How much homework for a 3rd grader?

[Pea-n-Me]

Are they in honors or special classes or something?

Mine are not, just regular second grade class in public school.

I would call your district office get the homework guidelines and be prepared to meet with the principal over it. I had one teacher that gave hours of homework to my then 2nd grader. I did what I told you, checked the standards, checked with my MIL who was a teacher, showed her the homework packet, met with the principal and it was reduced.

I'll look into that, thanks. As I said previously, with our kids there is a bit of dawdling and whining, but for the most part they are working for around two hours with us supervising them. No TV or other distractions.

The other thing I forgot to mention is that my two are on the older end of the spectrum for second grade - having an October birthday - so they'll be 8 this month. They are pretty hard workers and serious about school, teachers tell us they enjoy having them in their classes. I can't imagine how difficult all this homework must be for people who have kids that are on the younger spectrum and/or more distractable.

 

[ElizaB39]

DS 3rd grade. 20 minutes of reading, spelling practice, math worksheet or two each night, sometime social studies, excluding the reading it doesn't take more than 30 minutes each night and usually more like 20.

 

[golfgal]

Thanks everyone for all of your input!

Here's what she had yesterday:

200 (yes, 200) multiplication problems (all the way up to 9's and 10's) to be completed in a group of 100 ... do a different assignment, then the other 100.

A 5 Stanza poem that had a full worksheet of questions to be answered about
i.e. which sentence is interrogatory? Which is exclamatory? List 5 action verbs, What is another word for glade? What is another word for vale? (I didn't even know those and we had to go to a dictionary AND synonym finder to find these)

5 pictures to be drawn representing each stanza

24 Spelling words that had to be written out in 24 creative sentences.

25-30 minutes of reading

These are all on the 'homework' sheet, so I don't think they're leftover class work.

Here's an example of the previous night:

Put these 8 "Constitutional Events" in order. (8 items listed, NO story or sheet to derive answers from - had to search on internet myself!)

Create 2 graphs using this data

Worksheet answering questions regarding existing graphs

Nouns worksheet - 2 sided

2 pages of math from textbook

25-30 minutes reading

I know she's not dawdling or watching tv. Most of these things she needs constant supervision for. I swear it's like I'm in school again! She comes in from school, has a snack and takes off her shoes, and we work together until it's done...

I will definitely ask other classmates parents to see how long they're taking.

Thanks everyone!

Was all that due today???? That looks like something most teachers would assign on a Monday and have it due on Friday, YIKES!!

 

[Christine]

Okay, that's way too much.

 

[gottaluvPluto]

My DD is in the 3rd grade and homework can range from 2 hours to an hour. Most nights she will have to read an AR book for 30 minutes or more, 30 math problems, Social Studies or Science page, spelling 20 words, and a page in English. If they have time in school then they can do their homework.

My DD's bookbag is so heavy that I don't even want her to carry it. I have talked to the school about buying text books because her bag weights about 20 pounds sometimes.

 

[cotomom]

Was all that due today???? That looks like something most teachers would assign on a Monday and have it due on Friday, YIKES!!

Yep, her homework comes home one night, and it's due the next day. If she doesn't do any of it, she goes into the 'black book' and a note goes home to the parent explaining what happened. Then I think it's like 2 black book entries in one week, and you lose a recess or something fun on Friday.

My question is what about soccer practice, or piano lessons, a playdate or a bike ride? Can't kids still be kids? My DD wants to try out for the school play and I don't think she'll be able to keep up with homework w/ 2-3 afternoons of practice.

 

[Trish Bessette]

All I can say is OMG!!!!!!!!! I have a DD in 3rd grade and every night she has to read 20 minutes. Aside from that, Tuesday & Thursday she has math which may take 20 minutes at the most. Monday she has science which takes about 15 minutes.

Never has she spent more than 40 minutes on homework in a night and that includes the 20 minutes of reading!

I would DIE if she had that much. Like someone said, what do you do if they are involved in sports like my DD is?

My other DD who is in 6th grade doesn't even have over an hour of homework each night.

 

[QueenTriton]

We started out the year with about 2 hours a night (3rd grade), plus reading, plus studying for tests. My daughter never complains about homework and works diligently through it. We spoke to the teacher, who said it should take 45 minutes tops. Well, it didn't and that, along with other issues, led us to speak with the principal. She now spends a little over an hour, including reading, etc., with a bit more time for special projects, which are given well in advance.
Talk to the teacher. Sometimes they really don't know how long the work actually takes. If that doesn't work, move up the ladder. Kids should have time for sports and creative play.
Our 2nd grade teacher did her masters work on the value of homework and found little correlation between the amount of homework and learning progression, including standardized test scores.

 

[aprincessmom]

DD's third grade teacher said the homework should take about 40 minutes per night (she gave a packet for the entire week -- math, spelling and writing) and then required an additional 20 minutes of reading a night. DD would finish the entire packet for the week in 30 minutes with no mistakes and settle down to reading for about an hour a night (her own choice). She wasn't all that challenged with the work so it didn't take all that long.

Her friend with the same teacher was working about 1 hour per night on the two worksheets, never mind the reading.

You might want to review what the homework is and is it too hard for your child. Maybe she isn't getting the concept in class or maybe she is unclear on the directions/content? Three hours seems excessive but there might be other reasons why it is taking her so long.

 

[Dislifer]

I'm a 4th grade teacher. 3 hours in 3rd grade? That's absurd!!!

 

[LBAK]

I thought homework was to reinforce what was done during the school day. If the teacher is assigning this much work what is she covering in school? It sounds like she's not getting what she needs to get done during the school day. That's not fair to the kids. I'd talk with the teacher and if you don't get results talk to the principal. Your child is putting in 9 hrs of schoolwork a day, that's way too long. I wonder how many hours a day the teacher puts in. I teach and I don't work 9 hours, neither should the kids. JMO

 

[the kabuki]

OMG!!!!!! That is a ton of work, WOW!!!! I'm totally blown away and I'm on my 2nd child in 3rd grade. That seems way overboard. What the heck is this teacher covering during the day???

Yeah, I'd be talking to somebody about that, that doesn't seem right at all.

 

[disneymom3]

Way way too much. That is an insane amount of homework! And how was she supposed to know those Consitutional events??

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

That DOES seem like way too much. My only recommendation is, try not to approach this sounding antagonistic--bring it up as if you think the problem may be jsut your child, at least at first. you have all year with this teacher and presumably many years with the district, you don't want to come across as a troublemaker right off the bat.

Tonight, my DS8 had 1 worksheet and review his spelling words. That sounds about right to me for third grade. The 200 multiplication thing sounds nuts--we haven't even started on that yet! And for the record, my DD10 outscored over half the 8th graders in math last year (not bragging, just pointing out that early multiplication tables is NOT going to guarentee your kid a spot at Harvard!)

 

[disykat]

When my oldest was in 5th grade he had, IMO, too much homework. It was 1 1/2 hours every night plus special projects. I tried getting my son to talk to the teacher, but no dice. My son was getting so upset I finally called the teacher and he ended up reducing homework for the whole class.

If there is a way you can kindly voice this to the teacher, I really think that's the best way. I think sometimes if teachers don't have kids of their own, they don't understand the kind of stress it puts the kids under. They hear from the parents who say they want more homework, they constantly hear "raise our test scores", "hold our students accountable", and they honestly think that's what people want.

My son was a really cooperative student and I'm a teacher myself - so I think that helped in my situation. I started out with something like ".....loves your class this year and I'm so happy with everything he's learning, but he's really stressing out about the homework. He's starting to not want to come to school. Do you have any suggestions?" The teacher talked to him the next day and the result was reducing the load back to an hour (plus special projects)for everyone. My son felt like the teacher listened to his concerns and cared about him - it ended very positively.

Obviously, his teacher was a good guy and this approach wouldn't work for everyone. But, please try approaching the teacher first before going to the principal - unless it's an all school policy the principal set.

I love the 10 minutes per year policy and I wish more schools had it.

 

[Daxx]

3rd grade in DS's school is referred to as "hell year". And, although it's only Oct., I am tending to agree. Here's tonight's homework:

*Pages 8 through 15 in his Zaner Bloser printing book

*Two Math worksheets, both sides

*Pages 5, 6, and 7 in Grammar book (10 questions per page)

*Study vocabulary words for Science test tomorrow

*Read aloud pages 110 through 116 in Science book

*2 Social Studies worksheets

*Composition using 10 spelling words

*Finish coloring in words of the Our Father Prayer (started in school)

*Bring in a photo of your pet

*Read 10 pages of your book report book.

At this point, I am ready to color in the words of the Our Father prayer b/c I think that is just ridiculous to make them do that on top of everything else. And, I do have to say that the Social Studies pages aren't that cumbersome. But, I do think this is quite a lot to load onto them. However, w/standards being raised, standardized testing, etc. I can understand why they're pushing so much.

Yes, we also get homework on the weekends ... lots of it. I try to split it between Fri., Sat., and Sun. Ugh.

 

[dizluvr71]

Whoa!! That's way too much for 3rd grade.

I was nervous at my DS8's 3rd grade curriculum night when they said that 3rd graders seem to have the most meltdowns out of all the grades and the homework is considerably more than 2nd grade. But, his homework consists of the the following:

Mon thru Thurs
10 minutes silent reading
15 minutes oral reading
5 minutes practice math facts
5 minutes practice spelling words (except on Monday they have to alphabetize and turn in on Tuesday.)
any extra homework or projects as needed

They have to keep a log of their time spent on each and any extra homework and have it signed by the parent on Thurs. and turn into the teacher on Fri.

DS has done remarkably well and I like the fact that I can just set the timer and let him go. Last year he was always dragging his feet and taking forever to finish one item on his monthly homework calendar. His teacher is also very flexible as far as the work being completed as DS8 has football practice on Mondays and usually skips one or two items and does double on Tuesday.

Hope all turns out well and things improve. I couldn't imagine spending that much time doing homework with my DS, he'd drive me to the loony bin!!

 

[cotomom]

Daxx!

I feel for you! Right there with you!

Today we only had one meltdown ... over spelling words.

All in all today's homework took 2 hours. An improvement over yesterday, but still too much imo.

Thanks everyone for all of your input and suggestions. We have parent conferences in 2 weeks. I plan on documenting every night's amount of homework, and politely bringing it up then. Unless we just can no longer cope beforehand.

We have a very 'gungho' teacher ... with teen kids and a spouse who is also a teacher. At Back to School night, she said she loves teaching so much ... and has such a love for math ... that she'll 'try' to fit in a second time period of P.E. each week ... but she'd prefer to teach math as it's so much more important.

Kind of sad w/ all the obesity issues in the nation. I love her zest for teaching ... but let's not cater to solely the brain-i-acs of the group!

 

[MinnieM3]

I am absolutely shocked at these amounts of homework. I can't even conceive of a 3rd grade teacher assigning this!

Our kids score way above grade level in all areas of the ITBS/CogAT (our standardized tests) and there's really no homework overload until 5th grade. That's "hell grade" in our school. Third grade is still "summer camp."

I truly do give one English workbook page and one Math workbook page per day on average. Some days might have one more assignment. I never give homework over weekends or holidays.

I never give homework without first correcting all classwork and making sure everyone gets it. What are these teachers thinking? Those assignments are not age or developmentally appropriate. 24 sentences in one night? Is she kidding? 200 math problems? My God!

I would definitely bring this up at the P/C conferences. Back it up with the 10 minutes per grade standard. Try to be nice and try not to offend the teacher since she seems to like teaching and her class and all; Ask her if she can initial your child's homework book each night.....maybe she doesn't even realize what she's doing??? I can't even imagine my students *writing down* all that homework!

I feel so bad for your little one. I hope things improve. Please keep me up to date. Feel free to PM me.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

this teacher is known for giving lots of homework and book reports later in the year.

You'll never guess what came home in my kids' backpacks yesterday - their first Book Report assignments, LOL!!

Guess we better get crackin' or we'll be doing them at MNSSHP!!