Haycock AAP Center and homework

[Anonymous]

Can anyone who has a kid at Haycock's AAP center provide some feedback regarding your experience with Blackboard and/or whether the teachers do a good job of assisting the kids in tracking homework?

I ask because while we like our Local Level IV program, I am becoming frustrated with the view that it is the kids' job to write everything down in their daily planner with no real back up for identifying homework each night. Our DS (3rd grade) really enjoys the content of the classes and is doing great academically, but he is totally stressing out about keeping track of what is due each day. His is not the most organized kid, and is working hard to address this, but I feel like the school has thrown the kids into a middle school environment with no real help in transitioning to the additional responsibilities. Our DS has 5 different teaches for his core subjects (two for math, then 1 each for Social Studies, Language Arts, and Science). The math homework is not posted anywhere, and the other homework is not always completely identified on Blackbrd. For the first few weeks of school we (the parents) did not sit down with him to check off that he had completed all of his homework, but that didn't work out well. We kept getting notes home that he was missing worksheets. So we started reviewing BlackBrd daily to compile a list of what he needed to do - and this would take my DH or me 30 min. to prepare - but we discovered that Blackbrd frequently isn't up to date, and the math teacher won't post the homework on BlackBrd.

TIA for your input.

[Anonymous]

Not at Haycock, but at our AAP Center not only does the teacher post everything on Blackboard, but the school counselors have time management and organization skills sessions after lunchtime to help students that need a little bit of help keeping organized. When we received the permission form from the school, my husband asked if he could sign up to go, too!

[Anonymous]

I think it is fairly universal that they expect kids to begin tracking their own homework in 3rd grade.

My child is in the Haycock AAP center and in 3rd grade, the kids wrote down their homework in the planner and a parent was required to sign the planner each night. We would recieve tidbits in the weekly newsletter like "xxxxxxx is due this Thursday" or "there is no word study this week" but all in all the child was expected to keep themselves organized. The teachers did not list the homework on the blackboard. However, they only switched teachers for math and word study, so there were no more than 3 teachers to keep up with.

In 4th grade, they fill in their own assignment notebook, but it is not necessary to have a parent sign it (unless it becomes a problem and the child is not getting things done). They do have information about long term projects on blackboard, but not daily homework. The kids switch classes every day for VA studies, Math, and Science and once a week for Word Study. Their language arts groups are within their classroom. So, again, only about 3 teachers to keep up with.

Have you spoken with your child's teacher?
Most teachers would be willing to help a child with organizational skills and help them keep track of their assignments.


However, I am curious how your local level IV program works. I would assume that a LLIV program would have no more than 2 classes per grade level...so are they mixed in with the general ed students for their classes?
One of the perks of Haycock is that there are typically 3+ AAP classes at each of the upper grade levels, so they can provide flexible grouping among other AAP classes.

[Anonymous]

The LLIV program at my DS's school has 22 LLIV kids in 3rd grade. There are 3 classes total in 3rd grade. Gen Ed kids test into a LLIV class based on space availability. For math, there are 2 LLIV classes (18 or so kids in my DS's class), and 1 LLIV class with 27-28 kids for language arts, social studies, and science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone who has a kid at Haycock's AAP center provide some feedback regarding your experience with Blackboard and/or whether the teachers do a good job of assisting the kids in tracking homework?

I ask because while we like our Local Level IV program, I am becoming frustrated with the view that it is the kids' job to write everything down in their daily planner with no real back up for identifying homework each night. Our DS (3rd grade) really enjoys the content of the classes and is doing great academically, but he is totally stressing out about keeping track of what is due each day. His is not the most organized kid, and is working hard to address this, but I feel like the school has thrown the kids into a middle school environment with no real help in transitioning to the additional responsibilities. Our DS has 5 different teaches for his core subjects (two for math, then 1 each for Social Studies, Language Arts, and Science). The math homework is not posted anywhere, and the other homework is not always completely identified on Blackbrd. For the first few weeks of school we (the parents) did not sit down with him to check off that he had completed all of his homework, but that didn't work out well. We kept getting notes home that he was missing worksheets. So we started reviewing BlackBrd daily to compile a list of what he needed to do - and this would take my DH or me 30 min. to prepare - but we discovered that Blackbrd frequently isn't up to date, and the math teacher won't post the homework on BlackBrd.

TIA for your input.

How much time do you and your kid spend each night on homework?

[Anonymous]

I have a 3rd grader at Haycock. She has to write it all in her planner, just as the PP discussed.

[Anonymous]

I'm a Haycock parent too. As PPs said, it's up to child to write the info in planner. I rarely look at Blackboard, and I don't think it's updated daily with homework info.

However, I think the 3rd grade teachers do a good job of helping to make sure kids write everything down in planner. Time is spent at the end of each day -- everyone gets planners out. Homework info is written up on the board.

I have never had a problem with the planner not having all the info. One of my children -- when in 3rd grade -- often forgot to bring home the materials necessary to complete the homework. The teacher helped her come up with a simple system of checking off in planner when the materials were placed in the backpack before leaving school. (And I had to come up with a dis-incentive program at home to help make sure she did this each day.)

Hope that helps.

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone who has a kid at Haycock's AAP center provide some feedback regarding your experience with Blackboard and/or whether the teachers do a good job of assisting the kids in tracking homework?

I ask because while we like our Local Level IV program, I am becoming frustrated with the view that it is the kids' job to write everything down in their daily planner with no real back up for identifying homework each night. Our DS (3rd grade) really enjoys the content of the classes and is doing great academically, but he is totally stressing out about keeping track of what is due each day. His is not the most organized kid, and is working hard to address this, but I feel like the school has thrown the kids into a middle school environment with no real help in transitioning to the additional responsibilities. Our DS has 5 different teaches for his core subjects (two for math, then 1 each for Social Studies, Language Arts, and Science). The math homework is not posted anywhere, and the other homework is not always completely identified on Blackbrd. For the first few weeks of school we (the parents) did not sit down with him to check off that he had completed all of his homework, but that didn't work out well. We kept getting notes home that he was missing worksheets. So we started reviewing BlackBrd daily to compile a list of what he needed to do - and this would take my DH or me 30 min. to prepare - but we discovered that Blackbrd frequently isn't up to date, and the math teacher won't post the homework on BlackBrd.

TIA for your input.