2nd Grade Homework

I've been thinking about what I want to do for homework next school year. This year, while teaching 3rd grade, they had a reading passage with 12 questions (Thunks Reviews) and 2 spiral math sheets (Math Madness). I sent it home on Mondays and it was due on Fridays.
For next year I created a Weekly Homework Menu. It will go home on Mondays and be due on Fridays. I wanted to be as flexible as possible which is why I listed "weekly suggested times" instead of "nightly" ones. I know how busy parents and students can be so I want them to be able to schedule their homework options.  
Reading- Reading for enjoyment is a given. I'm not into reading logs so I won't require them to track their reading. I also wanted to incorporate Find the Evidence passages so they can practice Text Dependent Questions. 
Math- Our county has a subscription to Dreambox Learning. It's an online math program that all elementary students have access to. I also wanted to incorporate math card games into our homework. While in 3rd I gave each family a ring of games and playing cards when they attended Math Night. I use the Dealing with Math Homework from Teacher's Clubhouse. I plan do the same next year during Back to School Night. My goal is to list the games that will help reinforce what's being learned in class. 
Study Guides- Like I shared last week, each family will also get a book of Study Guides that also have Study Methods included. 
Word Study- Since we do word study each day in class, it will not be apart of their weekly homework but I'll include options for parents who want their children to complete them.  

Word Work Drawers

 

My creativity has been in overdrive this summer. I had this idea while waking up this morning. I scored some great Word Work Activity Cards from Cassie Dahl on TpT yesterday. They are no-prep might I add. 25 different activities for students to do during word study. I've seen the large 10 drawer carts devoted to word work and I have one I could use for that purpose but to be honest I didn't need that much space for this activity. Then I thought about the Mini Drawer Labels from Learning in Wonderland and thought... I can use a mini drawer organizer for that purpose.  And so this idea was born...

 

Earlier this summer, while blogging about my Long Range Plans, I discussed how word study looked in my classroom.

 

"Word Study- This year I did something different thanks to my team BFF. Instead of 2 or 3 word study groups I had 5. The Monday Group, Tuesday Group, Wednesday Group... you get the picture. I only met with one word study group a day and all students were on a 6 day cycle. If I introduced the sort to the Monday group, they would take their test next Monday. So it took 2 weeks to introduce and assess all five groups. The Thursday Group's 6 day cycle looked like this:

• Day 1 (Thursday)- Sort Introduction with teacher, highlight features on word cards.
• Day 2 (Friday)- Cut words out, sort, record in Word Study Journal
• Day 3 (Monday)- Sort, record in Word Study Journal
• Day 4 (Tuesday)- Sort, record, word hunt (searching for words in literature that have the same spelling feature)
• Day 5 (Wednesday) Sort, glue
• Day 6 (Thursday)- Word Study assessment with teacher. "



 

I still intend for each group to be on a 6 Day Rotation, it's just now they'll have more word work options. As you can see my drawers are labeled Word Study, Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4. I'll look through Cassie's packet and pick out 3-4 activities for each day, I'll run Day 1 activities on orange colored paper, laminate, cut and place in that drawer. Day 2 on yellow paper, Day 3 on green paper and Day 4 on blue paper. In the top drawer I'll keep miscellaneous activities for early finishers or any word work supplies they may need for an activity... haven't really decided yet. So the new schedule will look like this:

• Day 1- sort introduction with teacher, highlight features on word cards, choose activity card from day 1 drawer to work on
• Day 2- cut, sort, record, choose activity card from day 2 drawer to work on
• Day 3- sort, record, choose activity card from day 3 to work on
• Day 4- sort, record, choose activity card from day 4 to work on
• Day 5- sort, glue in journal
• Day 6- assessment with teacher

I've added links above for each resource I used. Cassie Dahl's No Prep Word Work Cards are only $3.00 and Learning in Wonderland's Organization Labels are only $4.00. Learning in Wonderland also included this information about the mini drawers. I purchased mine from Wal-Mart. The 3 Drawer Organizer was about $5 and the 5 Drawer Organizer was about $9.