First Grade Homework Packets

Last year I had the privilege of having my daughter in my kindergarten class! At first, I was asked if it would be weird, difficult to balance being mom and the teacher, and how my principal would allow it. I heard from other teachers who have taught their own children that it can be hard to balance not being too tough on your child while also not being to lenient. I found that having my daughter in my class was a great experience!  She was a great helper before and after school in my classroom. My husband was the main homework helper since I knew what she was doing during the school day; normally I would be the parent to help with homework, but it was a positive learning experience for my husband to sit down with her during homework time so he could see what we were doing in the classroom. The other day she was reading a book and my heart swelled with pride that she can read so well- and it was her teacher (ME!) who taught I her!  :)

Between the hectic summer schedule of riding and swimming lessons, weddings, and just allowing time for my kids to be kids on summer vacation, I put together a First Grade Monthly Homework Packet for her to practice the skills she'll learn NEXT MONTH in first grade. (4th of July always seems like the beginning of the end of summer.)

 

 My Kindergarten Monthly Homework Packet was a big success in my classroom last year. Parents appreciated how the activities reinforced what their child was learning in school.  The weekly homework activities are standards-based skills in reading and math. Each week includes a reading activity that gets parents to talk about the book with their child while practicing comprehension skills and strategies.

The First Grade Monthly Homework Packet follows the same layout with weekly activities to reinforce the skills taught in first grade. I am planning on using the First Grade homework in kindergarten during the 2016-17 school year for differentiating homework. On the other hand, first grade teachers can use the kindergarten homework for differentiating in their classrooms! 

Homework Packets and Back to School Sale

As I went for my evening run tonight, I thought about the first day of school- it's tomorrow! I'm looking forward to meeting the 24 kinders in my class. One of the 24 is my daughter, which makes tomorrow even more special! She is just as excited as I am to start kindergarten!  Then my thoughts moved to making homework packets for September (that's when I start sending home homework) which made me think of my Common Core Aligned Monthly Homework Packets. 

This has been one of my best selling products on TPT! I made it super easy- just run a month off back to back and staple! Easy peasy!  I send home the packet on Monday and collect it Friday. The homework is not too time consuming and really reinforces what we are learning in the classroom. The skills correlate with our standards-based report card. I also included skills such as tying shoes, saying address, phone number and birthday, and getting outer gear on.

I keep the monthly packet stapled together. It's just easier that way and you have less individual papers to keep track of!


                                                   

Tomorrow is a one day TPT sale. Visit my store and stock up on any last minute products to get your year started off right! :)

Back to School

I go back to school in two weeks. Back in June I told myself not to do anything school related until August 1. That lasted until mid-July. I was busy creating monthly homework packets and planning for the first few weeks of school. I'm looking forward to tomorrow- the TPT Back to School sale! I'll get the items on my wishlist in time for school to begin!

My Monthly Homework Packets have four activities per week, both academic (practicing math, reading, writing, and phonics skills we will work on at school) and non-academic (such as tying shoes, saying phone number and address).

Don't forget to use the promo code to get 28% off in my TPT store! :)