What Can We Work On At Home??

What can we work on at home? is probably one of the most commonly asked questions at conferences.  I also think it is a question most parents want to know, but don't ask for a different number of reasons.  I also never really feel like I have that great of an answer for parents.  After much thought this is what I have come up.

Does your child read 15 minutes or more each night?  If they are that is awesome, if they aren't then that could be a goal to work towards.  I would also encourage parents to take interest in their reading.  Ask them about their book.  When a student retells what they have read it improves their comprehension of what they have read tremendously. 

Has your child be practicing their multiplication facts?  Currently we are having a competition at school called March Mathness.  Each student gets a point for every 5 minutes practiced.  We are competing against Mr. McGrane's class to see which class can get the highest total of points.  There are a million different ways to practice facts.  Flash cards, ask and answer with someone, make flash cards, write out facts, and several other ways.  There are also many fact practice games on various websites on the internet.  Many of them are linked in the Links section of the blog.  If you find a new one feel free to share it with me.  (Sometimes a website says it is for math, but then the games really have little to do with math so be careful of that.)

Writing is another focus for third graders.  A great Spring Break task would be to write a few sentences each day.  Work on neat handwriting, correct spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.  Every little bit helps.

With Spring Break coming up we have a great opportunity for kids to practice lots of things at home.  Does that mean I want them to do school work all day everyday?  Absolutely NOT!  A few minutes a day can make a huge difference.  Anything is better than nothing.

Sometimes I think parents wonder if they are working on the right things.  In my opinion there really are no wrong things to work on.  If  you are taking an interest in your child's education and trying to help them become better at ANYTHING, then you are working on something positive. 

Have a great break!  I look forward to break and also a strong finish to the end of the school year!