Homework this week?

notshanarishona

Tue, Sep 26 2023, 11:50 pm

amother Firethorn wrote:

Many parents are busy cooking for yom tov, shopping, building the sukkah etc and don't have time to supervise hw. And we know that as much as teachers claim that kids should do hw independently, the reality is that most kids need at least some level of supervision and parental input. Parents have enough on their plate this week and teachers should not add more

I can’t relate to people who start cooking 4 days in advance, I typically cook erev yom tov, and if I am very prepared the day before..
The biggies, challah/ dessert I bake once a month and have in the freezer.

amother

Tue, Sep 26 2023, 11:50 pm

MiriW wrote:

To be fair, the teacher gave them Thursday night to do it. You might not love that hw is being given so consistently and without break for your schedule, but the teacher is allowed to give hw Thursday night to he handed in on Tuesday.

Sorry, my mistake, it was given on Friday, not on Thursday. It's yom tov time. Over yom kippur. Not the time to give 20-25 minutes of math homework which includes a parent doing flashcards with the kid.
Math homework can wait for after yom tov. If the teacher finds it necessary to give 20 minutes of math homework every day, then I think she's not doing a good enough job of teaching the math in the classroom. She has to teach it so the girls should know it very well without having to practice so much at home.

amother

Tue, Sep 26 2023, 11:52 pm

Ema of 5 wrote:

Except it’s not just a regular day. I felt like cr@p today, thanks to the fast yesterday, but I still had to do everything like it was a regular day. By the time my daughter came home at 4:30, I had nothing left in me. Not for homework, not for dinner, not for showers….and don’t forget cooking and shopping for succos. That’s not part of my regular day to day. There are 2 or 3 days of school this week, can’t we get a break?

There's 1.5 days of school this week! Today they started late and tomorrow is the last day before sukkos. No school on Thursday.
There's no Hebrew homework. Only English & only this child.

notshanarishona

Tue, Sep 26 2023, 11:53 pm

Ema of 5 wrote:

I hear you about not feeling well , as a teacher, I only assign homework that kids can do on their own. It shouldn’t take any energy from the parent.
I agree that this month is super challenging as working parents but it’s hard because when every other day is erev yom tov their aren’t too many days where you can assign hw Or schedule tests

amother

Tue, Sep 26 2023, 11:55 pm

notshanarishona wrote:

So don't assign homework or schedule tests till after yom tov. The school year will be long enough for that.

MiriW

Tue, Sep 26 2023, 11:59 pm

Ema of 5 wrote:

l
Fair and right are not the same thing. It would be fair to give homework Thursday night to be brought back after succos, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.

Why can't hw be completed on a Thursday night? Where I teach, we are told by the admin that hw shouldn't last more than 10-15 min for upper elementary. We don't know how old op's child is, but if hw is taking 25 min and the child requires a parent's help, the parent needs to speak up to the teacher about reducing the amount given for her kid, or the entire class if all of the students need that much time. Especially since this is only the General Studies part of the day, seemingly there might be hw from the Kodesh teacher as well.

As a teacher I do give time in class at the end of the day to complete hw so that kids can get a head start and not have to take home so much. Teachers should realize that parents are busy no matter what time of year and make hw work well for everyone.

Seems like teachers really can't win though, I could see just as many complaints about no hw being given before the Yamim tovim and that teachers are going too easy on the kids.

MiriW

Wed, Sep 27 2023, 12:02 am

amother OP wrote:

As a teacher I fully agree with this, 25 min is too much and hw should be a review of the day's lessons and not require so much help from a parent. If I were you, I'd call the teacher.

Ema of 5

Wed, Sep 27 2023, 12:03 am

notshanarishona wrote:

My daughter is capable of doing her homework on her own….technically. In reality, it’s the end of a long day, and she doesn’t have the patience to sit anymore. First she needs to find her knapsack. Then she needs to jump a bit. Then she needs to get her homework. Then she needs a snack. Then she needs to get a pencil. It’s already been 15 minutes. Please don’t tell me homework doesn’t take energy from parents. Even my kids who do their homework on their own and study on their own etc. need to be reminded. Keep in mind that the way children perform and behave in school does not necessarily match what goes in at home.
Why do there even need to be tests this month? There’s an entire rest of the school year left for tests.

amother

Wed, Sep 27 2023, 12:04 am

MiriW wrote:

It's not my child's problem that the homework is taking 20 minutes. She doesn't require my help, the teacher requires it. Part of homework is 10 minutes of math flashcards with a parent, then a math worksheet, then 20 spelling words which they either need to rewrite 3 times each word or a parent has to test them on all 20 words. That's a ton of homework.

Ema of 5

Wed, Sep 27 2023, 12:06 am

MiriW wrote:

I didn’t say on a random Thursday night. I specifically asked about Thursday before succos, to be returned after succos. Would that be fair?

amother

Leaf

Wed, Sep 27 2023, 12:17 am

Im a teacher
Didn't give hw Thurs.

Did give tonight
All It needs from parent is signature
It's max. 10 min of practice, let's say, of rereading a story read in class
I told them that if it takes more than ten min they shld stop

N yes I don't really write like this cuz I'm a teacher but I'm masking my style on ima. And I'm a parent of elementary kids and I'm making Yontiff. I think it's important for routine

notshanarishona

Wed, Sep 27 2023, 7:10 am

There are a lot of reasons why tests need to be given after each unit. For example if a kid is being referred for an IEP, the first thing the school psychologist will ask is what data do you have. It can’t be work done in class where she has been helped , it needs to be something done independently. If teachers wait to test till November (because face it you can’t test on material that was taught before a 2 week break), then that would push off having any data till at least a few weeks after Sukkos.
Also, in most schools, the “real” learning starts after Sukkos, but teachers need to assess the students to break into groups/ levels, etc . The only way to actually start right away after yom tov is to have a feel of each kid’s levels before then.
There are a lot of reasons for tests and homework. It’s not all just busy work to make parents lives miserable.

Ema of 5

Wed, Sep 27 2023, 11:27 am

amother Leaf wrote:

What’s the point of reading if no one is listening? Who will correct mistakes?

Hashem_Yaazor

Wed, Sep 27 2023, 11:36 am

No idea the purpose of that assignment but we've had 2 different goals and sometimes the teacher would tell us what it was.
One was fluency, let the kid get familiar with blending sounds together and read smoothly and quickly without stumbling. In those cases we were told not to correct mistakes.
Other times it was for accuracy and then we should correct mistakes.

So there's a fluency benefit even if no one is listening.

(I hate homework that involves parents!)

Ema of 5

Wed, Sep 27 2023, 11:39 am

notshanarishona wrote:

In class assessments don’t need to come home. They are done IN CLASS. In my experience, both in the classroom and as a parent, the kids are usually groups off, and one or more teachers will do the assessments- either in math, reading, kriah, etc. The work sent home is for practice not assessment. Again, you may do things differently, this has been just my experience both in the classroom and as a mother.

theoneandonly

Wed, Sep 27 2023, 12:30 pm

notshanarishona wrote:

Just because you can't relate to people who cook in advance doesn't mean that many people don't do it. ..

Ema of 5

Wed, Sep 27 2023, 12:41 pm

theoneandonly wrote:

Just because you can't relate to people who cook in advance doesn't mean that many people don't do it. ..

Exactly. I can’t relate to the women who do multi hour cook-a-thons (either by choice or by necessity) and come into Yom tov zonked.

amother

Tomato

Wed, Sep 27 2023, 3:47 pm

My pre1A son does not have homework this week. He said it’s because all the mommys, besdies you (we’re going away for Sukkos) are cooking for yom tov.
He did have a kriah sheet for Yom Kippur but they were told to do it themselves without mommy.

amother

Scarlet

Tue, Oct 10 2023, 8:06 pm

Bumping this up to ask why a first grade teacher felt the need to give two worksheets for hw today? We just got back, everyone is off schedule, no one has time or headspace for this especially given the situation... take a break, they won't die with ch"v only one worksheet or even *gasp* none! I'm legit so mad right now...