Homework in Pre-K?

Happy Sunday! For me, Sundays are a day to lay in bed with your laptop and organize your lesson plans for the following week. Here are the themes for my Pre-K class for the week of 10/21/2012

• Language Arts: Letter T- identifying, writing, and letter sound
• Math: Identifying and counting to 5 and shapes review.
• Science: Woodland animals: nocturnal animals. On Fun Friday we will do an "exploding pumpkin" experiment!
• Social Studies: Community helpers: bakers & firefighters

The idea of homework in Pre-K is quite controversial. Personally, I feel that giving a 4 year old paper and pencil homework is inappropriate and a waste of time. I developed a "homework" program for my young students that encourages hands-on, meaningful experiences that reinforce what we learned that day. The Homework Caterpillar is composed of four sections (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) containing hands on activities for the student to complete at home. Once the  student completes the activity, they color in that day's section of the caterpillar so I know they completed it. On occasion, I will send home a tracing "worksheet" or coloring activity that closely ties to what we learned that day. The students LOVE the caterpillar and look forward to coloring it in each day. Some students really get into the coloring and decorate each part of the body. It is so cute!

Click the above link for a Homework Caterpillar that you can customize. I left my homework examples on the caterpillar for you to use as a reference. Feel free to download, customize, and use how you wish. :)