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schmora15
LIF Adult
Member since 9/08 2476 total posts
Name:
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Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
Are your Kindergartners getting graded on homework?
We get a packet on Monday and it's not due until the following Monday. The teacher notes on the front what she wants done each day.
I follow my daughters lead. Not that I let her dictate what she does, but if she's totally exhausted, i'm not going to even try. I would rather sit and read a book to her.
She's very bright and ahead in everything. It's just on my mind because the teacher sent a note attached the HW packet this past week. It really just irritated me more than anything..I think she put it on all the packets, we weren't singled out, but still...
Just wondering what your thoughts are :/
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Posted 1/10/15 6:54 PM  |
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kgs11
LIF Adult
Member since 2/07 1424 total posts
Name:
Kim
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Re: Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
What did the note say?
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| Posted 1/10/15 8:00 PM |
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Millie3
LIF Adult
Member since 7/13 1280 total posts
Name:
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Re: Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
What did note say?
I was on my k kid with HW , I never like to see any corrections. Started K at 4 yo, and it doesn't matter if was tired. Still have to do the work
He is in 1st and knows the drill
Message edited 1/10/2015 8:05:06 PM.
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| Posted 1/10/15 8:04 PM |
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Lillykat
going along for the ride...
Member since 5/05 16253 total posts
Name:
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Re: Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
My daughter gets a packet for the week. It comes home Monday, goes back Friday. We get it all at once. It is broken down to basically two sheets a day, plus a reading log. I insist she finish the packet by Friday. I do not necessarily follow the 2 sheets a day. Some days she wants to do more so I let her. I don't care if she skips a night as long as it is completed in time io turn it in. Honestly, though none of it is taxing or difficult, if anything she and I wish it was harder. I am not sure they are graded per se, but they do get graded by effort and I know no homework can effect their effort rating. At this point she doesn't have anything that she would be too tired to complete. With the exception of two sheets, which include drawings and writing, everything else can be done in 5 mins or less.
Do you have her do it when she gets home or shortly after? Is she more tired certain nights? Can you have her do more another night in anticipation of that one night? I like to encourage her to do it now while it is light, rather than wait until the load gets heavier and have her say oh I am tired, I will skip tonight. Could she rest a bit first then do it?
Btw. The above does not include the reading journal she has as well.
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| Posted 1/10/15 8:09 PM |
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schmora15
LIF Adult
Member since 9/08 2476 total posts
Name:
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Update: Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
Basically that the homework needs to be done on time. The discrepancy is the packet it given on Monday and due back on Monday. On the front if gives guidelines on what to do M-F and reading every night. She doesn't specify what on time is. Is it according to the guidelines, or by Monday?
It's always done by Monday, generally by Friday. I just won't make her do it according to the M-F guidelines.
IMO she's 5. She's bright, very advanced. I work, my husband works and we have other children. If she's tired I feel down time is more important. Family time is more important. IMO it's unbelievable that they would even take a homework grade into account in K.
I don't think it was directed at us. It was typed so it was most likely on all of the packets. It's just been on my mind.
Update--The teacher got back to me..It was a generic letter...My DD's HW is fine...still think grading HW in K is ridiculous. K isn't even required, right?
Message edited 1/11/2015 6:43:18 PM.
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| Posted 1/10/15 8:12 PM |
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schmora15
LIF Adult
Member since 9/08 2476 total posts
Name:
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Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
So I just went to pull out the note and take a picture. There was another reminder this time with the state grading criteria! I am so beyond annoyed.
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| Posted 1/10/15 8:15 PM |
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schmora15
LIF Adult
Member since 9/08 2476 total posts
Name:
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Re: Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
This is the criteria--she took the other note off.
ETA--tried uploading didn't work :/
Message edited 1/10/2015 8:20:35 PM.
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| Posted 1/10/15 8:20 PM |
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LSP2005
Bunny kisses are so cute!
Member since 5/05 19458 total posts
Name:
L
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Re: Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
My son had more home work in kindergarten than in either first or second grade. It was a miserable time for all of us.
He had weekly spelling tests with mandatory writing sentences, making them into lists too.
Letter writing
Book reports monthly
Dioramas four times
A huge project all about him with a written report and poster board.
Spanish homework.
Reading nightly.
Math home work.
My dd is in kindergarten at a new school and there is no homework. They provided the go math book at the beginning of the year, she is independently up to page 224 of 296 pages. We read daily. At the beginning of the month she gets a suggested to do page with daily items so we do them, but they are simple things.
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| Posted 1/10/15 8:27 PM |
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schmora15
LIF Adult
Member since 9/08 2476 total posts
Name:
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Re: Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
Posted by LSP2005
My son had more home work in kindergarten than in either first or second grade. It was a miserable time for all of us.
He had weekly spelling tests with mandatory writing sentences, making them into lists too.
Letter writing
Book reports monthly
Dioramas four times
A huge project all about him with a written report and poster board.
Spanish homework.
Reading nightly.
Math home work.
My dd is in kindergarten at a new school and there is no homework. They provided the go math book at the beginning of the year, she is independently up to page 224 of 296 pages. We read daily. At the beginning of the month she gets a suggested to do page with daily items so we do them, but they are simple things.
That's is crazy! For me it's hard to even take seriously. They're 5!!
We try to read nightly even if we don't do HW.
I refuse to stress about it and i'm certainly not going to push my exhausted 5 yr old to do it. We eventually do get it done but i'm not going hound her about it.
She know how to write and she can read independently.
This is just totally ridiculous!
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| Posted 1/10/15 8:52 PM |
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Teachergal
We made a snowman!
Member since 1/08 3239 total posts
Name:
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Re: Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
No, he is not graded on it, at least not in any way that I have seen. I agree that some nights when we walk through the door he is DONE! We don't get home until 4:45. He is tired every day, but some days it's worse than others. On those days, I either have him do a small amount or none. He just makes up for it another night. I don't want him hating homework and forcing him to do it when he is too tired is going to teach him to hate it. Not to mention it will be a fight and that just makes the rest of the evening unbearable. I hate homework anyway! Yes, a teacher who hates homework. I'd rather 5 year olds spend their time at home playing, eating family dinners and unwinding from a very active, demanding day.
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| Posted 1/10/15 9:19 PM |
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schmora15
LIF Adult
Member since 9/08 2476 total posts
Name:
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Re: Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
Posted by Lillykat
My daughter gets a packet for the week. It comes home Monday, goes back Friday. We get it all at once. It is broken down to basically two sheets a day, plus a reading log. I insist she finish the packet by Friday. I do not necessarily follow the 2 sheets a day. Some days she wants to do more so I let her. I don't care if she skips a night as long as it is completed in time io turn it in. Honestly, though none of it is taxing or difficult, if anything she and I wish it was harder. I am not sure they are graded per se, but they do get graded by effort and I know no homework can effect their effort rating. At this point she doesn't have anything that she would be too tired to complete. With the exception of two sheets, which include drawings and writing, everything else can be done in 5 mins or less.
Do you have her do it when she gets home or shortly after? Is she more tired certain nights? Can you have her do more another night in anticipation of that one night? I like to encourage her to do it now while it is light, rather than wait until the load gets heavier and have her say oh I am tired, I will skip tonight. Could she rest a bit first then do it?
Btw. The above does not include the reading journal she has as well.
We generally start it on Wednesdays. I find the mornings are better for us. I have her work on it right before school and then the sitter generally does a lot of it with her on Thursday. We finish it up over the weekend. We do read nightly but I don't log it in her journal to the weekend. Monday and Fridays she's generally tired, Tuesdays she's in daycare....we come home, have dinner, change and relax/read.
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| Posted 1/10/15 9:24 PM |
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schmora15
LIF Adult
Member since 9/08 2476 total posts
Name:
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Re: Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
Posted by Teachergal
No, he is not graded on it, at least not in any way that I have seen. I agree that some nights when we walk through the door he is DONE! We don't get home until 4:45. He is tired every day, but some days it's worse than others. On those days, I either have him do a small amount or none. He just makes up for it another night. I don't want him hating homework and forcing him to do it when he is too tired is going to teach him to hate it. Not to mention it will be a fight and that just makes the rest of the evening unbearable. I hate homework anyway! Yes, a teacher who hates homework. I'd rather 5 year olds spend their time at home playing, eating family dinners and unwinding from a very active, demanding day.
This is exactly how I feel. I emailed the teacher but honestly I have no intention of changing how I do things. I didn't say that but I wanted to know if it was a generic letter on all the packets or just my DDs. These kids need to play and unwind!
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| Posted 1/10/15 9:27 PM |
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bella321
Blessed!
Member since 3/09 1952 total posts
Name:
Kristy
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Re: Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
Posted by Teachergal
I'd rather 5 year olds spend their time at home playing, eating family dinners and unwinding from a very active, demanding day.
ITA
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| Posted 1/10/15 11:25 PM |
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Hofstra26
Love to Bake!
Member since 7/06 27915 total posts
Name:
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Re: Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
In Kindergarten, my DD got a packet every week but the teacher never required it to be returned. It was really for us to just reinforce concepts with her at home.
Now in first grade she gets HW every night Mon-Thurs and it needs to be returned to school each day. The teacher looks at it and puts a smiley, star, check mark etc but it's not actually "graded". She does however keep track of it being handed in for report card purposes.
When I taught Kindergarten we NEVER "graded" HW, that is ridiculous. The work required of a child that age is not worthy of an actual grading process. I would just look it over, give a smiley and make a note to myself those kids that had trouble with certain HW concepts so I could work with them further.
Message edited 1/12/2015 9:13:39 AM.
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| Posted 1/12/15 9:11 AM |
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Re: Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
I didn't read all of the replies, but my son is in kindergarten, and we don't get a packet of homework. We get a list of what the homework will be each night (Monday- Thursday) on Monday, but the actual worksheets for the night come home that day.
It's always 1 handwriting worksheet, 1 (sometimes 2) math workbook sheets, and nightly reading with child.
So we can't even go ahead if we wanted to, as I don't have the correct handwriting sheet for say, Thursday, if I wanted to go ahead to Thursday.
Also, my son's homework tends to reflect what they worked on that day in class. So I can see why they wouldn't want you going ahead to Wednesday if it's only Monday and they haven't even covered the topic of the homework yet (or why it would be helpful to reinforce what was done on Monday in class on Monday night, versus waiting a couple of days).
But that being said, if the teacher/school feels that way, and want things done in a specific way, why not just send a little home each day? I thought the point of the packet was to make it easier on parents who may have late activities or conflicts certain nights that may make it hard to do the homework each night. The packet lets people cover the work on a schedule that works for them.
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| Posted 1/12/15 9:46 AM |
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Waste06
Waste not, want not
Member since 6/06 7219 total posts
Name:
Lois Mom Mommy Mama Ma
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Re: Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
My DS is in Kindergarten and he gets homework Mon-Thurs nights. It's usually a ditto, front and back.
The teacher checks it, puts a stamp on it that says "Good Job" or "Excellent" or "Nice work" (I don't think it means he did better or worse, she just changes up the stamps for variety.)
If he did something wrong, like write a letter or number sloppily, she will correct it. Sometimes she will write "Practice", but his HW is not graded.
I don't mind the HW in Kinder, probably because he's ahead of the curve and can complete it easily. But I know some kids are struggling, and HW can take an hour with a lot of fighting to get them to focus.
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| Posted 1/12/15 10:24 AM |
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EricaAlt
LIF Adult
Member since 7/08 22665 total posts
Name:
Erica
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Re: Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
Posted by Waste06
My DS is in Kindergarten and he gets homework Mon-Thurs nights. It's usually a ditto, front and back.
The teacher checks it, puts a stamp on it that says "Good Job" or "Excellent" or "Nice work" (I don't think it means he did better or worse, she just changes up the stamps for variety.)
If he did something wrong, like write a letter or number sloppily, she will correct it. Sometimes she will write "Practice", but his HW is not graded.
I don't mind the HW in Kinder, probably because he's ahead of the curve and can complete it easily. But I know some kids are struggling, and HW can take an hour with a lot of fighting to get them to focus.
This is exactly DS's kindergarten homework as well. M - Th only and it's usually 2 dittos. One math and one writing or Letter. Sometimes she'll add a star and put *Enrichment* for extra work to be done on the back and have the student write a sentence with the letter they're working on or the new popcorn word that was introduced.
He is also in Speech so will get HW on those days and Kindergarten enrichment classes twice a week since his K is still only half day and he's in the afternoon. It seems like a lot, but really takes anywhere from 15 - 30 mins a night.
Never gets anything on the weekend. To me it's really just giving them more practice work to do when they're not in school and to get them ready for 1st grade. Nothing is graded.
Message edited 1/12/2015 11:29:31 AM.
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| Posted 1/12/15 11:28 AM |
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schmora15
LIF Adult
Member since 9/08 2476 total posts
Name:
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Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
I updated above..the teacher replied and said continue as is. Some kids don't do the packet at all or just totally skip pages.
Just to clarify, the homework itself does not get returned with a grade, but all kindergartners in NYS to receive a grade for completing their HW on their report cards. They are scored between 1 and 4, 4 being exceeds NYS standards and 1 not meeting NYS standards. Personally I just think the idea of giving kindergartners a score is not necessary and a bit much for my liking.
Message edited 1/12/2015 1:48:19 PM.
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| Posted 1/12/15 1:47 PM |
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HomeIsWithU
Baby #2 on the way!
Member since 9/07 7816 total posts
Name:
Jenn
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Re: Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
I find this to be crazy! My DS is in Kindergarten and he doesn't get any homework at all. We reinforce his sight words and I have him work on his independent reading some nights. But the teacher doesn't send home any actual homework each week.
At 5 years old I think its absurd to be grading their homework.
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| Posted 1/12/15 3:29 PM |
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stinger
LIF Adult
Member since 11/11 4971 total posts
Name:
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Re: Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
Posted by schmora15
I updated above..the teacher replied and said continue as is. Some kids don't do the packet at all or just totally skip pages.
Just to clarify, the homework itself does not get returned with a grade, but all kindergartners in NYS to receive a grade for completing their HW on their report cards. They are scored between 1 and 4, 4 being exceeds NYS standards and 1 not meeting NYS standards. Personally I just think the idea of giving kindergartners a score is not necessary and a bit much for my liking.
NYC took off HW from report cards this year!!
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| Posted 1/12/15 3:39 PM |
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Re: Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
My son got his first trimester report card in Dec., and there was no homework category on there.
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| Posted 1/12/15 5:53 PM |
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itsbabytime
LIF Adult
Member since 11/05 9644 total posts
Name:
Me
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Re: Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
When my DS was in K the HW was a joke for him he literally did it in 10 min. He was not graded on it but, all the kids did it and he always did as well. Maybe a grading system was implemented because the kids weren't doing the hw or taking it seriously? I kind of do think K HW is important honestly and at the time I had wished that my DS got HW more worthwhile at is level. K is a building block in every way including HW. 5 is honestly not that young academically anymore in today's society and I don't see why a little bit of HW in K is too much to expect. My DD does hw in pre-k with no issues at all - on her own and she is 4. I think K HW is also important because it is a way for parents to see what the kids are doing in school and also to see how their kids are able to work independently etc. It is the "home" piece of the K schooling. Also, in our school we are not allowed to have the kids go ahead because the HW corresponds with the classroom lessons and are meant to reinforce it. I think that whether your DD is advanced or not is irrevelant. My DS is wayyyy ahead and the hw is a joke for him but, I still insist it is done independently, neatly, nightly etc. Of course this is JMO and I am not saying you are wrong I'm just saying that I don't think you can be mad at the teacher or annoyed re: this. I think all K's get HW and are expected to do it.
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| Posted 1/12/15 7:36 PM |
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oneday
<3
Member since 5/05 4319 total posts
Name:
Pam
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Re: Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
Posted by LSP2005
My son had more home work in kindergarten than in either first or second grade. It was a miserable time for all of us.
He had weekly spelling tests with mandatory writing sentences, making them into lists too.
Letter writing
Book reports monthly
Dioramas four times
A huge project all about him with a written report and poster board.
Spanish homework.
Reading nightly.
Math home work.
My dd is in kindergarten at a new school and there is no homework. They provided the go math book at the beginning of the year, she is independently up to page 224 of 296 pages. We read daily. At the beginning of the month she gets a suggested to do page with daily items so we do them, but they are simple things.
That is INSANE!!!!
DS gets homework M-Th on a monthly sheet. If he would just DO IT instead of fighting about it, he could do it in 5 mins. But, he likes to play around and not do it. And when he does do it, he likes to write really tiny or really big or just - not how he knows he's supposed to do it. SO FRUSTRATING for all of us!!!
Wednesday nights is usually a page or 2 of the Go Math book and he usually likes to do that. Sometimes he'll just continue on.
The other work is usually something like draw three red things and label them or what are three animals that live in the cold. Nothing crazy and just to practice letter writing. No grades just a star or smiley face with "Good"! or "Excellent!" or something.
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| Posted 1/13/15 11:20 AM |
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Sash
Peace
Member since 6/08 10312 total posts
Name:
fka LIW Smara
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Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
My DS got hwk in Kindergarten and it was graded on his report card - something like completed assignments on time. I didn't see an issue with it, It prepared him for first grade and his test he had.
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| Posted 1/13/15 12:26 PM |
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schmora15
LIF Adult
Member since 9/08 2476 total posts
Name:
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Re: Opinion--Kindergartners & Homework
Posted by Century 21 Dallow - Christine Braun
My son got his first trimester report card in Dec., and there was no homework category on there.
Interesting. I wonder why. Maybe it's up to the district? The information sent home was NYS grading standards though.
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| Posted 1/14/15 7:29 PM |
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