To Homework or Not to Homework

Hola everyone! Yesterday I read Lindsay's post (My Life as a Third Grade Teacher) about homework. She brought up a hot topic in my grade level.

Every year I tackle this topic with Tina, the co-author of this blog. Do we want to give homework? And how much?

About 9 years ago, we changed the way we assign homework. We began giving weekly homework. It was sent home in the homework folder on Monday and  turned in on Friday. Over the years, our weekly homework has evolved. Now, we hand it out on Fridays and it is due the following Thursday. That way, the kiddos can get it done on the weekend if needed. Parents are grateful but we still have problems. Some kiddos don't have anyone to go over their work. Some kiddos don't have anyone making them do their homework. And some still don't complete their homework or even do it at all!

We give the students a reading passage with 4-6 questions (starts off at a second grade level at the beginning of the year), 2 review pages of math we have already learned, spelling words (they can use spelling city or practice in a number of ways), daily math fact card practice, and daily reading.
Inside of their homework folder, we clip in examples of how the homework should be done. For reading, we expect the students to underline where they found their answers and justify their answers. For math, we expect the students to show all of their work. Homework is always a review of what we have already practiced!

But I am sure we will ask this question in August- Do we want to assign homework this year?
It's a lot of work for us. It takes a lot of time to prepare. It takes a long time to check.
 We have a fun activity on Friday afternoons for those students that did complete their homework correctly. Like I said- lots of work.

How do you handle homework?