California McGraw-Hill Treasures & Reading Homework

Now that my school year is under way, it’s time to start thinking about homework in the near future. As professionals, we all assign homework based upon our student population . Personally, I am a busy parent myself and therefore believe my students and their parents should not be bogged down with random homework. Instead, I assign homework I believe to be most valuable from BOTH a parent and a teacher view. If you find this topic interesting, continue reading to get your FREE download.

McGraw-Hill Treasures

Since our district uses McGraw-Hill Treasures, we are fortunate to have take home books in both color and blackline masters. This allows for students to have a minimum of 6 different take home books per unit. In addition, I use several other blackline masters, books such as Hubbard’s Cupboard (FREE) and others that focus on high frequency words and sometimes themes we study.

Back to homework assignments…

I assign 2 things …

First, students practice their Treasures unit sight words daily. Although this is a rote activity, it’s an activity children can do by themselves when parents are unable to help them and still feel successful. I send this home each week on the first day of the week and have students return it on the last day of the same week.

Second, I assign the take home books as daily reading Monday through Thursdays after I have introduced these easy readers in our whole group, small reading groups, and independent stations. Again, hoping the parents will read with and to their children but if not, the children will still feel successful after having had lots of practice in the classroom before taking them home. Continue reading for more information and your FREE download.

Here’s How We Organize Our Take Home Books

Select 12 X 18 pieces of construction paper. Then, fold in half and staple along the 9 inch sides to make a pocket. Next, glue on the Reading Homework Strategies copy below, just click the picture below for your FREE download. After this, place in a filing area alphabetically. After you have finished the take home books you have taught, place in the pocket and send home each month on a day when you send homework.

I choose a different color for each month. I label the first month with the number 1, the second month with the number 2, the third month with the number 3, et cetera. Each month I send home one packet with the child. By the end of the year, each child should have 10 packets labeled 1, 2, 3, 4, …. 10 in a different color. By doing this, parents understand that the 1 folder includes the easiest books and each successive folder gets a bit harder.

Sending home books in this manner, I have found parents tend to keep them because of the organized format and continue to utilize them with their children during the summer months until the following school year.

If you found this resource helpful, please leave a comment! Thanks!

Terena

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