First Grade Homework

[mickeyfan2]

Seems a little excessive to me.

 

[Snoopymom]

I noticed the poster is in GA, as we are, and because GA has been at the bottom for test scores and drop out rates, there is a huge amount of pressure on the teachers to get the test scores improved starting all the way with Kindergartners and 1st graders. Each school has an accountability report measuring it's progress through test scores.

It's crazy! Ds is reading, has an amazing vocabulary, can write whole sentences, etc., but developmentally he doesn't have the fine motor skills or the behavior skills mastered yet to do this type of work...I don't know very many kids, boys especially, who can even sit for a half hour straight.

(I made copies of the Monday book report sheet so that ds can work on it for a few minutes at a time during the weekend when he's not as tired and overwhelmed as he is after school on Monday.)

It will be interesting to see if this plan improves the statitics as our kids get into highschool. Thanks for the article. I'll check it out.

 

[padams]

DSs go to a private school in Atlanta. The homework described by the OP is very similar to what DSs had in 1st grade. It would take them about 20 minutes to do the work you have listed. Our school assigns 20 minutes of homework plus 20 minutes reading at 1st grade, 30 minutes of homework at 2nd grade (and always plus reading), 45 minutes at 3rd grade, 1 hour at 4th grade, and for my 5th grader this year, 90 minutes of homework plus reading. There are parents at our school who think this amount is not enough homework.

If your child is struggling with the homework, please let the teacher know. There may be learning issues (such as dyslexia) and it's better to work on those issues as early as you can.

 

[mchames]

DSs go to a private school in Atlanta. The homework described by the OP is very similar to what DSs had in 1st grade. It would take them about 20 minutes to do the work you have listed. Our school assigns 20 minutes of homework plus 20 minutes reading at 1st grade, 30 minutes of homework at 2nd grade (and always plus reading), 45 minutes at 3rd grade, 1 hour at 4th grade, and for my 5th grader this year, 90 minutes of homework plus reading. There are parents at our school who think this amount is not enough homework.

If your child is struggling with the homework, please let the teacher know. There may be learning issues (such as dyslexia) and it's better to work on those issues as early as you can.

We are 90% sure Kelsey has a reading disorder, most likely dyslexia and are in the process of scheduling a full psych evaluation with a private psychologist. It looks like we may be able to get her in the first week of October. I am pretty sure that this is part of the reason it takes her so long to do these assignments.

I was just wondering if her homework was on par with other first grade classes. The first grade classes at our school are not doing "team assigned homework" this year like they have in the past. The homework is being assigned by each individual teacher and the homework for the 12 first grade classes seems to vary from very easy worksheets to the more complex assignments I listed depending on the teacher. (This is from unofficial polling of parents with children in other classes )

I am scheduling a conference with her teacher next week and plan on discussing homework amongst other things. On a side note, DD6 really likes her teacher and enjoys the class. She really enjoys going to school and I just want to make sure as things pick up and get even more difficult she doesn't become completely frustrated.

Mary

 

[padams]

Mary- Once you know more about your child's reading challenges, talk to the Schenk School (Atlanta's premier school for dyslexia) and the Atlanta Speech School (deals with learning challenges, especially reading based ones). While private school may not be something you are interested in doing, both schools have outstanding programs and can be a great resource. Even if you leave your child in her school, I would think it would be helpful to see what the "best of the best" are doing for kids with reading challenges. My kids have friends at these schools, and the parents rave about how helpful the administrators and staff are.

BTW, I hate that my kids' have so much homework. I heard on the radio this week that there's a new study out of Duke Univ. that shows homework is a waste of time. I'll have to search for it.

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

that's too much!!! Our DD had NO MORE than 15 mins of homework as per the school policy (like a math worksheet) plus they were expected to read for 15or 20 minutes.....sometimes sight word review or something else we had to review would run over that...but it was just review and not anything like writng sentences or a poem....

this year (3rd) teacher gives independent review only work....plus reading and review of spelling words, of course - and for the first time: no homework on the weekend!!! I believe homework should only be a review and practice of what was already learned - this was not always the case in 1st and 2nd.

 

[mchames]

Mary- Once you know more about your child's reading challenges, talk to the Schenk School (Atlanta's premier school for dyslexia) and the Atlanta Speech School (deals with learning challenges, especially reading based ones). While private school may not be something you are interested in doing, both schools have outstanding programs and can be a great resource. Even if you leave your child in her school, I would think it would be helpful to see what the "best of the best" are doing for kids with reading challenges. My kids have friends at these schools, and the parents rave about how helpful the administrators and staff are.

BTW, I hate that my kids' have so much homework. I heard on the radio this week that there's a new study out of Duke Univ. that shows homework is a waste of time. I'll have to search for it.

Thank you. My DD8 also has friends at both Schenk and the Atlanta Speech School. I have only heard wonderful things about both of those schools. We are not ruling out either one as an option, but we need to see what the results of her evaluation are before we can decide whether keeping her in public school with private tutoring or moving her to Schenk or the Speech School would be best. I know that both of those schools only take a very limited number of students and the waiting lists can be extremely long, so in the interim we need to figure out how to work with the public school system without her getting frustrated and falling behind.

DD8's 3rd grade homework is just as bad, though she is able to get through it with less drama ... accept on ballet nights when she is absolutely EXHAUSTED.

Mary