency practice sheets
Matching Middles: A phonemic awareness activity
Find the Picture: A blending/segmenting game
Letter Writing: Handwriting practice
Sight Word Study: A sight word activity
Color The Shape: A math activity
Number Bingo: A 0-20 game.
Spring RTI
The Early Bird: Alphabet Fluency
The Hungry Lamb: Sound Fluency
Spring Rhymes: Producing Rhyming
Rain, Rain, Go Away: A Decoding Game
Flower Garden: A Sight Word Activity
Bunny Hop: A Segmenting Game
Word Riddles: Phonemic Awareness
Number Hunt: Number Recognition
Baby Lambs: Addition
© Kindergarten Kiosk
Three levels are available for all 12 months of the year.
For your convenience, each activity is strategically linked to Core Standards.
This is also great product for parents looking to enrich learning, or homeschool parents that maintain a year round schedule
Note: All of our homework packets are available at three levels, Pre-K, Kindergarten and 1st Grade.
Bundles Save You Money
Kindergarten Home-Connect Yearly 16-Packet Bundle
Preschool Home-Connect Yearly Bundle
First Grade Home-Connect Yearly Bundle
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Product Description
Are you looking for some great homework or at-home work that is Developmentally Appropriate and Child Centered and directly linked to standards? You will love this NO-PREP option.
Extend the learning each month by sending home or using with your own child, these early skills homework packets!
You can also use this packet as curriculum for First Grade students, a homeschool, preparation for your own child in a home setting, as intervention for ELL students or enrichment for Kindergarten students, and much more.
These packets are time-tested on hundreds of students. I can easily say that kids and parents LOVE them.
January
The Snowman: A book to read
Snowy Lotto: Identifying short and long vowel sounds
Winter Delivery: A sight word activity
Silent e Snowmen: Reading words with and without the silent e.
A Winter Wonderland: Decoding Words
Snowflake Swirl: A counting on activity
Snowman Clock: A math activity
February
Read a Book: Little Valentines
Heart Bingo: Sight Words
Flashing Hearts: Sight Words
Don't Break My Heart: R-Controlled Game
My Valentines: Using received Valentines to extend learning
Dragon Dance: Reading fluently with expression
February Calendar: Handwriting and calendar practice
March
Guided Reader: Out In Space
Mr. Spaceman: Conventions of Print
Blast Off: Reading Fry Phrases.
Race Through Space: More or Less
Alien Planet: Adding endings to base words
Decode it-Defeat it: Decoding long vowel words
Alien Snap: Number Combinations
April
The Early Bird: Phrase Fluency
Rain Rain Go Away: Vowel Digraphs
Flower Garden: Adding Prefixes
Bunny Hop: Adding Suffixes
Word Riddles: Phonemic Awareness
Number Hunt: Numbers
Baby Lambs: Addition using a 20-Frame
March
Guided Reader: Out In Space
Mr. Spaceman: Conventions of Print
Blast Off: Reading Fry Phrases.
Race Through Space: More or Less
Alien Planet: Adding endings to base words
Decode it-Defeat it: Decoding long vowel words
Alien Snap: Number Combinations
April
The Early Bird: Phrase Fluency
Rain Rain Go Away: Vowel Digraphs
Flower Garden: Adding Prefixes
Bunny Hop: Adding Suffixes
Word Riddles: Phonemic Awareness
Number Hunt: Numbers
Baby Lambs: Addition using a 20-Frame
May
Slithering Sentences: Sentence fluency
Frogger: A decoding game
Turtle Lotto: A synonym game
A Family of Ducks: A word family activity
May Calendar: A handwriting activity
Frog Eggs: A number activity
A May Day Story: A creative writing activity
June
Capture the Butterfly: A word family game
Mosquito Slap: A sight word game
Flower Garden: A sentence game
Lilypad Leap: A number line game
Ladybug Addition: An addition activity
Fly Away, Dragonfly: A subtraction activity
Across the Curriculum: A collection of fun learning activities
July
Friends at the Beach: A level J guided reader
Sand Castles: A sight word game
Summer Celebration: A sentence game
Diving For Words: Sight word recognition
Shell Addition: An addition activity
Beach Ball Subtraction: A subtraction activity
The Number Swim: Writing Numbers
August
The Jungle: A decodable book
ROAR!: A decoding game
Safari Sights: A sight word game
The Jungle: A writing activity
Around the Zoo: A sentence game
At the Zoo: A comprehension activity
The Zoo Parade: An addition game
Gorillas in Cages: A subtraction game
September
Decodable Book: What do I see
Soundasaurus: Blending and Segmenting Words
Dino Sight Words:Sight Words
Sound and Letter Fluency: Building Fluency
Don't Eat Skeet: Letter Sound Fluency
Read & Make Words: CVC Words
Dinosaur Addition: Reviewing Simple addition Skills.
Dino Number Match: Reviewing Number Words
Science: Erupting Volcanos
Handwriting: Dino Dirt
October
Haunted House: A syllable game
Boo to You: A sight word game
Spider Math: A math activity
Monster Cookies: A beginning sound activity
Dark Woods Math: A number game
No Tricks, Just Treats: A sort and graph activity
November
My Bear: A Guided Reading Book
Time to Hibernate: A Sight word Game
Star Gazing: A Blend/Digraph Sound Game
A Walk In the Woods: A Medial Sound Game
Letter Trace: Handwriting Activity
Bear Math: Variety of Math Activities
Number Bears: A Flashcard Activity
December
Christmas Time: Guided Reader
Christmas Tree: Blends
North Pole: Word Family Game
Christmas Tree: Addition
Sight Word Train: Fluency
Christmas Memory: Sight Word Game
Handwriting