Homework Rules

Graded work:
Communication between home and school is vital to your child’s success in the classroom. To keep you informed and aware of what we are doing, we send home every Monday a folder with the papers and tests your child has completed in all areas of the curriculum for the previous week. This folder should always have a graded proofreading paper (English), a weekly spelling unit, the weekly spelling and vocabulary tests, a weekly research based geography activity, as well as various other papers in Math, Science, Language Arts, and Social Studies.

Please review and discuss these papers with your child. Then date and sign the back of the folder, keep the papers (unless otherwise noted), and have your child return the empty folder each Tuesday. If you are not seeing work from all subject areas, please let us know.

Correct and return:
Papers may be sent home periodically for work that is unacceptable. These papers usually have a form attached explaining why the work is unacceptable and what needs to be done. This form is to be signed and sent back with the specified assignment after corrections are made as indicated.

Late Papers:
We do expect all assignments to be completed and turned in on time. Papers may be accepted one day late through the first semester, but 10 points will be deducted from the grade.

After Christmas, no late work will be accepted for a grade. Makeup work will be the only exception to this rule.

No name:
We do expect student assignments to have student’s name and necessary information correctly placed. Before Christmas, 5 points will be deducted if name or information is missing.

After Christmas, papers without name will not be accepted for a grade.

Make- up work:
Please allow us time outside the normal teaching day to collect your child’s assignments. We will provide a form listing all missed assignments. It will be the responsibility of the child to turn this work into us as soon as possible, preferably within one week from the date of return to school.

All makeup work must be turned in before the child is eligible for a No Homework Coupon at the end of the grading period.
We do expect all students to turn in completed assignments on time. If an assignment is not turned in, zero will be the recorded grade. The student will sign the homework book, and we will follow the school policy on failure to do homework which can lead to doing the work at recess, parent contact, parent conferences, and spending time in the Alternate Education Room (AER).

Incomplete work:
Papers will be checked according to what is completed. Any items not attempted will be counted incorrect and the grade will be based accordingly. An “I” (Incomplete) will be recorded in the grade book next to the grade to show that the assignment was not finished. The child will not be eligible for a No Homework Coupon at the end of the grading period.

Extra Credit:
If a child keeps up with his/her work there is no need for extra credit. Poster and essay contest participation always earns extra points. Doing the “Globe Probe” activity is a way to get extra points in Social Studies. Doing the “Homework Challenge” is a way to get extra points in Math and Science.

No homework coupons:
Periodically No Homework Coupons are given to students as rewards throughout the year. One of these will be awarded at the beginning of each nine weeks to any student who had all assignments, including makeup work, for the previous nine weeks. Work must be turned in on time and must be complete. These coupons may be used at the child’s discretion to replace a daily assignment or a weekly spelling unit. (This does not include the two weekly vocabulary pages.) They cannot be used for Tuesday Geography or in place of tests. These are excellent “security devices” for forgotten papers or to use in place of an assignment on which the child did not do so well.

Dropping of lowest grade:
Having all assignments complete and in on time does pay off in sixth grade. If a student has turned in every assignment in each class that we teach (including makeup work), we will drop the lowest grade in each subject we teach before averaging the grades at the end of the nine weeks. This, in addition to the awarding of a No Homework Coupon for the following nine weeks, is our way of showing that hard work does indeed pay off.

SPELLING AND VOCABULARY PROCEDURE:

Pretest: A pretest is taken and sent home every Friday. Students can see spelling words they already know; therefore, they can spend time the following week on those words they need to learn. If a student correctly spells all words on the pretest, he/she is excused from the week’s spelling unit work (the first four pages of the unit) and from the spelling portion of the final test the following Thursday. We do skip around in the spelling book, and there should be no studying for the pretest. The purpose of a pretest is to see what the student already knows.

Eight vocabulary words will also be given on each pretest. The definition of the word will be given and the student must write the defined word spelled correctly.

Weekly assignment: The work for the week is assigned Friday after the pretest and is due the following Wednesday. There are four pages related to the spelling words and two pages related to the vocabulary words. All spelling assignments are to be done in cursive writing and the correct formation of letters will be expected at all times.

Final Test: The final spelling test is taken each Thursday. It will consist of spelling words and eight vocabulary words. It will be sent home in the student’s folder on Monday along with the student-checked unit work.

TESTS:

Students know of all major tests at least a week in advance. All tests count as a double grade. Please encourage your child to study notes and materials as we go along. Looking over the day’s notes on the day they are given and reviewing them often are much more effective than trying to “memorize” too much information the night before a test. We often include on tests material that was previously studied. We want students to learn and understand material, not just memorize it for a test the following day.

Often unannounced quizzes are given to see if the child is learning what needs to be learned. These evaluations count as a single grade.

ACCELERATED READER:

Children will be allowed to select and read books of their choice within their reading ranges. They will test on these books upon completion. After the first nine weeks students will set independent point goals for each nine weeks. From my experience I have found that the average student should attain approximately 25 points each nine weeks, 100 points per year. Trophies will be awarded at year’s end to those students who earn 200 points or more during the sixth grade year.

AR books in paperback are always available in the classroom for checkout. All students will be furnished a large plastic bag in which to keep AR books (classroom or library copies). Please see that your child uses these bags to lengthen the life of our books. If the bag is lost, you may purchase a new bag for $1.25, or your child may use a gallon size closing plastic bag. AR books are to be kept in these bags at all times along with the reading log on which pages read at home and at school are logged each day by the student. Your child is expected to spend 60 minutes a day reading; 30 – 45 minutes of this time will be provided daily in class; the remaining 15 – 30 minutes are homework. Your child has reading homework every night.