My Fourth Grade Homework Routine

One of the most frequent comments/questions I get from my readers is about my homework routine.  

My thoughts and feelings on homework have evolved over the years. During the course of my career, I have done weekly homework, packets, and nightly homework.  There are many sides to the homework debate.  Many agree it isn't effective or beneficial, and some argue that does have merit. 

I fall somewhere in the middle. I believe that homework can promote responsibility and study habits.  I also believe that what if I'm asking my students to work hard at home, what I send home should have merit and should be beneficial. The text that you read below is an update (8/7/19) with my current homework routine. 

My students main responsibility for their homework is studying and preparing for our weekly spelling test.  To promote my students learning study skills/habits, I have my students take a pretest to know which words they will need to spend extra time with.  Our list is a district mandated list from our reading curriculum. 

For the first few weeks of school, I give the pretest in class.  The students then choose spelling activities from our monthly spelling contract to help them study.  You can find the monthly spelling contracts file {here}. 

Below is our classroom guideline for our spelling contract.

• 1-2 words missed- Earn five points 
• 3-5 words missed- Earn fifteen points 
• 6+ words missed- Complete a five point activity nightly/daily.

We also teach the students to use cover, copy, compare to give their own pretest, in case they aren't able to have someone at home to give him/her a pretest. I also utilize high school helpers for pretests as well. 

You can even implement this pretest idea in your classroom for word work! The number of words missed determines how many points your students will need to earn throughout the week.  The directions are editable, so can come up with a routine that best meets your classroom needs. 

Some weeks, but not all weeks, I may include a reading sheet. Typically these reading sheets practice our weekly skill.  Below is an example of a week that studied theme.  Most students received the "Amusement Park" passage, and my enrichment/gifted students received the "Getting Away With It" passage. 

I mainly include a passage here and there for for students to independently practice written responses, going back into the text for the answer, and to give parents a peek at what we are learning in class. 

Typically, homework goes home on Friday and is due the following Friday.  I also encourage my students to read at home, but do not require a reading log. The title of any books that they have read go on their 40 Book Challenge Log. 

This sums up my CURRENT homework routine, however, I have left the original post from 1/24/14 below, as many pins direct to this post... 

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My kiddos are expected to read 60 minutes a week.  Packets originally went home on Monday and were due Friday, so this was twenty minutes a night.  A lot of families wanted the spelling homework/words available so they could start studying over the weekend.  Packets now go home on Friday and are due the following Friday.  Some of my kids also work towards their reading minutes on the weekend too. Most of my kids LOVE reading so it's not uncommon to see reading log minutes in excess of one hundred or two hundred minutes. :) 

The next two pages have to do with their spelling homework.  I'm not in love with our spelling program but it comes with our basal and we are required to use it.  The kiddos earn ten points from my monthly spelling contracts each week and also complete a word sort page with their spelling words. 

The last two pages are response questions for their at home reading that week. 

My students choose four questions each week, they can't repeat questions, to answer on the recording page each week.   It's a great way to get even more practice responding to the texts they read! Currently, I use this file as a reading response activity in class.

I look over the homework on Friday afternoons before I head home.  It's worked out great because we don't loose any additional class checking homework together each day and the additional practice at home with our spelling words and reading have really benefited my students.  

If you are interested in the reading response sheet that I use with my students, I have added it to my Reading Response Questions for Practically any book freebie. 

I just gave the entire file a facelift! I originally blogged about how I use this resource {here}.  To download, just click on the image above or {here}. 


Happy weekend, friends! I'm off to cuddle with my puppies. It's so cold here in Ohio! 

Monthly Spelling Contracts

Last spring I shared how I organize spelling homework in my fourth grade classroom and was blown by just how much you loved the contracts I shared.  

These spelling contracts are one of the few things that has stuck around since my first year of teaching. Of course, their appearance has changed a lot, but the content has remained the same. 

The thing that my kiddos and their parents love about these contracts is the power of choice involved.  You can read about how I use these contracts in my classroom {here}. 

 I would give my kiddos a week to earn 15 points off this contract.  Many of my gifted kiddos chose the ten point activities, which take longer, allow a little bit more creativity, and more word application.  While many other students chose to earn their 15 points by completing three 5 point activities, which focus mainly on learning to spell their words in fun and engaging ways.  I would change the activities for both monthly and my students and their families really appreciated having different choices each month, it keeps spelling homework "fresh".

Many of you left comments or sent emails about how you used their for Word Work during your school day whether it be in centers, workstations, etc. and I thought that application was brilliant! Especially as I've been reading up on the Daily Five more and more this summer to prepare for implementing it in my classroom.  

I held myself and laptop hostage the past few days and finally cranked out the year long spelling contract bundle I've been promising you. 

The activities on each contract are different from the month before, and while some activities do repeat, I made sure to really space them out. 

The wonderful thing about these contracts is that they work with any list.  Obviously, I recommend these activities for third and up, but I've left spaces for you to determine how many points for your students to earn and left the phrasing on the contracts generic enough to work with any spelling list. I have also included options for each both that do/do not include Spelling City.  I understand that some of you use it or some of you work with populations of students that do not have internet access at home.  Here's a peak at the non Spelling City contract. 

 I have uploaded this file to my Teachers Pay Teachers store and you can access it via any of the images in this post or by clicking here.  

April Spelling Contract

Hey friends! Sorry this is a little late for some of you but we just had our first day of school in April today. :)  I'm exhausted but I did want to share April's spelling contract with you.  

 Two contracts available because I know that not everyone uses Spelling City. :) Just click on the pics or {here} to download a copy.   If you download, I'd love it if you followed my blog or my blog's Facebook page!

I also have an entire bundle of spelling contracts for the entire year available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  The March contract is different in the bundled pack, in case you were wondering. :) My kiddos LOVE getting new spelling activities each month.  You can check out the year round bundle {here} or by clicking on the image below!

March Spelling Homework Freebie

Homework can be a tricky thing sometimes.  I try to make homework fun, engaging, and purposeful, especially since my school doesn't dismiss until 4:00 pm. I want my kiddos to be able to enjoy some family time as well! 

One of the ways I've tried to incoporate the fun element to homework is changing the activities my students complete monthly for spelling.  

  
I've used these contracts for five years and my kiddos have always enjoyed getting new activities to complete each month.  Each week my students have to earn fifteen points off the contract.  As you can see some activities are worth five and some are worth ten.  The ten point activities usually take a little longer and require a bit more critical thinking skills, for example writing acrostic poems or jingles for each word.  The five point activities are a bit shorter and focus more on just practicing the word's spelling.

I have found that switching out spelling activities monthly keeps my students more engaged in their spelling homework and they appreciate the element of choice they are given with their contracts.  

I have uploaded the contract above and this one below to my Google Drive to share with you.  

This spelling contract does not have the option for Spelling City.  I know not all teachers use it/nor does every child have computer access at home. 


I teach fourth grade, so the activities on these contracts, especially the ten point activities, are geared more for intermediate kiddos.  I hope you enjoy, if you download, I'd love to know what you think!

Click on any of the images above or {here} to access both contracts via Google Drive. 
  
I also have an entire bundle of spelling contracts for the entire year available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  The March contract is different in the bundled pack, in case you were wondering. :) My kiddos LOVE getting new spelling activities each month.  You can check out the year round bundle {here} or by clicking on the image below!

Thanks to Tales Outside the Classroom, Hello Literacy, Kimberly Geswein Fonts, and Krista Wallden for the fonts and clip art.