1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,400
I'm not the biggest fan of homework, especially for young kids, but you might find yourself

2
00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:09,660
in a situation where your admin is requiring you to assign homework.

3
00:00:09,660 --> 00:00:15,320
So this is a little workaround I thought of that I much prefer to traditional paper pencil

4
00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:18,320
homework.

5
00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:28,800
Hello, and welcome to Making Number Sense Makes Sense, a podcast for elementary teachers,

6
00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:33,600
specifically early elementary teachers, looking to really make an impact in the number sense

7
00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:35,840
of their students.

8
00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:40,760
I think my biggest issue with homework is if their students are not given any choice

9
00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:45,000
and it's not meaningful and it's not something that they are, that it's fun, you're going

10
00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:46,200
to get kids who are not doing it.

11
00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:49,840
So you're having to spend all of this time preparing this homework that kids don't do

12
00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:53,760
unless it's for a grade and then it feels like something else they have to do instead

13
00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:58,880
of something that they are doing to support what they're learning in class.

14
00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:03,800
So this is a little workaround I created to still be assigning quote unquote homework

15
00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:06,360
but make it feel more fun and less like a chore.

16
00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:14,080
So my solution to the homework conundrum, it's kind of a play based approach to homework.

17
00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:20,360
So what I'm thinking is I really want my families to enjoy their time after school, like you

18
00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:23,140
don't have to keep doing more school once you're out of school.

19
00:01:23,140 --> 00:01:25,180
But I want them to have fun with what they're doing.

20
00:01:25,180 --> 00:01:29,760
So I really wanted the quote unquote homework I was assigning to be fun.

21
00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:35,200
So what I did is I created a set of games that kids can use, kids and families can use

22
00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:39,880
at home and that would be their homework, play one of these math games.

23
00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:46,160
And in this handout that I gave my families, I let them know kind of why I was giving them

24
00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:49,360
this kind of homework versus something traditional like a worksheet.

25
00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:54,640
And I understand that not every family will be able to spend the time because of their

26
00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:57,000
work schedules or other time constraints.

27
00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:02,120
But I wanted the option to be there if they got a minute here or there to be able to use

28
00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:03,120
these.

29
00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:08,360
So in the description letter, I sent home to families basically saying like this is what

30
00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:10,360
we're doing this year.

31
00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:12,480
And these are some ideas for how to differentiate.

32
00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:15,540
Now I don't like getting too into the weeds and that kind of thing.

33
00:02:15,540 --> 00:02:18,440
But you know, there's there's families who are like, oh, you know, this is too challenging

34
00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:21,040
for my child or this is too easy for my child.

35
00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:24,880
So I tried to give them ideas of how to make it easier or how to make it harder according

36
00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:27,880
to what they're seeing their kids do.

37
00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:35,520
So in this packet, there are 36 games that are aligned to the common core standards.

38
00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:40,000
But to be honest with you, most of the standards are pretty similar in all states across the

39
00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:41,000
United States.

40
00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,800
So even though these are common core aligned, most of your standards will be hit in them

41
00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:47,040
even if you're not using common core in your state.

42
00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:51,440
So there was the family family letter and this does require some prep.

43
00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:55,320
I'm not going to lie to you, it did require some prep to get everything kind of laminated,

44
00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:58,600
but you don't necessarily need to cut everything out yourself.

45
00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:04,280
And with our beginning of the year Amazon money, I had purchased some dice and playing

46
00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:08,480
cards for my students and then they could just use those all year.

47
00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:12,320
So they needed the set of games, dice and cards.

48
00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:13,320
And that was it.

49
00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:17,000
So included in here, I had number tracks within without dice.

50
00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:22,800
Five frames, 10 frames, hundreds chart, numeral cards, 10 frame cards, shape cards, a graphing

51
00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:28,880
chart, comparison T charts and a board game, as well as a tracking system they could use

52
00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:33,640
to see how many games are playing and so they can rate their favorite ones.

53
00:03:33,640 --> 00:03:39,080
So like I said before, most of these games had a harder option and an easier option for

54
00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:44,000
my students and everything was in English and Spanish because I taught Spanish immersion.

55
00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:49,120
Half of my students come from Spanish speaking families and the other half of my students

56
00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:52,440
come from non Spanish speaking families, usually English.

57
00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:57,480
So that way all families, most of my families could access this information because it was

58
00:03:57,480 --> 00:03:59,200
in their home language already.

59
00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:02,400
So if you're curious like what kind of games were in there, I'm going to share with you

60
00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:04,040
some of the games that I put in there.

61
00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:06,120
So one of them is called Race to 100.

62
00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:08,320
So this would be for later on in the year.

63
00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:13,120
So with their playing cards, one kid would flip one card and then the grown up or so

64
00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:16,560
oiler sibling would flip over the other card right down how many they had and then flip

65
00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:22,680
over another card and add that to the previous card and keep going until one of them reached

66
00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:24,080
100.

67
00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:29,200
Another game I had was called Under the Cup, which is kind of a decomposing number game.

68
00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:33,720
So you start with a certain number like I'm going to start with, oh no, six items and

69
00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:38,160
I'm going to hide some of them under a cup or under my hand and then the other ones are

70
00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:45,600
outside so they have to figure out how many am I hiding.

71
00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:48,320
I also had some ideas for kind of more movement games.

72
00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:52,480
So like these are all these number cards, a family could kind of hide them around the

73
00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:55,720
house or put them in different places and then say to their kid, all right, I need you

74
00:04:55,720 --> 00:05:00,560
to go find me the number seven and go find the number seven and bring it back or be like,

75
00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:04,280
okay, pick the number eight, find eight Legos and bring them back to me, things like that

76
00:05:04,280 --> 00:05:05,280
to get them moving around.

77
00:05:05,280 --> 00:05:08,440
So there's kind of a game board type game.

78
00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:17,400
There was number writing games, sorting games, number writing games, shape games, graphing

79
00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:21,480
games, that kind of thing, so that they were kind of really hitting on all of the standards

80
00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:26,100
that you might see in the common core in a fun way.

81
00:05:26,100 --> 00:05:33,520
So that kind of my work around to homework, making it be more game like and play.

82
00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:36,760
So if this has sparked any ideas for you, I would love to hear it.

83
00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:42,600
And if you would like to see exactly what I'm talking about on what my game set looks

84
00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:45,320
like, I will have that linked down below for you.

85
00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:47,800
Thanks for listening and I will see you next time.

86
00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:51,800
If you've been enjoying the podcast, I would love for you to leave a review or send me

87
00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:56,560
a message on Instagram and let me know what your favorite topic has been and what you'd

88
00:05:56,560 --> 00:06:05,160
like to hear from me next.