Every Monday students receive new books in their book bags. Reading out loud to an adult or older sibling is an excellent form of homework for your 1st graders. We are building stamina; a greater quantity of books will be going home in the book bag, so more reading will need to be taking place during the week. I am already seeing progress in guided reading groups--awesome!! If you are wanting more homework for your child, here are some suggestions:
- istation--reading AND math. Both programs are great! Your child's login has been sent home, but let me know if you need it again. Istation has an app, so it can be done on a table or a computer.
- Speaking of apps . . . I really love the app My Word Wall. It is great for spelling! But it is not free. Another good one for math is Motion Math Hungry Fish. It's great for decomposing numbers.
- Occasionally I will also send home handwriting homework. I don't want letter formation to slow down getting ideas on paper, so we are going to keep practicing those lower case letters!
- I am a public library advocate. Let your child check out as many books as s/he can carry!!! The freedom to choose whatever book one wants to read is proven to help children engage with reading. They will sometimes pick out books that are too hard--that's ok, as long as they have also checked out some easier books. Libraries have been a huge blessing for me as a parent. My children and I go usually once a week, and we leave with a rolling cart FULL of books. It's the one place I let them get pretty much as much as they want! :-)