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A homework routine can be a very time-consuming part of your lesson planning for the year! Instead of worrying about what to send home with your students every week, consider planning the entire year all at once! If that seems like a daunting task, keep reading because I’m going to make it a little bit easier! In this post you’ll find some tips and resources that you can use to plan a full year of homework activities for kindergarten.
A homework routine can benefit your students in many different ways:
Would you like your students to experience some of the benefits of homework, but you’re not sure where to start? Let’s chat about some tips for planning out your homework activities for the year.
Before you start identifying which activities you will be using for homework, it’s important to decide how often you will be sending homework. Here are just a few options that some teachers use for homework:
– Every Day – Teachers with daily communication folders might choose to send home a fresh homework page each day. This option is great for building habits, but it can add an extra task to your daily routine.
– Every Week – Another option is to create a packet of homework for the week that goes home on Monday afternoon and returns to school on Friday morning. This option cuts down on the daily back-and-forth and is helpful for busy families.
– Every Month – You might decide to create a homework packet for the month. While this will make it easy for students to work on these activities throughout the month, the packets can be easily lost in the shuffle.
One of the best things you can do to create a successful homework routine is to use a consistent format all year long. This makes it easier for students to complete these activities at home, since they will know what’s expected of them. It also makes it easier for parents to help their children when the format of the homework activities is familiar.
One of the biggest challenges of kindergarten homework is providing developmentally appropriate activities for students to complete at home. Homework should not be teaching new skills, but rather reviewing concepts that have already been taught during the school day.
Homework also shouldn’t take kindergarten students an excessive amount of time every evening. It should just be a short, kid-friendly activity that gives students the chance to review what they’ve been working on at school. With the right activities, students and parents won’t feel like kindergarten homework is a burden.
Another way to make sure that parents don’t feel burdened by the homework routine is to introduce it to them at the beginning of the year. As part of your back-to-school communication with parents, you can explain the homework routine. You can even include your homework procedures in a printed parent handbook. This will help them know what to expect and be ready to help their kids at home.
It’s also helpful for parents to know why you’re choosing to use homework throughout the school year. Take some time at the beginning of the year to communicate the benefits of completing homework in kindergarten. You can also give them tips for helping their students review these important skills at home.
It’s not uncommon for homework routines to break down at some point during the school year. The packets might stop returning to school and, if they do, very little has been completed.
When students and families feel like completed homework isn’t being reviewed or noticed at school, they are less likely to keep working on it. When students put in the effort to complete their homework, be sure to recognize their follow-through! It could be as simple as putting a star or sticker on the front cover!
The final step in planning out your kindergarten homework for the year is to have a method for staying organized! If you choose to send home daily homework, you could use my method for keeping lesson plan materials organized.
If you choose to send home packets, you can have them assembled and filed away for easy access.
No matter how often you decide to use homework, be sure to create a method for keeping the printables organized. You’ll be able to save time and ensure that your homework routine stays up and running all year long.
I would love to save you some time as you put together your homework for the year! I’ve put together a huge homework bundle that includes kindergarten homework packets for eleven months of homework: August to June! This bundle includes everything you need to put together developmentally appropriate homework packets all year long.
These packets include hands-on and engaging homework activities that will help students review what they’ve been learning in the classroom. The activities in this bundle have been strategically aligned to cover the math and literacy Common Core Standards for kindergarten.
If you’d like to take a closer look at everything included in this bundle, you can find it in the A Spoonful of Learning shop or in my TPT store.
If you’re short on time, be sure to save this post before you go! Just add the pin below to your favorite kindergarten board on Pinterest. You’ll be able to quickly find these ideas when you’re looking for kindergarten homework activities for the whole year.
These alphabet books will have students dive deep into learning about each letter of the alphabet while eager to see what activity they get to complete next!
