Normal amount of homework for kindergarten? - Page 3

[aniT]

DD is a K in a K-3rd grade class. There is no homework for anyone!

[zinemama]

None. At our school there's no homework until 3rd grade. (Except that they ask that you read with/to your child every night).

[octobermom]

The rule for DD school is no more than 10 mintues per age level so a first grader would get 10 mintues a day a fifth grader 50 mintues ect.. DD did have HW in kindergarden it typically took us about 5 mintues to do.

Deanna

[SiValleySteph]

My son is getting a "Home Fun" packet every Monday that is turned in on Friday. It has usually 1-3 sheets per day plus will say "read for 20 minutes" on every day's assignment. The sheets compliment what the class is doing for the week. In addition, he has a monthly calendar with activities each day and you are to pick two assignements per week. This week he also brought home a keep book, so he has to read it 5 times to someone. If he is in a cooperative mode, he can finish a day's sheets in 5 minutes. But, as can often be the case, he is getting tired and doesn't really want to do it, it can stretch out.

I was feeling resentful of it at first because we do not get home until 6 and then my son is tired out and ready for bed shortly after 8. We have to fit in eating dinner as a family (plus making dinner!) and soccer once a week, plus any other activity we decide to do (like eating with friends).

I'm feeling a little better about it, especially since he is going to try and do each day's at his afterschool care. They have time that you can work on homework, if you'd like. This will allow us to just go over it with him at home and stay engaged in what's going on in class. We'll still have the calendar activities to do and reading.

I volunteered in the classroom and I can definitely see why they need the parents to sit with the kids 1:1 - there are 27 kids in my son's class and only 1 teacher. I think it is really going to help the kids to have their parents spend 10 minutes a night reinforcing the concepts from the class.

[Phoebe]

My son is in a spanish immersion school and maybe that's why but so far no homework. I'd honestly be pissed if there were ANY.

[Ruthla]

Originally Posted by LionessMom

sorry, but i meant it is supposed to be that long... but with DSD it takes twice as long b/c she doesnt even know her whole alphabet. she forgets the letters all the time.

I personally am appalled at the way kindergarteners are doing what was "first grade work" when I was little. Some kids are just NOT READY to read or write yet!

10 minutes per grade, with 5 for kindergarten, does sound about right to me (if there must be homework at all- personally I think kids shouldn't have homework at all until middle school.)

As for the half hour a night for a 5yo, when it "should be" 15 minutes, I think a talk with the teacher is in order. Let him/her know that the homework is taking too long and putting too much stress on DD. See if s/he has any suggestions- maybe s/he can give your DD less work, maybe you can do what you can in 15 minuts and not complete the rest, etc.

[LionessMom]

we just got a note today saying that the teacher is adding a third type of homework involving flash cards. so that makes the literacy packet brought home on mon that has to be done by wed, the 2 pages of poem stuff that is sent home on mon to be done by the next mon, and now flash cards that have to be done in the same time frame.


for the record. DSD's class has 12 students to one teacher.

i understand wanting us to work with her too but i really think this is too much. we will be saying something to her.

[umsami]

Our kids have a planner that goes home every night.. and in the back... is a bunch of homework for the first 9 weeks. Basically, they have a small assignment Monday-Thursday...and are expected to read (or be read) 25 books in 9 weeks.

Monday and Tuesday are usually handwriting practice. So write these words, your name, numbers, etc. Usually one page.

Wednesday is usually something math related, that doesn't have a paper attached (or at least hasn't as of yet). Or recognizing sight words.

Thursday is always "draw a picture" illustrating a scene from a book your parents read to you. Then they rate the book either "Liked It", "It was O.K.", or "Didn't Like It."

Takes about 15 miinutes each day... if that.

The planners stay with the teacher over the weekend, and then we get them back on Monday.


Note DS2 is in a different school... Montessori magnet...and is in a PK3, PK4, and K5 classroom. The only "homework" is to read to your child.

[not_telling]

I taught full-day Kg for 6 years and two different private schools (Quaker). As a rule, there was no homework in Kg. All we asked was that parents and children spend 20-30 minutes each day reading together (parent to child or child to parent if appropriate). In the second half of the year I sent home a book each week. These were the books kids were reading in class ("little readers" for new readers or more advanced stuff for the advanced readers). we encouraged kids to read their books to someone at home, but it was not required.

I do not think there should be homework in Kg. But, I recognize that the public schools are under a lot of pressure to demonstrate that the kids are learning, and I could see how some would rely on kg homework to reinforce things taught in class. Does it help? I have no idea...

[BennyPai]

Full day of Kindergarten is enough!

My daughter hasn't brought any homework back with her yet. As it is, I get 30 - 45 minutes with my girls after they are off the bus before they are so tired that I need to feed them and get them to bed if they haven't passed out on their own first.

They're in Pre-K & Kindergarten for full days, and they are gone 8 hours from the time that they catch the bus in the AM until they are dropped off in the PM. I don't see how on Earth I could expect any more out of them.

If my kindergartener was only going a half-day, it might make sense to go over what she learned...

[the_lissa]

There is no homework in kindergarten here.

[sunnmama]

Did you talk to the teacher? How did it go?

In our school, we have maximum time limits to spend on homework in each grade (10 minutes for 1st grade....20 for second....). Dd didn't attend K, but it would have to be 10 minutes or less of homework. If the homework isn't finished in that time, homework time is still over. Teachers will adjust homework for children who can not finish in the time allotted. I'd go with that approach---ask the teacher "how long should this take?", and then work on getting homework tailored for my dc to spend that amt of time.

[FishBounce]

When my sons were in kindy (they're now in 1st and 2nd), they'd get a weekly homework packet, which boiled down to about 20-30 minutes of work each night, plus their literacy packets which was at least 2 books to read each night. That was for half-day kindy.

[lynsage]

We get a monthly page with an assignment (counting silverware when setting the table and writing the number of each type of utensil, drawing 2 things that start with Y, etc) for each night, that we are then supposed to write a letter to the teacher at the end of the month about which assignments were challenging, etc.

So far we haven't done any of them; we do plenty of our own activities in the evenings like story time and playing games together, and the homework for Kindergarteners issue is one of the reasons we're considering pulling her out and homeschooling her.

[Polliwog]

District policy is 10 minutes per grade. DS is in kindergarten and brought home a calendar for the month of September. He needs to choose two activities a week (so a total of eight for this month.) It's really simple stuff- tell the names of five classmates, draw a picture of your teacher and tell something about her, write your phone number, etc. My son is still learning letters and doesn't recognize any numbers so we skip over a lot of that stuff. We practice that type of stuff in different ways.

And we're supposed to read for about 15 minutes but we usually read way more than that each nigh.

[annethcz]

Originally Posted by LionessMom

i understand wanting us to work with her too but i really think this is too much. we will be saying something to her.

Good for you! I don't think you should hesitate to discuss homework with your child's teacher. I know it's hard, but so much of what is sent home is just busywork. I'll be having a similar conversation with my older kids' teachers at conferences tomorrow

FWIW, my youngest is in kindy this year and hasn't had any homework yet.

[Altair]

from a parent and teacher's perspective (K at that...)

my district policy is hw in every grade. If it were up to me, all we'd do is reading HW (reading together) and experience based hw. but not my choice.

half of the parents disregarded the fact that we had hw and didn't do it.

half of my parents sent a note in every other day clamoring for more worksheet type hw, to which I'd write back that we do a lot of academics during the 7 hour day and I'd really love if they had more time to dramatic play, build with blocks, read informally, and just PLAY at home. If they really insisted, I'd go out and buy a workbook and send it home.

It really irks me to hear "the teacher just wants us to do her job." eeek. parents are the child's first teacher, and the child's lifelong teacher. Yes, it is our job as parents to ultimately control and direct our child's education. At the VERY least, at any given moment it is a collaboration between teachers and parents.

[MattBronsil]

Dear Teacher:

I know that worksheets really have no place in the classroom, so thank you for sending them home. I would like to point out, however, that while they are a distraction to real learning in the classroom, they are also a distraction at home.

Let's just agree to leave them out of both places. Thank you for your consideration.

Signed,
Parent

[boricuaqueen327]

DD gets a weekly packet of homework. Each night (except friday, that is when she turns it in) she has a math worksheet, a letter worksheet, and a reading log that we must sign saying that we read to her for 15 minutes. It takes us no more than 25 minutes to do it all (including the 15 minutes of reading).