I wanted to share a new way second grade is doing homework. Our school district is really pushing student choices throughout their learning so we decided to tie that into homework. In the past we printed out packets of math and reading practice. It was a great way for the kids to practice skills learned in class, but there was really no student choice going on. This year our new idea is to have a weekly menu in which students choose from a few options as to what they wish to turn in. Here is the menu we are using this week. (This is the first time I'm using Scribd so I'm sorry if it's not working right.)
Homework Menu
The choices are not 100% mine. A few I came up with (with help from my team!) and a few came from this amazing book I recommend. Differentiating Instruction with Menus by Laurie Westphal is a great resource for menus! You can purchase the books by subject and within each subject are menu templates for different topics. The one I have above has addition and subtraction assignments, reading, grammar and spelling.
I can't wait to see what the kids come up with for their homework! Every week is going to be different for both the kids and myself. It's going to be a total surprise (hopefully good surprise...) when they turn in their work on Friday!! I love giving the kids the option on how far they want to take their homework and how creative they want to be!
Do you have any ideas for next week's homework menu?
I love this idea and your menu is so great! I want to do something like that with my students with their spelling words.
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI am revisiting all of my favorite "menu" bookmarks (even if they were a few years back!) with a request: Someone has posted on the Differentiating Instruction with Menus Series (https://www.facebook.com/DifferentiatingInstructionwithMenus) page on Facebook asking if I had any photos of student created products. Because of the request, I am being more proactive. I know you have been doing menus for a while so perhaps you have some photos of student products you are willing to share to address their request. So if you have any pictures of products you are willing to share on the page, I would appreciate it. :) Laurie