Use homework to improve your students’ understanding. As students enter school, they commonly receive their first taste of homework. While kindergarteners to not receive the same heavy dose as their older cohorts, many teachers do elect to use at-home assignments as a way of providing students with the additional reading practice necessary for the acquisition of the skill. To ensure that your homework assignments are successful in improving your kindergarten students’ reading skills, consider some simple principles and ideas.
Successful completion of kindergarten homework requires parental involvement. Before you assign any homework activities, discuss your homework plans with parents. Send home a letter, or talk to parents at a back-to-school open house about the topic. Create a system for sending homework home. Kindergarteners are forgetful, and they have not yet learned the organizational skills that they will use in their education later in life.
Give students homework absolutely no more than two times a week. Giving homework more frequently than this can lead to kindergarten student burnout.
Reading regularly is the key to reading skill improvement. Ensure that students practice their reading with their parents by asking the child to read one book a week with a parent or other older relative. Allow flexibility in this assignment, making it possible for the student and parent to complete the reading as it fits into their schedule.
Offer creative letter learning activities. Homework does not have to feel like work. Send home letter-learning coloring sheets or creative activities for students to complete with their parents.
Engage students in the study of words. Once the students have mastered their letters, move on to words. Ask students to cut words that interest them out of newspapers or magazines, or create a personal dictionary of words that they know how to read and write.
Offer extra assignments that the student can complete with his parents if desired. Some parents want to devote even more time to reading study. To enable them to do this, send home a list of optional activities that parents can complete with their child.