When I moved up to third grade (3 years ago), I realized that I would assign more homework to my students than I did to my first graders. I wanted to have a system in place to keep parents informed about missing homework so that they didn't get a shock when we met for teacher conferences or when report cards went home if their child had a ton of missing assignments. At first I thought that I would be able to call home but later decided that it was way too time consuming to do this even though it is more personal. I also thought about jotting it in my student's planners but I learned that not all parents check them nightly. Finally, I created this little "Oops!" slip. When students do not return their homework on time, I fill out a little "Oops!" slip reminding them what item(s) are missing. I just write it in the center of the slip. I don't require a parent signature on these slips. I do this for every day of the week that the homework is late. It only takes me a second to fill them out when I call table groups to turn in their homework. If a student needs an extra copy of the assignment, I keep a few on hand in my extra papers file hanging from my T.V. cart.
 |
| This is a really old photo taken before school started, but I store my extra copies in the colorful file holder. I have them labeled by content area and my kids know to put all extra copies in the appropriate folder. |
When Friday rolls around, if a student is still missing any work I complete the Missing Homework sheet (see google doc below) for them to take home. Again, I don't require a parent signature as long as I know they are making them home. I feel as though that is more than enough reminders that an assignment is past due. I was really good at the start of the school year about filling out the Missing Homework notice every week and I realized that the amount I needed to use seemed to be dwindling once my kiddos stepped up to the increased responsibility of third grade. Of course, you may still have repeat offenders which may need to be addressed in a more formal fashion.
Here is my Oops! notice and my Missing Homework notice. I copied a ton at the end of last year so that it was one less thing I needed to do this Fall, chopped them down to size and placed them in a tupperware near my homework in-box along with some teacher pens so that I could grab them and fill them out as needed.
I have been thinking about phasing these out the last trimester of school so that my students have to take on even more responsibility as they prepare for fourth grade. I would love to hear how you handle missing homework in your own classrooms. Let me know!
8 comments:
Missing homework is mainly an issue for me when I give a packet on Monday that is due on Friday. I still have at least 2-4 students per week who don't do their homework. I use Laura Candler's printable for the first few times they "forget". http://www.lauracandler.com/filecabinet/misc/hwnote.pdf
If the problem keeps occuring, I have them fill out Laura Candler's Missing homework letter.
http://www.lauracandler.com/filecabinet/misc/hmwkletter.pdf
This has worked for me so far this year.
Amanda, I like how the kids have to take responsibility to fill them out for their parents to read. Thanks so much for sharing!
Kelley
Kelley, thank you so much for your awesome blog! I love your great ideas! I have a question. I am trying to learn how to embed a Google Doc into a blog post like you did here. I used Google Docs Viewer. However, I keep receiving an error message. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you!!!
lewisgrade5, I used a blogger tutorial that I found on Ladybug's Teacher Files. Just click on her link called Technology Tips and you'll find how to embed google docs into your blog posts. It took just a bit of playing around with it but you'll get it. Good luck and thanks for reading...
Kelley
Kelley, thank you so much!!!! I appreciate you takin gthe time to answer my question.
I love these. I've been on the hunt for something like this. Thanks for sharing!
http://brittmale.blogspot.com/
My issue has always been that by the time parent-teacher conferences come around in November, if homework is an issue no one really knows what the cause is. My own 'Oops' procedure is as follows: If a student does not bring in their homework, they must bring up an Oops form to me. Their name, the date, and what homework assignment was not brought in are listed on the form. I also have the student tell me why the homework is not in school. After I enter the missed homeworks in my grade book I file away these 'oops' forms. When it's time for parent-teacher conferences in November (or whenever I meet with parents) I have something tangible to go by and we can see if there is a pattern -- had to go shopping with parents, my sibling tore it up, etc. We all then have an idea of how to help our student/child become more responsible.
Well thank you soo much for posting this. I'm actually just beginning 3rd and hadnt thought about homework yet! So I think its fabulous and I look forward to using it :)
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.