Making a Weekly Homework Sheet Work for Me!

We are required to send home homework during the week and, this year, I found sending a packet home on Monday worked best for me.

Every Monday, my students received a packet with their homework for the week.  I always "assign" something per night, but they can complete it at their leisure and return on Friday!

Homework always followed the same basic format:

-a passage to read 3x to develop fluency
-a page from THIS pack on TpT that aligns with Eureka math (one of my best ever purchases and one that I will be re-purchasing so I can have the 2nd grade pack for the upcoming year!)
-a page to practice our weekly high-frequency words
-a math practice page focusing on math facts (number bonds, simple addition/subtraction, etc...)

Keeping the type of work the same allowed students to be independent, which I think parents appreciated!

My start to the school year was a whirlwind and I found it hard to keep up with creating a homework sheet and a newsletter each week, so I combined them into one and stapled it to the front of the homework packet.

It worked so well!  And, doing it on Google Slides, meant I could easily work on it at home if needed and then access at school.

This year, I have jazzed up the look of my homework sheet and I am officially in LOVE.

Here's the "look" with some fake info thrown in so you can get the full effect...

I have uploaded this template to TpT too... it's 100% editable so you can completely customize for your classroom!

If you're looking for a simple, effective homework/classroom happenings communication tool that you can customize in Google Slides, check it out!  Check out EDITABLE CALENDARS in Google Slides too!

Weekly Homework Sheets {Why I Do What I Do Linky}

Welcome to "Why I Do What I Do" on my ol' blog!  Today I'm sharing about why I (we) use weekly homework sheets in my (our) 3rd grade class(rooms)!

The we/our/classrooms is in reference to the entire 3rd grade at my school.  Because we are departmentalized, it's important that everyone have access to the homework sheet that we send home so that all teachers can add necessary class info.

So... we have an easy solution... our weekly homework sheet is a Google Doc that we can all access, change, and print out for our individual classes!

It looks like this...

We print these off each Monday morning and kids take them home in their FALCON folder.  How we handle them in our own classrooms is our own choice.

I go around each morning to check for parent initials.  If a student doesn't have initials, I circle the box and students move their clips down.  Yes, yes, I know... this might sound harsh and could be a parent issue and not a student issue, which I have addressed with individual students (one student was allowed to initial his own sheet last year after completing homework).  But I also think students need to have some responsibility in showing their homework to their families and asking for their sheet to be signed.  Parents are such important partners in school success and this is one easy way for students to be accountable for involving their parents in classroom happenings.  After I implemented the "clip down" policy, it was extremely rare for a student to come in with their sheet un-signed.  If there are no initials two days in a row, the student writes a note home asking his/her parent to please sign their HW sheet.  I carry a clip board with these editable check-lists to check off who has brought their folder/HW sheet back and who has not.

On Fridays, I check the spelling homework that has been completed on the back while my students take their spelling test on Spelling City.

And, on Monday, they turn in the HW sheet from the previous week while taking one for the new week.

So... why do you do homework communication the way that you do?  And how do you do it?

Link up below to share why you do what you do when it comes to homework communication!

An InLinkz Link-up

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!

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!

Giveaway Time!

I haven't done a giveaway in a while so I thought this would be the perfect time to get one started! I'm getting ready to head back to school but Michigan schools don't start until the Tuesday after Labor Day... but I know lots of you are going back any day now and some have already started!

This giveaway is the PERFECT item to help you stay organized in the classroom. It is for a set of class grids you can use to check off who has done what in your room each month. I use mine for homework... but if you printed off a few sets and grouped the months together, it would make a great grade book too! The cover and left hand columns on each page are fillable in Adobe and, to make it even easier, the names duplicate on each page so you only have to type them in once and... viola! Your pages all have names on them!


This giveaway is going to run until Wednesday night and then I'll choose three winners who will each get a copy of my "Check Please!- A set of monthly check off grids" for the classroom! This file is available at my TpT store too so if you don't win and think you'd like one, you can head over and pick one up!

All you need to do to enter is leave me a comment and (if you have a blog) spread the word about this to others... if you blog about it, leave a 2nd comment to be entered TWICE!!!! On Wednesday, I'll choose three winners by random number generator.

Good luck and happy class gridding!

S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G

Since we're all thinking about changes and such for the next school year, I'm linking up an old post for TBA's blog hop!  This is my most popular freebie on my blog!



For the past five years, I have done "Speller's Choice" for homework in my classroom. The kids get to "choose" how to practice their spelling words within a set of choices I have set up for them.

This has worked out really well. However, next year I will be looping with half of my class and I wanted to do something a little different. So, instead of keeping the same number of choices for the year, each month students will get a new set of choices.

I have attached them below and added a fillable area for you (if you want to use it!) to put in your own e-mail address on a few of the sheets where e-mailing the words is a choice- you'll just have to download (rather than just view) to edit on those pages.

If you download and enjoy, please let me know with a comment! :)