Tricks of the Trade: Homework!

Happy Thursday!  I am back from an exciting field trip to the USS Intrepid Museum today.  We had a wonderful time and their some great facts about this massive ship!  Our whole day was wonderful and I am very proud of how my students behaved all day!  We got back to school right at dismissal and I didn't get to hear their highlights.  I cannot wait to hear them tomorrow!  Today, I am linking up with Jessica from Joy in the Journey and Becky from Compassionate Teacher for their weekly Tricks of the Trade.  This weeks topic: HOMEWORK!

My thoughts: I feel homework is necessary for a student to succeed.  I do not feel homework should happen all of the time for hours on end.  Homework should be a time of reinforcing a concept that we have gone over in class.  Homework should not be a battle of the parents and the student, but a time where the student can show their parent they are mastering concepts learned in class.

(I apologize in advance for the lack of picture.  We were on a field trip and I did not remember to take pictures until after I left school!)

Collection: I have a designated homework bin in my classroom for my homework.  My students know that every morning they must come in a put their homework in the bin.  I also have a bin in Jessica's room for her students to put homework for me in.  She has a bin in my room.  This was to help with students forgetting to bring it to her class and having to go back and get it.  I usually have a student who brings the bin over when they come for math in the morning.

Returning Papers: I had a wonderful set of mailboxes in my old school, but do not have any mailboxes now.  I looked into buying a set at the beginning of the year, but could not afford them.  So, I looked on pinterest for the next bast thing.  I found these crate mailboxes.  They work perfectly for passing back papers.  Each students has their own folder that they go to at the end of the day to get their papers from.  I have a papers person each week who files the papers into the correct folders.  I do prefer the mailboxes because students can see they have papers, but this is a great second option.

Well those are some of my tricks of the trade for homework.  I hope you all have a wonderful night!  I am going to contemplate grading papers or eating ice cream and watching a movie!

Rosie