It's been a long time since I had a kid in kindergarten, so maybe I'm just out of the loop. But I don't remember my older two kids having homework. I think they had a reading bag that they brought home with a little reader in it, and they were supposed to read or be read to for at least 15 minutes a night.
I'm wondering if things have changed, or if it's just Kylie's particular teacher. Kylie gets a homework packet sent home on Fridays, and it's due the following Friday. The teacher splits the work up by days, for example, on Monday night, do this...on Tuesday night, do this...you get the idea. So here's her homework from last week:
Monday - Practice writing your upper and lower case O's. Draw five things that begin with a short "o" sound (octopus) and five things that begin with a long "o" sound (ocean).
Tuesday - Think of five words that have the /op/ ending. (hop, pop) Write a sentence using each of the five words.
Wednesday - Write a story about your favorite insect.
Thursday - Make a list of insects that crawl and a list of insects that fly. Draw and label each insect.
There are blank pieces of paper in the packet to do that work. In addition to that, there were also two counting worksheets to complete. And at the back of the packet, there is a reading log. So not only do you do all that work, but you're supposed to fill out the reading log each night, with the name of the book you read, the author, and any "interesting" words that you found.
Now is it just me, or does this seem like a lot? This is kindergarten. Kylie has an early September birthday, so she's one of the oldest kids (or maybe the oldest) in her class. And she complains about having to do all that. Maybe it's just me, but I think that's too much work for kindergarten. It was kind of a novelty for her at first, but now it's just a pain.
Her "story" about her insect was this: "I cot (caught) a ladybug. I put it in my bug cashr (catcher). Then I let it go."
Ok, three sentences is not a lot, but this is kindergarten, for crisssakes.
So, any of you out there that have kids this age, tell me...is this a lot of work, or is this just the way things are now? I seriously have no idea. It seems excessive to me.
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Well, Aidan won't be in K until next year, but I do have a daycare kiddo in Kindergarten.
She has homework she brings home...little booklets she has to have a paper signed that she read it and how many times (I know this because she makes sure I tell her mom how many times she read it to me *LOL*), corrections of worksheets they did at school and little practice papers for numbers/letters.
I'm with you, sister.
When I was in Kindergarten--and this is no lie--we sang a song about a blow-up letter person (M was Mr. Munching Mouth), we listened to music, had a snack, slept, colored a little, and went home. THAT WAS IT. Everyday.
College is easier!
That is a lot, and I thought the buds' homework was ridiculous for kindergarten. Weekly we have a list of 10 things to choose five activities. Some do not involve any writing. It's usually one worksheet in math and language arts, one set of writing 5 letters, and then talk about X with your parents. Also, we keep a book log, but just what book and how many minutes we read to them.
Sean's homework last year was to write his ABCs every single day and then we got a list at the beginning of the month of one activity for everyday.
Actually, lots of the time we do not do the homework. It's kindergarten for chrissake!
It sounds exactly like what my kids did in kindergarten--and the youngest is 14.
When B was in Kindergarten I was shocked at the amount of homework. And even now in 1st grade, crazy lot of work. I just sent his teacher a letter to lay off the homework. I was causing B major stress and we were in tears too many times a week for my taste. I think writing 5 spelling words 4 times each, a math worksheet, a science paper of some kind (typically about dinos or panda bears) and then AR reading? TOO MUCH. We were on homework overload.
Ella has the same kind of setup at her school. (Yeah, I know, way late on the uptake here.) It drives me NUTS. Kindergarten should be learning NOT to eat paste, and coloring... They push them pretty hard now.
Kindergarten has changed significantly. I am a kindergarten teacher and the days of "stay and play" kindergarten are over. Kindergarteners have to meet statewide and national standards and objectives. It may seem tedious, but the students are actually learning. Hang in there. By the end of the year, she'll be reading and then it gets easier on your part.
Well, this is funny because she was already reading when she started kindergarten, but besides that, it's now September and I wrote this in January, so she's in first grade now. Strange thing is, two weeks in and we haven't seen one sheet of homework. I know it's coming, but we moved to a different state, and ... well, actually education is supposed to be better here, but I'll tell you what...it's a lot more financially subsidized by the parents too! It costs a fortune to send a kid to public school in Colorado.
I am a kindergarten teacher. I give about 20 minutes of homework per night. School has changed and it is a lot more rigorus now then it was when we went to school. Gotta just go with it so our kids are ready to live in today's fast paced world!
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