Three-fer Thursday! {Homework!!!}

Happy Thursday!

It's my 3rd day of teaching summer school and it's kinda nice to be back in the swing of things!

Today the 3-fer is all about homework.

I believe it's important for students to practice their skills at home.  It's also a way that parents can support classroom learning... but, sometimes, it's difficult for students to complete their homework.  They get busy or lazy or forget or the dog eats it!

But, having a "homework club" is a cheap incentive to encourage students to be responsible for their learning outside of school.

I allow my students 1 "oops" a month.  But, a 2nd homework assignment not completed means they must flip their number over in the chart.  At the end of the month, anyone still in the club eats lunch in the room with me, receives a certificate and a homework pass, and gets their name on a sign posted outside of the door.

My Homework Club pack is 20% off today and has everything you need to get this started with your class!

Add some extra fun with these themed homework passes!  The Homework Club pack contains homework passes but I love this themed pack because I give them out for holidays and birthdays!  A homework pass is the same as completing homework so my students often save these and use them on those busy nights or their "oops"!  Also 20% off today!

Last item of 3-fer Thursday is "Show What You Know"... technically this is cheating because this makes more than 3 items but these are PERFECT for homework {I use them for morning work}... weekly checks for math and grammar that spiral all year and contain an opportunity to respond to questions by writing about math/grammar!

Ok!  Enjoy this week's 3-fer Thursday!  Get your HOMEWORK ON!

Homework Club, Oh Homework Club! {Win One Today!}

I'm linking up with The Applicious Teacher to share my Homework Club!

**Today (7/7- happy birthday to my dad!!!) I'm adding a few more goodies to my Homework Club pack, bringing the total pages to over 70!**

Last week Tara posted her cute Homework Club display for her Monday Made-It post and it got me re-thinking about my homework club in my classroom.

Homework is tricky because, when students are young, if it doesn't get completed, it is a home issue not a student issue.  However, I also believe that we have to teach our students to succeed in spite of things they may be facing at home and an easy way we can do that is to encourage responsibility when it comes to homework.  One way I've found to do that is with a club... because kids love clubs!

Do you do a "Homework Club"?  I've been doing one since 2006 and it's a huge hit every year.  Basically, students can join the club each month just by completing their homework!  My kiddos don't know this (so don't tell them!) but they can secretly miss one assignment here and there and I don't make a fuss about it.  I know my teacher bag sits full and lonely many a night when I just can't get to the "homework" I brought for myself to do, so I try to be understanding for my students.  BUT, I do hold them accountable and try to develop that responsibility and pride in a job well done.

I just jazzed up all of my "Homework Club" resources and have them at TpT.

Each month, my students who stay in the club get to eat their lunch in the room with me and they each get an award...

And a homework pass they can cash in during a homework crisis...

I also display their names in my classroom for the month.  I think I'm going to put them in the hallway this coming year so everyone can share in our celebration!

I jazzed up my display a bit too...

I also have "Homework Club" brag tags from Image Stuff.  Not every kid gets one every month, but I choose two or three at random each month to receive one!  They love it!

I also use my monthly check lists (love 'em!) to keep my own private daily record of my students' homework completion.  Click HERE to check them out!

I just posted the whole jazzed up version of my Homework Club pack on TpT and I'm pretty proud of it!  You can check it out by clicking the pic below.  If you'd like to win a copy, leave me a homework related comment and I'll choose a winner late Sunday!

 Check out my Homework Club on TpT!

End of the Year Parent Survey Freebie!

I have four days left... and I'm getting a little sad!  I've had half of my people for two years now and I'm sooo going to miss them!

I'm working on wrapping up my end of the year stuff this weekend.

First on my list is to finish my classroom awards.  We have a general awards assembly as a school, but the awards are academic, attendance, and citizenship and I have a few kids who won't receive an award.  So, I always do awards in my classroom too after the assembly.  Everyone will get an award at that time.  I know it's important that kids understand that you have to work hard to get awarded, but they get to learn that lesson during the big assembly.  In my room afterwards, I want everyone feeling good and getting something!

Here are the awards I'll be passing out... I made awards for everything from academic stuff to kindness to sharing to having a clean desk to someone who always is humming or singing a tune to share their love of music with the class!

Check them out on TpT- I'm keeping them at a sale price until my last day of school!

Last week I sent home an end of the year parent survey to get some feedback on classroom things so I can plan for next year.  You can get a copy of the survey at my TpT or Teacher's Notebook shops for FREE!

Find it on TpT or on Teacher's Notebook

Most of my parents sent them back on Friday and they've given me some good feedback and some happy notes too!  :)

Monday is our "Homework Hall of Fame" pizza party for the students who were in the homework club every month for the year.  I'm so thrilled that, for the 2nd year in a row, 100% of my students had 100% homework completion for the year!  Now, that does mean that once in a while someone didn't do their homework but then did it the next night and returned it.  But I'm pretty psyched!  They couldn't WAIT for me to tell them who was invited to the pizza party... so I got to do a lot of "after we're done working quietly for the next 10 minutes, I'll let you know who is in the hall of fame"... sneaky sneaky!

Happy Saturday!

Homework!... how it looks in Room 10

I'm linking up with the Lesson Plan Diva with this post about homework in my room... looking forward to seeing what everyone else does for homework too!  So, this post is an oldie, but a goodie!  :)

In my class, students have homework every night except for Fridays.

Each night, they have a math page (Homelink from Everyday Math), Speller's Choice, and 15-minutes of required reading from a book of their choice.

My students have a homework sheet that they get in their HORSE folders each week. Teaching 2 grade levels, I had to figure out how to manage this without making a ton of extra work for myself... so I tweaked my homework sheet to fit both grade levels. I made it a fillable PDF so I didn't have to worry about formatting or text changes from my home to school computer and then I just had to fill in the date and assignments each week from my school computer! You can see it below.

I don't use every Homelink and, since I don't send homework on Fridays, I do pick and choose the most valuable Homelinks to send home.

When I check folders in the morning, I do it while my students are completing their morning work/eating breakfast in the classroom. I pull out the math, check to see that spelling was completed, and put a star/sticker/stamp in that day's box if homework was completed.

I have a homework tracker booklet that I made that is a grid. Each students' name is written down the left and I write the dates across the top. If homework was completed, they get a check. If spelling wasn't done, I write an "S" and an "M" for math. If they forgot their HORSE, I draw an "X". The "class grid" file is for sale at my Teacher's Notebook shop or on TpT- here's a peek at it! The "name" column is fillable so you can type students' names in.

At the end of each month, any student who has completed 100% of their homework, gets invited to be in the "Homework Club". The kids LOVE it! Last year, I had 100% participation every month and the kids loved eating lunch with me in the room, so that is how we celebrated every month. I usually brought cookies or some sort of treat to share with them during our lunch too. At the end of the year, I always have a pizza party for the kids who have been in the club every single month. And those kids (the "Homework Hall of Fame") have their names printed on a sign that will hang in my room forever! They love looking back to see who they know from my former classes that are in the "Hall of Fame"!

"Homework Club" is a huge incentive to my kiddos and they take their homework completion very seriously! I do TOTALLY understand that when a 6 or 7 year old doesn't do their homework, it isn't their fault... it's more likely a parent issue. So, I do take that into consideration. And if you miss one night of homework, I do keep you in the club if you complete it late.

Habitual non-homework doers may need time in class to complete it. I know we are trying to instill responsibility in our students, but I also try and think about what is happening in my students' homes that might prohibit them from having the necessary support to complete their homework.

So, that's my homework in a nutshell!