Please make sure that your student is showing you his/her assignment notebook daily and that you sign it each day. The student(s) should have recorded the daily assignments and the dated information at the top of the sheet.

Also, please check for the following:
• Homework is on a full sheet of paper, no scrap paper
• It is neat and well organized
• Mistakes are erased and not scribbled over
• Each paper has a heading

• Students should bring home the Student Resource Book (SRB) on a daily basis. This resource is divided into color coded sections that relate to the units of study and will provide a “how to” and exercise section.

• S.L. = Study Link (Xeroxed piece of paper)

• M.B. = Math Boxes (inside the student journal)

• For each new unit you will receive a Parent Letter that overviews the unit, vocabulary, practice suggestions, and answers to the Study Links.

• Students can bring books from home to read during independent reading.

• Students are reading on a regular basis material that they can comprehend independently.

• Students are reading a wide variety of material (fiction, nonfiction, and a variety of genres)
• Please ask them specific questions about what they are reading and have them read both silently and out loud to you.

• Make sure they have appropriate books to read and they are gaining meaning from what they are reading.

• It is important for them to read to you, read independently, and be read to.

• Daily practice on weekly spelling words

• Daily practice on learned spelling rules, even if it is a previously learned rule

• Emphasize using resources (dictionary, thesaurus, etc.)

• Words that have been on weekly spelling lists should be spelled correctly in their written work

• As you receive their written work at home, please take time to note the words they are misspelling and practice these words with them on a regular basis (could be as informal as dinner table games)

• Spelling sentences should be neatly written, numbered, the spelling word underlined, correctly capitalized, and punctuated. The sentences should encompass a variety of patterns, word choices, and complexity. They should also demonstrate student knowledge of sentence types (exclamation, question, statement, and command)

• These assignments are to build student’s abilities to plan, organize, use a time-line, and research material.

• These assignments are to be managed by the child with your assistance. It is important for children to write the work at their grade level. We are not looking for perfect structure and composition at an adult level. They will be graded for their grade level expectations.

• Students are to do the majority of the work independently with assistance where needed. Please feel free to show them how to approach an assignment, but don’t take it on as your assignment. Certain children will require greater assistance and assignment modification. We, in collaboration with you, will determine these individual needs together.

• Math facts
• Addition
• Subtraction
• Multiplication
• Division
• Spelling words and rules
• Handwriting (cursive or manuscript)
• Spacing
• Legibility
• Formation
• Slant