Homework Guidelines
Nightly homework is written down by students in their spiral agenda each day. The information below provides additional details to assist parents in monitoring their child's progress.
Reading
Nightly reading is is our goal. Books from our class library are always transported in a ziplock bag, along with blue reading notebook. Students should be bringing home a book that they can read with ease, understanding the story and able to recap what's happening in the part of the book they just read --- a just right book. They should always have their reading notebook close by as readers often make notes about what they are reading. In most cases, students are reading one book at a time, from start to finish, and taking a short AR (Accelerated Reader) comprehension quiz before starting their next book.
Students who, based on the most recent i-Ready diagnostic test, are working below grade level in reading, even if only in one area, should complete 45 minutes of i-Ready Reading lessons at home every week to ensure they finish the year on grade level. We are not working on i-Ready lessons during class time --- lessons must be completed at home. Please contact Mrs. Bamberger if you're not sure if your child falls in this category.
Newsela is a great resource for nonfiction reading about lots of different topics, including current events. Every student has an online account. Students can use the search function for find topics of interest to them. Always remember to take the four-question quiz after reading the article, referring back to the text to answer questions. This quiz format not only reinforces best-practices reading strategies, but also closely matches the format of the CAASPP.
Writing
Students have a writing notebook and often bring it home, always on the lookout for a small moment to "capture" in their notebook. Writers know that they always do what they already know how to do. For instance, they always start sentences and names with capital letters. Writers also always use the best word they can, and if they don't know exactly how to spell it, they do their best to write letters to get all the sounds in, and go on writing. The time for correcting spelling is not while you're trying to get your thoughts down on paper. We write "Long and Strong."
Math
The enVision math curriculum has an online component and your child has access through their Savvas EasyBridge login (start on Clever).
Students who, based on the most recent i-Ready diagnostic test, are working below grade level in math, even if only in one area, should complete 45 minutes of i-Ready Math lessons at home every week to ensure they finish the year on grade level. We are not working on i-Ready lessons during class time --- lessons must be completed at home. Please contact Mrs. Bamberger if you're not sure if your child falls in this category.
Typing
Typing/keyboarding is not only a 21st Century skill, third graders will need it to complete state CAASPP testing in the spring. Students should log onto their ownTyping.com account (start on Clever) at least once a week. Parents should monitor their child's work to ensure that they are using proper fingering --- always resting fingers on the home row and jumping from there to the top and bottom row as needed. ACCURACY is the #1 priority. Speed comes with practice once the the accuracy is there. I have told students that they should repeat any lesson on which they score lower than 96% accuracy. If they are having trouble reaching this, they probably need to slow down.
Reading
Nightly reading is is our goal. Books from our class library are always transported in a ziplock bag, along with blue reading notebook. Students should be bringing home a book that they can read with ease, understanding the story and able to recap what's happening in the part of the book they just read --- a just right book. They should always have their reading notebook close by as readers often make notes about what they are reading. In most cases, students are reading one book at a time, from start to finish, and taking a short AR (Accelerated Reader) comprehension quiz before starting their next book.
Students who, based on the most recent i-Ready diagnostic test, are working below grade level in reading, even if only in one area, should complete 45 minutes of i-Ready Reading lessons at home every week to ensure they finish the year on grade level. We are not working on i-Ready lessons during class time --- lessons must be completed at home. Please contact Mrs. Bamberger if you're not sure if your child falls in this category.
Newsela is a great resource for nonfiction reading about lots of different topics, including current events. Every student has an online account. Students can use the search function for find topics of interest to them. Always remember to take the four-question quiz after reading the article, referring back to the text to answer questions. This quiz format not only reinforces best-practices reading strategies, but also closely matches the format of the CAASPP.
Writing
Students have a writing notebook and often bring it home, always on the lookout for a small moment to "capture" in their notebook. Writers know that they always do what they already know how to do. For instance, they always start sentences and names with capital letters. Writers also always use the best word they can, and if they don't know exactly how to spell it, they do their best to write letters to get all the sounds in, and go on writing. The time for correcting spelling is not while you're trying to get your thoughts down on paper. We write "Long and Strong."
Math
The enVision math curriculum has an online component and your child has access through their Savvas EasyBridge login (start on Clever).
Students who, based on the most recent i-Ready diagnostic test, are working below grade level in math, even if only in one area, should complete 45 minutes of i-Ready Math lessons at home every week to ensure they finish the year on grade level. We are not working on i-Ready lessons during class time --- lessons must be completed at home. Please contact Mrs. Bamberger if you're not sure if your child falls in this category.
Typing
Typing/keyboarding is not only a 21st Century skill, third graders will need it to complete state CAASPP testing in the spring. Students should log onto their ownTyping.com account (start on Clever) at least once a week. Parents should monitor their child's work to ensure that they are using proper fingering --- always resting fingers on the home row and jumping from there to the top and bottom row as needed. ACCURACY is the #1 priority. Speed comes with practice once the the accuracy is there. I have told students that they should repeat any lesson on which they score lower than 96% accuracy. If they are having trouble reaching this, they probably need to slow down.