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15 Innovative School Homework Ideas to Make Learning Fun

Aashita Pillai

Aashita is a writer here at Suraasa and has formerly worked as a Teacher Mentor for a couple of years. She wields words like weapons to help readers get clear and concise information.

Introduction

General tips to keep students hooked to school homework, 15 innovative school homework ideas to engage your students, theme a: arts and crafts, theme b: physical and outside activities, theme c: digital activities, theme d: games, theme e: entrepreneurship.

“Hi teachers! I am your old friend, School Homework. Over time as education changed, so have I— thanks to the endless innovations that happened to me.  Let me take you through my life and the various innovations that made me your best friend- I was born in the 1920s to help students reinforce what they learned in class. Until the 1980s, I was basically just pen-and-paper-based assignments.  The Internet was born in 1983. From there onwards, I made my stride into the ‘digital era’.

Until the beginning of 2020, I was slowly being integrated within online platforms and technology to help students learn better. Then at the onset of 2020, the world plunged into the COVID-19 pandemic. Schools shifted to a ‘remote learning’ mode of education. During this pandemic, you and I became very crucial in ensuring the continuity of our students’ learning. You all embraced creative approaches to keep the students engaged. You leveraged interactive games, virtual simulations, & more to make me engaging. Gone are the days when you, my dear teachers, would limit your homework to worksheets, textbook questions, literature reviews, and reports. Today as we stand here in 2023, there is no limit to innovative and exciting homework formats! Well, that’s from me. See you in the classrooms!”

So teachers, we heard from homework about how it has evolved over time. As it said, many innovative ways have come up to reinforce our students' learning. So, are you ready to make your students fall in love with these new school homework ideas? Let’s begin with understanding some general tips to keep your students engaged with their school homework.

1. Make it Relevant and Meaningful 

Connect the school homework to their lives, interests, or current events to make it more meaningful and relatable. For example, if it’s Christmas time, you can ask your students to explore the themes of charity, storytelling, etc.

2. Give Them a Choice

Allow students to have some choice and autonomy in their assignments. Ask them to select the format (e.g. written format in the online medium, oral format in the offline medium) in which they want to submit their homework. When they feel a sense of ownership, they are more likely to be motivated and engaged. This is how you become a 21st-century teacher who uses differentiated learning. 

3. Celebrate Their Achievements

When children get appreciated for their achievements or good behaviour, it boosts their self-confidence. It encourages them to repeat those actions. This creates a positive learning environment. They are more likely to deliver results when appreciated for their actions. Hence, you can celebrate their achievements via small rewards, recognition or a display of their work in class.

Let's move to the next part of this blog, where we will share innovative school homework ideas that will turn mundane homework into engaging learning sessions!  After assigning any of these innovative homework ideas, you might never hear students’ innovative excuses to avoid homework! To give you a quick run-through, these ideas have been grouped under some common themes. Under each theme, you will learn how to use 3 ideas listed alongside relevant examples to comprehend it completely. Come along as we give the ratty old homework a MAKEOVER!

By infusing the joy of arts and crafts into school homework, you can tap into the innate curiosity and imagination of your students. And you never know, you might end up being the person that shaped the next Da Vinci! So, let’s get right into it:

1. Create Your Storybook

We all have heard stories. We have loved them and adored them. So why not give our students a chance to write one?  After the students submit their storybooks, you can review their stories and give personalised feedback. Such feedback addresses each student’s individual needs, strengths, and areas for improvement. This fosters a student-centric learning environment.  Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely:

2. Make Your Own Board Game

Do you remember the joy of gathering around a table, rolling a dice, and playing Snakes & Ladders? As kids and even as adults, many of us love spending our time playing board games.  Now, picture becoming the teacher that integrates school homework with a board game! Students can design board games and incorporate artistic elements into their theme, board layout, cards, etc. They can become architects of fun and learning!

Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely:

3. Construct a Birdhouse

Now, let’s tap into the sweet nostalgia of DIY(Do it Yourself) Projects. It could be something as simple as bedsheet forts or something a little more complex like a birdhouse 🙂 Won’t it be wonderful to watch your students feel a sense of accomplishment when they build their own handmade creations?  Let’s focus on the idea of constructing a birdhouse. By assigning students this homework, you’ll additionally be encouraging kinesthetic learning . 

Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely: 

Students love spending their time outdoors. Assigning school homework that requires them to be outside is a big plus! It will also help them apply what’s taught in class in real-life situations and promote active learning.

4. Participate in a Scavenger Hunt

Everyone loves a good old mystery! Give your students the chance to be modern-day ‘Sherlock Holmes’ as they set out on scavenger hunts.  Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely:

5. Maintain a Physical Activity Journal

In this digital age, where mobile and laptop screens often dominate, the majority of the students lead sedentary lifestyles. School homework which encourages physical activity, can be a game-changer! And what better than maintaining a physical activity journal that helps with it? Additionally, it will also promote the healthy habit of having an active lifestyle among students.  Getting students to journal can seem tough, but with the right motivation & incentives, it can be done. Additionally, this can also be a fun summer holiday homework, where students can keep track of their activities all summer! Encourage them to document their daily exercise triumphs. Push them to go beyond their own records! Ask them to explore science concepts- BMI, heart and pulse rates, diet, and nutrition! Once you do this, exercise will not just be about breaking a sweat anymore. It will also be something that incorporates learning! Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely:

6. Conduct a Survey at a Local Supermarket

This outdoor activity is an extremely fun option for school homework. Most kids love running through the different aisles in a supermarket. Introducing a concept like surveys here gives them a chance to do some ‘real-life’ work and also provides much-needed relief to their parents!  Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely: 

In the age of tech-savvy students, we often find parents complaining about the excess screen time with their kids. But what if you could harness the untapped potential in technology? Today's kids are already immersed in the digital world, so why not tap into their enthusiasm and merge it with learning?  Let’s look at some innovative methods of assigning digital activities for school homework:

7. Record a Virtual Job Application

This can be a fun homework assignment for students of all grades. One thing that we often forget as teachers is that school is not just about the present; it's also about the future. But often, we don’t discuss the future. This results in students being almost lost when it comes to their future career opportunities.  This is exactly where this school homework activity helps. Assigning school homework related to professions is a great chance for students to explore their career options. This, in turn, will help them be better prepared for life after school.  Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely:

8. Participate in Online Collaborative Projects

Online projects are a catalyst for active learning and student engagement. They can be a tool for you to create a dynamic learning environment that goes beyond traditional classroom boundaries. Additionally, these activities enhance digital literacy and empower students to leverage technology for learning. Working on online collaborative projects will also help students learn how to function together as a team. This is something that also prepares them for life beyond school, where it’s crucial to learn to work together.

9. Virtual Cultural Exchange

Cultural exchange events open doors to new horizons, offering students a unique chance to explore diverse cultures. By immersing them in new traditions, you develop acceptance, and empathy in your students. You give them a chance to have a broad and more inclusive perspective of the world. Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely:

Game-based school homework is one of the best ways to engage your students. Integrating learning within games creates a powerful synergy where education and entertainment merge seamlessly.  It’s time to tap into your students’ natural love for games and leverage it!

10. Use Minecraft as a Learning Tool

Ah, Minecraft! A name that brings back memories of endless adventures in pixelated landscapes. It’s a game that is a nostalgic reminder of our childhood.  But did you know that Minecraft can be more than just a game? It can be a powerful learning tool to level up the educational experience of your students.  💡Learn how to leverage Minecraft to make your classrooms more engaging! Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely:

11. Encourage Role-Playing Games

Lights, camera, action! Role-playing games(RPGs) let students step into the shoes of a character and bring lessons to life. Even though RPGs are not typically classified as games, their unique blend of learning and fun makes them ideal for educational purposes.  You can assign students to act out roleplays based on a historical event, scientific concept or work of literature. They can develop characters, write dialogues, and present this to the class. Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely:

12. Online Challenges

You can introduce online challenges like coding of varying difficulties for different grade levels. Platforms like Scratch or Code.org can be helpful for this purpose. Coding challenges offer hands-on experience to students. It allows them to practice coding concepts and algorithms in a practical and engaging manner.  Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely:

In today's competitive world, students who embrace innovative thinking and an entrepreneurial mindset stand out. As a teacher, you can nurture these qualities in your students via thought-provoking school homework. Such assignments can ignite students' passion for problem-solving, creative thinking, and strategic planning. Let’s look at some of the ideas below.

13. Pitch Your Business Idea

Have you watched shows like Shark Tank or Billion Dollar Buyer? Have you been completely captivated by the business pitches on these shows? Now, imagine doing the same for your students— unleashing their entrepreneurial spirit. It’s time to bring the hustle of the business world into your classrooms! Encourage students to develop a business idea and create a persuasive pitch. They should research their target market, competitors, and unique selling points. In fact, students can present their pitch using multimedia tools, such as slides or videos, highlighting the problem they're solving and the value their business brings. Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely:

14. Design a Mobile App

Smartphones have become an integral part of our lives. Think about the countless hours that you spend on your smartphone, exploring different apps that make your life easier. This is a practice growing like fire amongst kids as well and is cause for serious concern! What if they spend time on their phone and learn at the same time? This homework assignment encourages students to apply their creativity and technical skills to develop a concept for a mobile application. Additionally, you can also assign this as a holiday homework assignment and let students go wild with learning during summer! Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely:

*Technologies like designing mobile applications can be too complex for the primary school. Hence, we focus on this idea only for middle and high school students.

15. Set up a Stall at the School Fair

This homework acts as an Introduction to Business 101 class for students of all grade levels. Students get to decide what stall to put up, then work on the logistics and finally manage the stall and finances on D-Day. This will teach students real-world skills and give them a feeling of ownership. Let's look at a few examples to understand this school homework approach more closely: 

Grade-Specific Tips to follow while Preparing School Homework ‍

1. primary school students ‍.

• Keep it Interactive and Hands-on Younger children thrive on tactile and interactive experiences. Incorporate more of arts and crafts, storytelling, etc., to make homework enjoyable for them.
• Use Visuals Vibrant colours will capture their attention and make tasks visually appealing.
• Keep it Short Primary school students have limited attention spans. Give them small tasks that they can accomplish in a limited timeframe. ‍

2. Middle School students ‍

• Offer More Choices Middle schoolers are often teenagers already on the precipice of changes beyond their control. They will appreciate having some control over their learning. Allow them to choose topics or formats that align with their interests.
• Incorporate Technology Middle school students are often technologically savvy. Utilise online resources, interactive platforms, and digital tools to make homework more engaging and relevant to their interests.
• Encourage Independent Research Foster their curiosity by assigning research-based projects. Encourage them to explore various sources and present their findings in creative ways. ‍

3. High School Students ‍

• Encourage Critical Thinking and Analysis High schoolers are capable of higher-order thinking skills. Assign tasks that require critical thinking, problem-solving and analytical thinking.
• Encourage Self-expression Offer creative assignments that allow them to express their thoughts, opinions and ideas. Remember that they are young adults finding their voice in a loud world. Encourage them to write essays, create multimedia presentations, or engage in spirited debates.
• Push for Practical Application Assign tasks that connect to real-world situations, allowing them to see the relevance and importance of their learning. ‍

How to Improve Your Homework and Other Teaching Strategies?

Do you want to learn about more strategies to improve school homework? What if you could upskill and improve all your teaching strategies- classroom management, assessment, and lesson planning, among many others? Book a call with a mentor to get dedicated teacher counselling on upskilling and improving your teaching strategies.

In a world where school homework is generally met with students’ whining, you can use these approaches to turn it into a gateway for innovation! By infusing ideas such as game-based learning, digital activities, and arts and crafts, you can help students engage with school homework meaningfully. This will foster a lifelong love for learning among your students, ultimately helping them succeed in and beyond the classroom. Want a short compilation of all the amazing school homework ideas? Click the button below

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20+ creative alternative homework ideas for teachers

When giving homework, it must always be based on learning goals your students have to reach, just like in your lessons. But it’s sad to see that lots of teachers are using homework as extra lesson time. Of course, as a teacher, you’re on a clock. But that doesn’t mean your students have to suffer from it and keep working on those boring textbooks and worksheets at home.

Consider goals like attitudes, real-life experiences, and practice, physical exercise, social encounters, creative solutions, and philanthropy as crucial as your lesson goals. These are things students don’t just pick up in your classroom. These are things they pick up in life.

In this blog post, I’ll give you some innovative homework ideas that will engage your students more. These alternatives to traditional homework will thereby also teach your students new things that can’t be taught in the classroom. You will find a variety of homework ideas: online and offline.

I will mention homework alternatives for primary school and high school. Some of these ideas can be changed a little bit, so they are the perfect fit for the right audience.

20 Creative homework ideas

You can divide homework tasks into the following themes or categories:

• Crafts & arts
• Outdoor activities & outings
• Games and activities
• Physical activities
• Digital or computer activities
• Philanthropy & social work

💡 Good to know : all the ready-to-use homework activities are created with BookWidgets . You can easily create activities like these yourself or duplicate an activity below for free, edit it if needed, and share it with your students. You can do so in the examples separately, or you can find all the homework examples in the BookWidgets Blog group folder .

Crafts and arts homework

1. prepare a dish from a recipe book.

2. Make a board game

3. Create a birdhouse

4. Transform a fictional book character into a hand puppet

Outdoor homework activities and outings

5. coupon game.

Students can also go grocery shopping with their parents. Here, they have to read the ingredients of the products and help their parents choose the healthiest products for the best prices, figure out the best deal between the sizes of items, …

6. Visit the zoo

7. Visit the local dumping ground or container park

8. Build a tree house

Games and activities as homework

9. bookwidgets games.

10. Minecraft

11. Play Cards

12. Play Zoo Tycoon or Rollercoaster Tycoon

Physical homework activities

13. rope skipping.

Many rope-skipping songs let your students do different tricks while rope-skipping. This is an excellent opportunity for homework as well. Ask your students to transform a rope skipping song into a song with lesson content. Let them count or spell or even sum up the different states or capitals. To engage their lifestyles even harder, you can additionally give them the assignment to create a TikTok in which they are jumping and singing.

Click here to see how you can get Tiktok more involved in the classroom.

14. Walking quest

If there aren’t any walking quests in the neighborhood, you could ask your students to create a walking quest like this for their fellow students. What a fun day it will be!

15. Obstacle Quiz

In order for students to answer the questions, they have to run and pass a challenging parkour. This is a fun homework exercise, and in the end, it’s a great lesson starter or lesson end.

16. Swimming games

After the activity, they can fill out an Exit Slip:

Digital or computer homework activities

17. create a picture album.

This teaches them to handle the online software, add pictures and write without spelling mistakes. And of course, creating memories is so much fun!

18. Video job application

19. Your life in 10 minutes - video

20. Email pen-pals

Is it still too complicated? Read the messages from your students, before they send them, and provide them with some feedback.

Philanthropy and social homework

21. grow a community garden.

22. Help in a retirement home

23. Help at a homeless shelter

24. Collect litter

Here’s another homework tip: Don’t call homework “homework”. Call it a challenge. Homework has become a negative word for students, and I bet they start rolling their eyes as you even mention the word.

Still looking for more inspiration? Check out the blog on short films and lesson activities that spice up your Google Classroom . Tip: even if you don’t use Google Classroom, there is a lot of inspiration back here.

Above you have read single assignments. But, you also have the option to involve your homework in a project. Find out more here .

So, as I mentioned earlier, there are many fun alternatives to traditional homework. Now it’s up to you to apply this in the classroom as well. In this folder , you will find all the examples you have come across.

Which idea do you or perhaps your students like the most? Let us know on Twitter . Of course, there are many more alternatives. If you have other ideas, you are always welcome to share it with other teachers in our Facebook group .

One more thing: don’t forget to say hi👋 on LikedIn .

Join hundreds of thousands of subscribers, and get the best content on technology in education.

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Your Career• 3 Min read

6th September 2020

Creative Homework Ideas

How can you create homework assignments that build on the day’s lessons and encourage creative, student-led learning? It’s a challenge for most teachers, especially as motivating pupils to complete homework can add a whole extra layer to your lesson plans. But it’s essential to bridge the gap between teacher and student learning –  the skills gained through independent study reinforces knowledge from your class, as well as a host of other benefits:

• Extended learning time – outside of the constraints of the school day, students are free to learn at their own pace and in their own environment.
• Independent learning – vital skills for exam preparation and higher education
• Teaches students to be resourceful and to overcome challenges independently.
• Gives students the freedom to be creative in their learning, gain valuable problem-solving skills and confidence in their own abilities.

Tips For Setting Creative Homework

• Plan independent learning both in and out of the classroom – you can monitor students effectiveness and address issues that may arise in the classroom before they become problematic for pupils at home.
• Don’t leave homework assignment to the end of the lesson, rushing through the task might leave some students confused which inevitably leads to a lower homework completion rate. Write plenty of time for explaining homework assignments into your lesson planning – read our Beginner’s Guide To Lesson Planning here
• Homework should to not too easy nor not too hard, offering pupils a challenge that reinforced the topics learnt during the day
• Give room for creative expression – allowing students to add their own diagrams, decorations or chose their own project topics from a selection. 
• Try using peer or self-assessment to mark homework – a double whammy of reducing your workload and allowing pupils to take control of their own learning.
• Include timings and explicit steps for completing more complicated assignments, especially for pupils that you anticipate might struggle. Comprehension of the task is the biggest hurdle in getting pupils to work on an independent basis.
• Self-driven projects, posters, creative tasks and research are more exciting than standard comprehension tasks and might encourage pupils that find sitting and writing dull or hard to complete the homework set – give students the freedom to learn and be creative in their home study.
• Provide specific instructions and internet safety reminders for research-led assignments. It’s very easy for children to find research overwhelming with a vast amount of information available online. Provide suggested websites and links in your homework to keep things on track!
• Don’t introduce a new topic for homework – keep it to topics that you’ve already covered in class
• Taking note of the subjects that excite and engage your class and set homework accordingly – try keeping dryer topics and  for the classroom so that you can monitor engagement
• Mark work promptly – essential to keep students motivated to complete work in their own time!
• Offering students the opportunity to select the homework that they would like to do from a selection guarantees a higher rate of completion. We’ve seen some teachers create grids or sheets of homework assignments for the pupils to select, or offer baskets of activities for younger children to take home and complete with an adult.

Creative Homework Ideas For All Ages

Coming up with innovative ways for students to reinforce their knowledge at home can be difficult – many of these ideas would be suitable for lots of subjects with a little tweaking!

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Creative Homework Ideas

Learn Bright Lessons include many creative ideas for classroom instruction and student learning. Students are asked to work independently or with their peers, fostering their collaboration skills. Of course, the lessons also include many traditional learning exercises. Such as, multiple-choice questions, matching, fill in the blank responses, and others. Since every school and classroom is different, any lesson used with students can be adapted.

Whether you are assigning homework based on Learn Bright lessons or your own school’s curriculum, the homework you assign is essential for learning. Some schools across the country have banned assigning homework to students while others limit the amount each night. If you do assign homework, there are several creative ideas you can use that will motivate your students to complete the homework you assign.

Creative hands-on learning activities and other similar learning ideas in the classroom are quite effective. They can be just as effective at home as well for a wide variety of subjects and assignments. In every student’s home, there is “stuff” and other resources that can be accessed to help students review a concept taught at school. Here are a few samples for different subjects:

MATH – Multiplication Facts

 Students use the numbers that appear on product labels and multiply them together. Not only do they get multiplication practice, but they may also be introduced to a food label in a new way. It encourages the students to read food and other product labels. In this way, they can relate what they learn in class to the real world. Showing them when they will use these concepts in their everyday lives.

SCIENCE – Solids, Liquids, Gases

Students conduct a home or neighborhood search for items that are solids, liquids, or gases. For example, they can open the refrigerator and list milk, juice, and other beverages as liquids. The containers, butter, veggies, and more as solids. Carbonated drinks can be listed as containing gas. You can ask them later about eggs or Jell-O and other items that may be both solid and liquid. This reinforces their learning by allowing them to explore and use their creativity to complete the assignment.

SOCIAL STUDIES – Older Adult Interviews

 Students may be studying topics in history from the past 50 to 100 years. With this exercise, they interview an older adult who lived through the event that they are studying. They obtain opinions and feelings related to the event. They also confirm (or dispute) facts the students have been taught. Finally, they discuss how the person was affected by the event. This gives them a deeper understanding of that event and shows them the value of primary sources.

LANGUAGE ARTS – Parts of Speech Search

Students practice identifying the seven parts of speech while at home. They do this by listing examples that are used during family conversations or those words found on product labels.

Describing Things

Students use each of the five senses to write descriptive sentences related to things at home or in the neighborhood. The aroma of dinner, the sound of cars passing on the street, the sight of moving tree branches, the feel of a parent’s hug, or the taste of a spicy meal. This allows them to connect the lesson to the real world. It allows them to think about their surroundings in a new and interesting way.

READING – Read and React

Students are asked to read aloud a passage from their favorite story or novel. Next, they ask family members or close neighbors for their reactions and opinions about a character/event from the passage. Students record the information and discuss it with the listener. This illustrates that different people may notice different things while reading. It gives the student a chance to practice discussing literature from a young age.

MUSIC – Favorite Music  

Students will listen to a parent or other family member’s favorite genre of music. Then, list the instruments they hear, share their opinions of the sound, and discuss other artists from a particular era. This encourages them to engage with the music on a level they normally would not.

ART – Art Critic

Nearly all homes include some type of painting, picture, or sculpture on display. Students take a photo of an art piece in their home and share their opinion of the art piece with a family member. They can discuss the age of the work of art, how it adds to the room’s décor, why it’s significant to their family, and more. Students will gain valuable practice analyzing images and thinking about art with this homework assignment.

HEALTH – Food Search

The students conduct a food search, identifying healthy versus unhealthy foods. Next, they list reasons why they may be considered healthy or unhealthy, and reviewing food labels. This teaches students to think about what they eat. Hence giving them a fun and interactive activity to do for homework.

There are many, many more creative homework ideas you can use for at-home assignments for your students. Think outside the box when assigning homework. Practice incorporating interactive elements so that students aren’t just sitting at their desk. Try to create and develop assignments that kids will want to do. Avoid the assignments that kids simply have to do. Think of the real-world applications for your lesson material as inspiration and build your homework assignments around that. Creative homework assignments can be fun and, at the same time, teach and enhance subjects introduced in the classroom.

For more creative homework ideas, be sure to check out our lesson plans and YouTube videos!

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Creative Homework Ideas For Your Students

Setting appropriate homework tasks is a big part of your teaching role. Setting homework is an opportunity to ensure that your students have absorbed the lesson and can apply what they've learnt to individual study. Homework allows students to reflect on your teachings and broaden their understanding of a particular subject or topic.

However, motivating your class to view homework this way might be something of a challenge! Most young people find settling down to complete homework outside of school hours challenging. If the task feels overwhelming or difficult or seems monotonous, they might just go through the motions of getting it done rather than giving it their full energy and attention and completing it the best they can.

So how can you ensure students' love of learning continues outside the classroom and that they not only give their all to completing homework but actually enjoy it too?

By getting creative with the work you set and thinking about how you can engage and motivate students to complete their homework, you will undoubtedly see better results.

Here are some excellent homework ideas to help encourage creative, student-led learning.

Exciting, engaging homework ideas to keep your students paying attention

Write their own lesson plan.

If you want to give your students a chance to step into your shoes for the day, why don't you ask them to create their own lesson plan around a topic they've learnt about or are about to learn? This will give them a chance to showcase their knowledge, do research and think creatively. You'll also learn more about how your students like to work and what would make a good lesson from their perspective, which could help inform how you shape your lessons in the future.

Write a speech or story from a different perspective

If your students are learning about a famous historical figure or studying a classic text, why not get them to think about different perspectives? You could ask them to embody someone influential from a particular period or a character from a play or story and write a speech or story from that person's point of view.

Create a board game

Gamification is always a fun idea to try to inject energy into the classroom, and getting your students to create their very own board game is a fantastic way to keep things fun while also getting them engaged in their learning. Games could centre around a particular topic; they could be quiz-based, matching games, or number games - let them get as creative as they like. You can then have fun in class playing the best ones too.

Go on a treasure hunt

As a fun homework task that will get your students out and about, ask them to go on a treasure or scavenger hunt, finding certain things that are related to your topic. For younger children, this could be as simple as collecting leaves, flowers, or twigs they might find in their local park, or particular shapes or colours, but older children can benefit from this kind of task too by setting more complicated challenges.

Create a collage

Creating collages can be a fun and interesting way for students to demonstrate their learning, improve their research skills and use their creativity and imagination and can be based on a variety of different topics so they work well across lots of subjects. Encourage them to stick cutouts, fabrics, tickets, photographs, and any other relevant materials to make up their collages, and then they can take turns presenting these in class.

Film a video

If your students are older and have mobile phones, you could set a video-making task for them to do at home. This could involve interviewing friends and relatives about a topic or filming themselves talking about a specific subject, or answering a particular question. Students could share their videos in class and will love being able to use their phones in school for once!

Create a crossword

Get your students to think creatively about questions and answers by asking them to create their very own crossword puzzle, using the material you've taught them in class as a basis. You can ask them to bring all their crossword puzzles into class and then swap them with each other to see if other students can fit the answers in correctly.

Find fun facts

Almost every subject has weird and wonderful facts surrounding it. Did you know, for example, that the word 'hundred' derives from an old Norse term 'hundrath,' which actually means 120?! Or that water can both boil and freeze simultaneously? Encourage your students to find the most obscure or interesting facts about the subjects you are teaching them, and then you can all share your findings in class.

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Summer homework may start as early as elementary school, but you don’t have to do it the way it’s always been done! Veteran educators like third-grade teacher Alycia Zimmerman have spent time thinking about how to make summer homework meaningful and interesting enough that students buy in—and even want to do it.  

Read on for Zimmerman’s summer homework game plan and ideas for how to make summer assignments more fun for everyone.

1. Try a New Student Meet and Greet

If possible, meet your incoming students before summer break (even if it’s virtual!) to instill the importance of summer learning.

At the end of the school year, coordinate with the teachers of your incoming students to swap classes for a period. Introduce yourselves to your future students and build excitement for the fun and challenging learning ahead and the very “grown-up” summer homework you will assign.

“We’ve been far more successful in instilling the importance of our summer assignments when presenting about it face-to-face rather than just sending a packet of directions home cold,” says Zimmernan. “The students sit on the edges of their seats as we talk about the importance of summer reading and our certainty that they will do everything they can to 'keep their brains healthy, pink, and strong’ over the summer.”

2. Emphasize the Importance of Summer Reading

Talk about the best summer assignment of all: diving into books!

Reading should be a treat, not a menial assignment, so Zimmerman doesn’t feel guilty about making reading the bulk of her summer homework. Here are some of her most effective strategies for promoting summer reading:

Have students fill out a log  to keep track of the books and other texts they read over the summer. It isn’t necessary to require a certain number of books or specific titles. Simply ask that they find books they love and spend lots of time reading them.

Have your current students write book reviews of their favorite titles to send home with your rising students. Invite your current students to serve as reading ambassadors and speak to the younger students about the importance and joys of reading. When coming from slightly older peers, the message is very well received.

And of course: Sign your students up for the Scholastic Summer Reading Program ! From May 9 to August 19, your students can visit Scholastic Home Base to participate in the free, fun, and safe  summer reading program . As part of the program, kids can read e-books, attend author events, and keep Reading Streaks™ to help unlock a donation of 100K books from Scholastic – distributed to kids with limited or no access to books by Save the Children. 

3. Share Fun and Educational Activities

Direct your students to fun (and educational) activities.

When considering other homework, the best options are activities that students will be motivated to do because they’re entertaining. 

Give your incoming students the “everything is better in moderation” speech so they understand that they shouldn’t play hours of computer games every day this summer. If possible, send them home with printable and book-based packs to polish their skills for the year ahead (you can even pair these with your own assignments): 

4. Connect Through the Mail 

Stay connected with your students over the summer through cards.

Giving incoming students the opportunity to connect with you and with each other can motivate them to complete summer assignments. Here’s one plan for connecting via letters:

Have your incoming students mail you a letter of introduction. Explain that you want to hear about their summer activities, their hobbies, their families, and anything special they want you to know before the school year begins.

When you receive letters from your students, send a postcard back with a brief response. Tell them a bit about your summer plan, and let them know you can’t wait to see them in the fall. 

Encourage them to write again!

You can also pair up students and have them write to each other over the summer. In September, they can bring their pen pal letters to class to display on the bulletin board.

Take advantage of everyone’s increasing familiarity with virtual resources by connecting online, too! Post a short video, article, or question once a week on your classroom's online platform, and invite both incoming students and rising former students to write their thoughts in the comments section. Be sure to moderate their comments and enjoy their back-and-forth dialogues as they engage with each other.

Get started by shopping the best books for summer reading below! You can find all books and activities at The Teacher Store .

Complete teaching bundles for incredible prices

7 Ways To Make Homework Fun For Back To School

Whether you are heading back to school or have been back for a bit, perhaps you are tired of the same old same old homework. Hopefully, you’re coming back with some new energy. Why not infuse that into creative, new activities that you send home with students to consolidate skills? 

Here’s how to make homework fun!

Start with these free fun homework ideas

Free phonics worksheets & activities.

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Fun homework ideas for the whole year

One of the things that keeps homework from getting stale is to have a variety of activities and approaches. This does three things:

• It keeps students from getting bored with a fill-in-the-blank worksheet every single day
• It provides options for students to draw in different skills and learning styles
• It allows you to practice the same skill in multiple ways. 

Here are some creative ideas to put into the mix. 

Homework bingo

At the beginning of the week give students a bingo card with different activities related to your focus on a particular subject. For example, a phonics bingo card might include activities like: make a list of at least 10 words with the long e sound, sort the list of words into groups based on how the long e sound is spelled, write sentences using 5 long e words, draw pictures of 5 of our long e words and label them, look around your house for long e words (books, labels, sign, clothing, etc.). Instruct students they need to do five activities this week. If a word list, a game, or other resource is useful for completing the activity, you can attach it to the bingo card. You can even use the same card for more than a week. Let students know if they can repeat any activities or have to do all new ones in week 2.

Cootie catchers

Do you remember these folded paper playground games? You might have called them fortune tellers or chatterboxes. Kids still love them, and they are a great way to practice phonics or math. Cootie catchers can be a two-person activity (students can practice with a friend or somebody in their home), but they can also be used individually. 

Make a poster

Have students make a poster about a specific topic or something they learned. For example, students could make a poster illustrating with examples the different ways to spell the oo sound. Hang the posters in the classroom. 

Math card games

Card games can be a fun way to practice math. I’ve used math card games to build math fluency, practice adding on, and come up with different ways to get to the same number, among other things. You can find some step-by-step math card games here. If students don’t have playing cards at home, you can print out number cards to work with. 

Phonics card games

When it comes to card games, math might come to mind first because playing cards have numbers, but you can print word cards for any word list you are using for students to use for phonics card games. You can have students sort the word cards based on certain criteria. Or they can play classic games like Go Fish or Concentration. Some games, like Go Fish, only work with another player, but some like concentration or sorting games can work for individuals. 

I use task cards in lots of ways. I put math task cards in my math station, use them as a morning warm-up, have them available for early finishers — and I use them for homework. Send a stack of them home at the beginning of the week and have students complete them all by the end of the week. 

Mix it up worksheets

I mentioned at the beginning that creative activities saved students from the boredom of worksheets, so I wanted to be clear. I’m not anti-worksheet. Worksheets can make home practice easy on teachers, students, and parents. The key, I think, is to have a variety of options when it comes to worksheets, so students are not doing the same thing day after day. Maybe one worksheet has them fill in the blanks, but another has them unscramble words or match words to a picture or cut and sort. There are so many homework ideas in worksheets alone. 

Need creative and easy homework ideas 

If you were trying to figure out how to make homework fun, I hope one of these homework ideas inspired you. And if you were inspired, but you’re not sure you have the time or energy to pull it off, I’ve got some good news. You don’t have to create it to have creative homework activities. 

Here are two DONE FOR YOU ways to freshen up your homework ideas: 

Phonics homework for the ENTIRE year

You get 100 weeks of engaging, skills-based phonics activities, ready to print and go. They cover blending, segmentation, phoneme manipulation, fluency, vocabulary, and punctuation and give students practice in CVC words, more complex words, digraphs, alternate spellings of many sounds, suffixes, and double consonants. In addition to a variety of skills, there’s a variety of activities too! Easy homework? Done: https://topnotchteaching.com/downloads/fun-phonics-homework/

Top Notch Teaching membership

Looking for ways to make homework fun beyond phonics? The Top Notch Teaching Membership has you covered with done-for-you lessons, activities, and projects you can use for literacy, math, science, PE, and more. No more getting lost down a Google rabbit hole. Instead, you have one place to go for done-for-you printables and digital products you know you can trust. Homework ideas, lesson plans, classroom management? Done: https://topnotchteaching.com/members/

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• ELEMENTARY TEACHING , PLANNING ASSESSING AND TEACHING

Homework Ideas for Elementary Teachers: Save Time and Make Learning More Purposeful for Students in 2024

What’s the first word you think of when I say “homework?” It’s one of those hot topics that people feel very strongly about one way or another. However, more often than not, it’s a requirement. As a result, I am here to share homework ideas that will make your life as an elementary teacher a little bit easier.

I used to send homework home nightly, but found it to add chaos to each and every day. I would spend many lunch periods copying an assignment for that night. Kids would forget to take their copy home. Parents would call or email to get clarification on what the assignment was for that night.

Then I switched to a weekly packet. The packet included all of the pages for the week along with a cover sheet that listed spelling words and assignments. This was an improvement, but still not ideal.

Last year, I started using a separate folder just for homework. This is one of the best homework ideas I have come up with. The folder includes the homework calendar and all of the printables they will need for the week. I sent home a Paragraph of the Week assignment each week. The consistency was outstanding. We really felt like we hit gold because the kids were all working on something meaningful with a purpose. The parents liked it because it was easy for them to understand and help with. I began experimenting with a monthly homework packet. And let me tell you…

It. Was. Awesome! 

We placed everything into a homework folder for the month and included an assignment calendar. The folder stayed at home and the students returned their completed work each morning in the communication folder . Learn about some of my best homework ideas for elementary teachers below!

7 Benefits of Assigning Homework

Do you question the importance of homework? Are you one of the many teachers or parents who feel homework should be banned? The idea of homework just doesn’t make sense to you. If you are part of the growing number of people questioning if the reasons homework is bad outweigh the benefits to homework, then you might find this to be helpful. 

I’m going to be honest, as a teacher (and especially as a parent), I am in the camp of not liking the idea of homework at the elementary level. However, each of the districts I have taught in has required teachers to assign nightly homework in addition to reading for 20 minutes. It often felt like a waste of time and paper.

For some teachers, the word HOMEWORK brings about pangs of dread. Others see it as a necessary evil of learning. For many, it merely represents having to fulfill a district requirement. In many districts these days, homework is not counted towards a student’s overall grade. The debate over homework has been waged for years. The question is: What’s a teacher to do?

No matter where you stand on the topic of homework, here are some ideas related to homework that will make you feel better about assigning homework. They may even make you feel good in some cases! I am hoping the 7 benefits listed below will ease the guilt some teachers feel about burdening their students and their families with tasks to complete at home.

1. Prepares Students for the Next Day’s Learning

A great way to use homework is preparation for an upcoming lesson, whether it’s doing some reading ahead of time, or looking over other assigned material, there’s no doubt that preparing for an upcoming lesson is a beneficial way to assign homework.

2. Increases Responsibility

When a student has a task that they MUST do rather than WANT to do, they learn to be responsible. Homework is the “You do” in the learning model of “I do, We do, You do.”.  It gives the learner a chance to practice what was covered in class and take responsibility for their own learning.

3. Advances Problem-Solving Skills

If the student can’t find an answer to something in their homework, (or even where to look for information to find an answer), what steps will they take to solve this problem? Will they look in a dictionary, online, ask a friend, or go to a library? Homework gives students a chance to flex their problem-solving muscles.

4. Offers Review Practice

Whether it’s a new math skill, or spelling/vocabulary words, homework that involves reviewing material covered in class will help students to remember it and is a very useful assignment.

5. Teaches Time Management

For students with an active extra-curricular life, homework teaches them how to manage their time. This helps them learn to prioritize schoolwork.

6. Strengthens Persistence and Grit

There have been many studies done recently that show a lack of persistence and grit in today’s students. Developing the fortitude to complete homework assignments also helps develop a student’s capacity for grit and persistence. These are necessary for success in many areas of life, not just academically.

7. Promotes Self-Esteem

Students will develop a sense of pride when they learn the value of a job well done and take ownership of their work. This carries over into their personal development as well. It is for this reason that homework should always be a review of skills already taught.

5 Problems with Assigning Traditional Homework

These were five of the problems I faced in my 3rd grade classroom. No matter which grade you teach I’m pretty sure you can relate. The good news is I managed to find a solution that saved me time and reduced my stress each day. Not only that, but my students’ math skills were strengthened and their families were less burdened with random assignments each night. Read on to learn about the problems I had and how I solved them.

1. Mandated to Give Homework

My school required we give homework 4 nights per week. It was a mandate, so my personal feelings made no difference. I had to send it nightly.

2. Emails and Calls from Parents

I often received emails and phone calls from confused parents. They often said they didn’t understand the homework or told me that their child said that they had “never seen this stuff before”. Let’s be honest, our time is so limited. We do not want to spend the afternoon or start the morning returning messages explaining directions or convincing someone that you did, in fact, teach it in class.

3. Wasted Class Time Every Day

I needed to spend some of our instructional time every afternoon going over the instructions because each assignment varied.

4. Drop-In Visits from Parents

I frequently had a parent and child return to my classroom because the homework never made it into the backpack. This often resulted in an unplanned conference at a time when I needed to prepare for the next day.

5. Students Forgot what was Taught

Unrelated to homework, I consistently faced a different problem. I often would teach a concept, the students would demonstrate proficiency…and then they didn’t.

How often do you have students who forget what odd and even (or a prime and composite if you teach higher grades) numbers are, not remember how to round to the nearest 10, 100 or 1000, or sit like a deer in headlights when asked to write a number in expanded form in the spring when they were rock stars of that skill in the fall when it was taught.

This is especially troublesome if you teach in a grade that takes standardized testing at the end of the year because you then need to set aside a lot of class time for review and test prep.

How to Grade Homework

Determine if correcting homework is an effective use of your time. Teachers don’t know how much assistance a child had with an assignment so it isn’t always an accurate representation of their abilities. Checking the homework for effort and general understanding may be sufficient. If you are assigning worksheets, consider selecting a few questions to go over in class.

Homework Incentive Ideas

Homework should be completed because it is an expectation and not to receive a trinket. However, some teachers do find that extrinsic rewards are motivational to their students. If you choose to make those a part of your homework procedure, here are a few easy-to-manage suggestions:

Students earn a ticket when they complete an assignment. Have them place the tickets into a container. Draw one ticket a week to win a No Homework Night Coupon.

Certificate

Honor perfect homework efforts with a certificate. This could be done monthly or by marking period.

Offer a “No Homework Coupon.” These are like gold!

Ideas for Homework Consequences

First, check with your school and district to see if there is a policy in place. Next, determine a plan for how you will handle homework that is incomplete, missing, poor quality, etc. and be consistent. Be cautious about using recess as a punishment for not doing homework. Often the kids who are not doing their homework are the ones who most need recess .

10 Homework Tips for Elementary Teachers

Below are homework tips for elementary teachers to consider. You are bound to find some helpful homework ideas on this list that you can implement.

1. Assign Tasks Students can do Independently

The first tip on this list of homework ideas is to strive to find easy-to-manage, yet effective assignments. Although it is true that you shouldn’t be sending home tasks that students can’t complete on their own, you also need to be careful not to give them “busy work” either.  Having them complete an assignment for a skill they are proficient in also creates unnecessary work for the teacher. Time is a teacher’s greatest obstacle so be careful not to spend it copying, correcting, managing, chasing, etc sheets of paper that students are not gaining anything from. 

2. Keep Homework Assignments Consistent Across the Grade Level

The second tip on this list of homework ideas is to strive to be consistent with your grade level colleagues. Ideally, the assignments and policies should be identical.

3. Collaborate with Your Team

The third tip on this list of homework ideas is to save time by teaming up with the other teacher(s) at your grade level. Alternate prepping the packet for the week or designate different subjects to different teachers.

4. Communicate Expectations with Your Students’ Families

Communicate your expectations with parents from the beginning. Discuss them at open house and make a hard copy available for students who may transfer in later in the year.

5. Change the Way you See Homework

Use homework as an opportunity to teach organization and responsibility. While homework may not always be a reflection of a student’s abilities, it can be a valuable learning tool for time management and work habits.

6. Keep a Simple and Consistent Format

Design a simple and consistent format for homework. It could be reading and a math page every night or you may have students work on a different subject each night.  When I taught 2nd grade I used to do Math Monday (computation), Teacher Choice Tuesday (a spelling activity), Word Study Wednesday, Thinking Thursday (word problems).

7. Create a System for Collecting It

The seventh tip on this list of homework ideas is to create a system for collecting it. It’s important to have some sort of turn-in system and procedure so students know what to do with their homework each morning.

8. Implement an Efficient Routine for Checking Homework

Consider implementing an efficient routine for checking homework. If you are just going to check for completion and spot check the homework you could have students place it on their desk while they do morning work and you can circulate and check the pages.

9. Communicate Homework Progress with Parents

Determine how you will communicate homework progress with parents. In general, no news is good news, but I do have a homework alert that gets sent home as needed. It needs to be signed by an adult at home so the families know if they are not meeting the expectations.

10. Consider Creating a Menu of Optional Homework Activities

The last tip on this list of homework ideas is to create a menu of optional homework activities. Some parents find homework to be a burden and others want more. One way to make everyone happy is to send home a basic assignment that is required for all students and a list of optional enrichment choices for those who want additional assignments.

How I Implemented Homework in My Classroom

There are tons of homework ideas out there, but this is what worked for me.

As a public school teacher, I was required to give out nightly homework to my third graders. I found myself spending a lot of time picking out assignments, making copies, communicating directions, answering emails and phone calls from parents who did “not understand the new math” (aka the math workbook pages), distributing, collecting and correcting what essentially was just busy work sent home to meet a requirement I did not agree with. 

My biggest concern was (and continues to be) that many of the assignments from the workbook included 10-20 of the same type of problem. That meant that if a student was struggling with subtraction with regrouping and completed 20 problems incorrectly, that misconception and error became so much harder to fix. 

Parents were signing reading logs, but the kids weren’t actually reading.

I was frustrated by feeling like my time, the students’ time, and the parents’ time was being wasted. I knew there had to be a better option, so I set out to fix the problem. I’m thrilled with the results I must say.

I began creating spiral review math pages for each day for my own 3rd graders. These pages proved to be important and meaningful work. This resource is best if not one of the best homework ideas I have ever come up with.

What are the Spiral Review Math Pages?

The spiral review math pages are a tool for teachers to use to ensure students are having continued practice with previously taught skills. They are available for 1st-5th grade. The spiral review packets were designed to have 25 pages per month, which gives you the flexibility to assign them for homework every night plus have extras. The 1st grade version is set up a little differently, but still has 180 pages so you’ll be covered for the year.

Each of the spiral review pages follow the same daily format, cover skills from each area (e.g. computation, measurement, geometry, data, and word problems) and continuously spiral previously taught skills. This consistent format of 10 standards-based questions focused on topics we’d already covered provides an important spiral review of all the grade-level skills. This helped students to retain previously taught skills. The added benefit was that students who had not demonstrated proficiency earlier in the year had the opportunity to do so over time through repeated practice and instruction.

Using these spiral review math pages makes homework more purposeful and easier to manage. My students became much stronger in all math concepts, the parents expressed gratitude for the consistent format, and the phone calls and emails asking for assignment clarification completely stopped. It was so effective that it completely eliminated the need for any test prep in the spring. My students’ test scores were even much higher than previous years.

These worked so well for myself and the other 3rd grade teachers who were using them, that (by request) I created them for 2nd, 4th, and 5th grade too. Each was designed in consultation with and piloted by experienced teachers in those grade levels. They have since been used the past few years by thousands of teachers who have reported great success as well. I most recently added first grade.

This is one of my favorite ideas for homework of all time!

What’s Included in the Spiral Review Math Resources?

The 2nd-5th grade packets all have monthly/seasonal themes. September targets many of the skills that were required at the end of the previous grade level. It was designed to be used as a review for the new year and to pinpoint important foundational skills that your students must be proficient in before moving on to new standards. The following months build in a systematic, sequential order with lots of spiral review built in so that students retain important concepts. They include the following resources:

• 250 print and go pages (plus 10 bonus pages) that will cover you for the full school year
• answer keys to make grading quick and easy for you
• 2,500 review problems (plus 100 bonus problems) based on the Common Core, which will help you rest easy knowing your students are practicing the math concepts and skills they need to
• 250 Google Forms so students can access them digitally from home or in school
• Recording sheets for students to show their thinking
• Item analysis data trackers to make it easy to see which students need to be pulled for small groups or if it would be beneficial to reteach the concept to the entire class
• Projectable answer keys so students can check their own work

The first grade version is a little different. It’s format has only 5 problems to better meet the developmental needs of our younger learners. It has 180 printable pages instead. In addition, this resource does not include seasonal pages, which allows you to use them at any time of the school year.

Learn more about the spiral review math resources for your grade level below.

• 1st grade spiral review math activities
• 2nd grade spiral review math activities
• 3rd grade spiral review math activities
• 4th grade spiral review math activities
• 5th grade spiral review math activities

Where Can I Learn More about Spiral Review Math?

You can learn more about spiral review in this post: Spiral Review Math .

The Benefits of Using Spiral Review Math Pages

There are tons of benefits to using the spiral review math pages for homework.

• The spiral review pages provide multiple opportunities for students to become proficient in a skill instead of just teaching it and forgetting it
• The repeated spiraling practice of foundational grade level skills ensures they were ready to build upon them when y ou introduce new skills.
• You’ll no longer need to waste hours of valuable class time on standardized test prep in the spring because the spiral review throughout the year ensure your students are always ready for the exam.
• It constantly shows you if there are skills you need to reteach either to the whole class or to a small group of students. 
• Students complete them with ease because the skills and the format of the pages are familiar to them.
• The variety of 10 different problems eliminates the risk of students cementing a misconception into their minds.

Why You’ll Love it as a Teacher

Not only will the nightly spiral review math pages provide your students with meaningful practice of important skills, increase their confidence as learners and make them stronger math students, they will also solve many of the problems you face as a teacher and make the parents’ lives easier too. It’s one of the best homework ideas I have ever come up with!

• You’ll longer needed to scramble to find homework for each night. Instead, simply print each month’s pages at the start of the new month and copy them all at once into weekly packets for the students.
• Your lesson planning will become much more intentional and focused because you are able to easily identify which skills your students need to work on more.
• You will no long waste valuable time correcting busy work. Instead, you’ll go over these important skills as a class.
• Parents will feel better about being able to help their students and became true allies and partners in their learning.
• Students and their families will be able to better enjoy their evenings together as a family because they know what to consistently expect for homework each evening.
• Distributing the week’s packet all at once enables students’ families to support my goal of teaching time management because they can work ahead when they know there is a busy night coming up on their calendars.
• Homework will be easier for you and more meaningful for your students.
• The homework assignments will be systematic and routine so parents and students will always know exactly what the expectations are and understand the instructions.
• You will constantly review all prior skills so that your student reach mastery over time. This will prevent students from forgetting what they learned earlier in the year.

How to Implement them in Your Classroom

I used a separate folder just for homework. It included the homework calendar and all of the printables they will need for the week. We placed everything into a homework folder for the month. The folder stayed at home and the students returned their completed work each morning in the communication folder .

I assembled the homework packets for the entire year in one afternoon and didn’t have to think about it again the rest of the school year. I sent them home on Friday afternoons.

The students simply completed one page each night beginning on Monday afternoons and returned only that one page to class in the morning. The other nightly pages remained at home. 

This meant I no longer needed to take any class time to explain the directions or check to make sure the papers made it into the backpacks.

The next morning I projected the answer sheet onto my smart board and reviewed each problem with them. This daily quick review made them accountable and reinforced all of the math skills regularly. Going over it in class sent the message that the work they did outside of school was purposeful and they would be accountable for it. They no longer felt homework was a waste of time so they demonstrated increased effort.

I also created data collection sheets to use either with one specific student’s page, or to examine the class as a whole. The pages were so easy to use and let me see at a glance where I needed to focus future instruction. 

How Can I Use the Extra Spiral Review Pages in the Packet?

There are 25 pages per month in each of the spiral review resources. Since you’ll never need to use all 25 for homework purposes, consider using the extra pages in the following ways:

• formative assessment to monitor progress
• morning work
• math center activity (“at your seat” activity during Guided Math Workshop )
• Emergency sub plans  activity

Where Can I Buy the Math Spiral Review Pages?

You can purchase the math spiral review pages from my Teachers Pay Teachers store . They are also available in my Elementary Math Resource Collection and grade level math clubs, which you can find below.

What Teachers Who Used these Packets Have Said

Thousands of teachers have used this homework idea in their classroom. Read some of the reviews below!

• “WOW! I’ve been teaching for 16 years and this has been the most useful thing I have used. My students really understand all of the skills and I loved knowing I wasn’t moving on without all my kids being proficient. The beautiful layout, structured format, and clear expectations made it so easy to make these become part of our daily routine. I highly recommend them to everyone.” (Thank you Jocelyn P.!)
• “I started using your monthly spiral review pages in October and never looked back. Not only did they provide us with quality daily work, but I just got my end of year scores back for the district math assessments and my entire class crushed it. I attribute their success 100% to these pages combined with your guided math book that opened my eyes to a whole new way of teaching. I can’t thank you enough. My administration has taken notice. I’m so proud of what we’ve done.” (Thank you Kerri K.!)
• My teammates and I had the opportunity to see you present about guided math and math workshop and excitedly jumped right in with your guided math format the next week! We have been using the spiral review pages as homework and in the “at your seat” station during our daily math workshop. OMG!!! We ALL agree that between the new teaching routines and the use of these pages, our students are consistently performing above average and truly understand the math. It’s not just our opinion either because we just received our test scores from last year and they were not only MUCH higher than ever before, but we outscored the district and student growth from the previous year was amazing. That was what prompted me to finally leave a review. I/we can not recommend these enough. Thank you for not only making our jobs easier, but so much more enjoyable as well. (Thank you Jessica R.!)
• These are absolutely wonderful for my students! I use them for a variety of things including review and homework. (Thanks Tony C.!)
• “Love the data sheets! Great way for me and my students to monitor their learning.” (Thanks Kelsey!)

In closing, we hope you found these homework ideas for teachers helpful! If you haven’t already checked out this post about spiral review math , please be sure to do so!

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121+ Innovative Project Ideas For School Students

Get ready to spark your curiosity! Explore our designed list of 121+ innovative project ideas for school students, containing 14 diverse categories and loaded with 10 engaging ideas each. From Science and Technology to Arts, Entrepreneurship to Space Exploration, these projects are primed to inspire.

 Discover hands-on experiments, creative innovations, and problem-solving ventures perfect for students eager to dive into the depth of engineering, health, and social impact. Unleash your potential with projects in maths, sustainability, and digital creativity. Step into history, explore cultures, or delve into agriculture the possibilities are endless. With these project ideas, learning becomes an exciting journey, fostering innovation and sparking the imagination of every student. Let us start this journey.

7 Advantages Of Project Ideas For School Student

• Hands-On Learning

Projects offer hands-on experiences, allowing students to use their learnings to real life problems. They make learning more interactive and engaging, helping concepts stick better. Projects let students roll up their sleeves and dive into practical tasks, giving them a deeper understanding of how things work beyond textbooks.

• Promotes Creativity

Project ideas encourage creativity by allowing students to discover, experiment, and have unique solutions to challenges. They’re like blank canvases where ideas flourish.They offer the freedom to think outside the box, fostering innovative thinking and honing creative problem-solving skills.

• Enhances Critical Thinking

Working on projects requires students to analyse, evaluate, and make decisions, enhancing their critical thinking abilities. Projects challenge students to think critically, helping them weigh options, solve problems, and make informed choices.

• Encourages Collaboration

Many projects involve teamwork, promoting collaboration and communication skills among students.Collaborative projects encourage students to share ideas, work together, and learn from each other’s strengths.

• Boosts Confidence

Successfully completing projects, especially those that require effort, boosts students’ confidence in their abilities and accomplishments.As students overcome challenges and finish projects, they gain confidence in their skills and capabilities.

• Real-World Application

Projects often simulate real-life scenarios, by enabling students to use their theoretical knowledge to real life situations. They remove the gap between theory and application, showing students the real-world relevance of what they learn.

• Encourages Self-Directed Learning

Projects allow students to take charge of their learning journey, fostering independence and self-motivation. Students get to choose topics, plan, and execute projects, developing autonomy in their learning process.

 Whether you’re a student looking for a unique project idea or a teacher looking for inspiration, this article will surely spark your interest and ignite your imagination. Let’s dive into the world of innovative school projects and discover the amazing things students can achieve when they put their minds to it. Here is a list of project ideas duly categorised and they are as:

• Top 10 Innovative Project Ideas On Science And Technology
• Renewable Energy Models
• Smart Home Automation System
• Biodegradable Packaging Solutions
• Aquaponics: Sustainable Agriculture
• Robotics in Healthcare
• Virtual Reality Learning Environments
• Waste-to-Energy Innovations
• AI-Powered Educational Apps
• Hydroponic Farming Systems
• 3D Printing in Medicine
• Top 10 Innovative Project Ideas On Engineering And Robotics
•      Automated Garden Irrigation System
• Robotic Arm for Recycling Sorting
• Smart Traffic Management System
• Solar-Powered Vehicle Prototype
• Autonomous Delivery Drone
• Voice-Controlled Home Automation
• AI-Based Waste Management Robot
• Biometric Attendance System
• 3D Printed Prosthetic Limbs
• Virtual Reality Educational Tool
• Top 10 Innovative Project Ideas On Environmental Sustainability
• Solar-Powered Community Garden
• Waste-to-Energy Recycling Initiative
• Green Roof Installation for School Buildings
• Portable Water Filtration Systems
• Eco-Friendly School Supply Drive
• Urban Vertical Farming Modules
• Bio-Diverse Habitat Restoration Project
• Plastic Upcycling Workshop
• Renewable Energy Awareness Campaign
• Sustainable Transportation Solutions Program
• Top 10 Innovative Project Ideas On Health And Medicine
• Virtual Health Assistant App
• Biodegradable Medical Implants
• AI-Powered Disease Diagnosis Tool
• Nutrition Monitoring Wearable Tech
• Smart Medicine Dispenser System
• Telemedicine Platform for Remote Areas
• Personalized Medicine Kits
• Health Education VR Modules
• Microbial Detection in Food Packaging
• Mindfulness and Mental Health App for Teens
• Top 10 Innovative Project Ideas On Social Sciences And Community Impact
• Community Storytelling Archive
• Mental Health Awareness Campaign
• Urban Garden Initiative
• Diversity and Inclusion Workshops
• Civic Engagement App Development
• Sustainable Community Recycling Program
• Youth Mentorship Program
• Anti-Bullying Campaign
• Local History Preservation Project
• Poverty Alleviation Task Force
• Top 10 Innovative Project Ideas On Mathematics And Computational Thinking
• Fractal Geometry Exploration
• Cryptography and Code Breaking
• Data Analysis Through Sports Statistics
• Algorithmic Art and Design
• Mathematical Modeling in Ecology
• Game Theory Application in Everyday Situations
• Robotics and Geometry: Building Mathematical Machines
• Quantum Computing Concepts for Beginners
• Number Theory and Music Composition
• Probability and Predictive Modeling in Finance
• Top 10 Innovative Project Ideas On Arts, Creativity, And Design
• Recycled Art Sculptures
• Interactive Digital Storytelling
• Sustainable Fashion Design Showcase
• Augmented Reality Art Gallery
• Community Mural Project
• Wearable Technology Fashion Show
• Kinetic Sculpture Installation
• Eco-Friendly Architecture Models
• Designing a Green Urban Space
• Experimental Film-making Project
• Top 10 Innovative Project Ideas On Business And Entrepreneurship
• Sustainable Business Initiative
• Virtual Business Simulation
• Social Impact Startup Plan
• E-commerce Platform for Local Artisans
• Entrepreneurial Podcast or YouTube Channel
• Innovative Product Design Challenge
• Business Pitch Competition
• Green Entrepreneurship Project
• Financial Literacy Campaign
• Tech-Based Entrepreneurial Solution
• Top 10 Innovative Project Ideas On Education And Learning Enhancement
• Interactive Learning Apps for Specific Subjects
• Gamified Study Platforms for Different Age Groups
• AI-Powered Personalised Tutoring Systems
• Virtual Reality (VR) Field Trips and Educational Experiences
• Language Learning through Immersive Technology
• Mindfulness and Mental Health Apps for Students
• Project-Based Learning Modules on Real-World Issues
• STEM Workshops Focused on Practical Applications
• Community Engagement Programs for Peer Learning
• AI Chatbots for Instant Homework Help
• Top 10 Innovative Project Ideas On Space Exploration And Astronomy
•   Space Habitat Design
•   Martian Colony Simulation
•   DIY Telescope Construction
•   Satellite Technology Innovation
•   Lunar Rover Prototyping
•   Virtual Reality Space Exploration
•   Exoplanet Discovery Project
•   Space Debris Cleanup Initiative
•   Astrobiology Research for Student Scientists
• Designing a Space Mission Patch
• Top 10 Innovative Project Ideas On Psychology And Behavior Studies
• Impact of Music on Mood and Concentration
• Effects of Social Media on Adolescent Behavior
• Influence of Colour Perception on Emotions
• Memory Retention in Different Learning Environments
• Stress Management Techniques for Teenagers
• Role of Exercise on Mental Health and Well-being
• Perception of Body Image and Self-esteem
• Behavior Analysis in Different Social Settings
• Investigating Dreams and their Interpretations
• Impact of Nature and Environment on Mental Health
• Top 10 Innovative Project Ideas On Historical And Cultural Studies
• Interactive Virtual Tours of Historical Sites
• Recreating Historical Artifacts Using 3D Printing
• Creating Educational Historical Board Games
• Documentary Series on Local Cultural Heritage
• Digital Archive of Historical Photographs
• Cultural Exchange Program with Partner Schools
• Historical Podcast Series on Significant Events
• Creating a Historical Cooking Show
• Storytelling Workshops on Folklore and Legends
• Historical Reenactment Performances
• Top 10 Innovative Project Ideas On Agriculture And Food Science
• Hydroponic Farming Models
• Smart Irrigation Systems
• Vertical Farming Techniques
• Food Preservation Innovations
• Soil Quality Monitoring Devices
• Aquaponics Integration in Agriculture
• Drone Technology in Crop Monitoring
• Biofuel Production from Agricultural Waste
• Sustainable Packaging Solutions for Food Products
• Urban Agriculture Initiatives
• Top 10 Innovative Project Ideas On Multimedia And Digital Innovation
• Interactive Storytelling Apps
• Virtual Reality Educational Modules
• Augmented Reality Museums/Guides
• Digital Art Installations
• Gamified Learning Platforms
• Social Media Awareness Campaigns
• 360-Degree Video Tours
• AI-Powered Educational Chatbots
• Digital Music Composition Tools
• Multimedia Journalism Projects

Exploring over 121+ innovative project ideas for school students opens up a world of possibilities. These ideas aren’t just assignments; they’re paths to exciting discoveries. They help us learn in fun ways, solving problems and sparking creativity. 

With these projects, we become active learners, enjoying the journey of exploration. They’re like keys to unlocking our curiosity, making learning a thrilling adventure. So, let’s dive in, explore, and find inspiration in these innovative projects they’re not just about school, they’re about embracing our love for learning and discovery.

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13 Fun Homework Ideas: The Best Ways To Make Homework Fun For Kids Quickly & Easily

Ellie Williams

Figuring out how to make homework fun can be a tricky task for parents.

Does it feel like you’re constantly nagging your kids to do their homework? If your answer is yes then worry not as we’ve all been there! It’s natural for parents to want their children to progress and do well in school, but after an entire day of paper, pencils, and books many youngsters will resist getting on with their homework – and that’s putting it mildly!

Top Tips To Make Homework Fun:

• Work together
• Use rewards and incentives
• Sort them a snack
• Make it visual
• Try different learning apps
• Set up a homework play date
• Turn it into a game
• Let them play teacher
• Use a timer
• Create a special homework space
• Remember to be positive
• Get help if you need i t

Thankfully, there are ways of making homework less boring and that little bit more fun for your child. Whether they need to practice spellings, learn their times tables or revise for an important exam, our top fun homework ideas will help you to magically take the ‘work’ out of homework.

KS2 Maths Games and Activities Pack

A FREE downloadable games and activity pack, including 20 home learning maths activities for KS2 children. Bring maths into your home in a fun way.

1. Work together

Adults often work best in the company of others, and the same can be said of kids, so why not sit with your child while they’re studying and get on with some of your own work or life admin?

Whether you’re returning emails, doing your online banking or organising the next primary school PTA fundraiser, creating a shared workspace and modelling focused work is a great way to spend quality time together while they complete their homework. Win-win!

Quick win : Whilst your child is tackling their fractions homework, you could sit down with them and take a look through your finances or even test yourself on the work that your child will be doing in their SATs .

2. Use rewards and incentives

Rewards and incentives are great when it comes to getting your children to follow your household rules and routines, and homework is no different. Things like stickers or the promise of time on their iPad or games console for slightly older children can all work wonders in getting them to do their homework without a battle.

Quick win: For every few questions they answer they could get a minute of screen time!

3. Sort them a snack

Let’s face it: A hungry child is an unfocused, unmotivated and unhappy child.

Most children come out of school ravenous, so let them nibble on a nutritious after-school snack while they get on with homework; things like popcorn, apple slices, grapes, flapjacks, or crackers and cheese are all great snack options.

If you’re feeling a bit more adventurous, Netmums has a list of healthy after-school snack ideas and recipes to try.

Quick win: One of the best brain foods for kids is a nice and crispy apple! So when your child is craving something sweet just cut up an apple and let them munch away.

4. Make it visual

Help to eliminate the late night ‘Oh, I forgot to do that’, and create a weekly homework chart so your child can see what they have to do each day and check off each homework ‘To Do’ as it’s been completed.

Again, Pinterest has some great free printables to help keep kids organised. Get them involved by letting them colour it, or decorate it with their favourite stickers, and pin it up somewhere at their height, where they will see it easily every day as a reminder. Some exciting new stationery and colourful pens might help too.

Quick win: An easy way to make homework fun is to grab a piece of paper and get your child to draw out and decorate a ‘homework chart’ consisting of 5 days. Stick it on the fridge and add a sticker to each day after they’ve done their homework, when they’ve collected 5 stickers they get a treat!

5. Try different learning apps

If your child prefers to be online, there are some great online apps around that children will have fun using, yet encourage learning too. Here are our favourite free maths websites for example. Speak to your child’s teacher too and see which apps the children use in school so you can support what they’re doing at home.

Quick win: One of our favourite apps that makes homework fun is Times Tables Rockstars!

6. Set up a homework play date

Holding a homework playdate where your child can invite one of their best school buddies over to do homework together can be a great way for them to learn and make sure the work gets done, especially slightly older primary children.

Plus, it’s likely that their parents will be delighted!

Younger children may need a bit more support and guidance but can still gain a lot from the experience of learning together with a friend – think of this as a mini-educational play date for them – with a special tea afterwards of course!

Quick win: Let your child and their friend play for a while, and then get them to work through their homework with the incentive of a yummy ‘tea party’ when they’ve completed all of their homework.

7. Go outside

If the weather allows, create a comfortable outside study space and allow your child to do their homework outdoors.

The fresh air can help kids with their concentration if they’ve been stuck in a classroom all day, and studies also show that being outside, closer to nature, can increase productivity. The reward of a quick game of Frisbee or a kick-around of a football between tasks will help them stay motivated too.

Quick win: Check out this fun outdoor maths activity for some inspiration of ways you can make homework fun. 

8. Turn it into a game

Who said home learning had to be boring? If children enjoy what they’re learning, they’re more likely to remember what they’re being taught, so turn their learning into a fun game. Using sweets like Smarties to help with maths and number work can turn the experience from a chore into a treat. If they get the right answer, they get to eat some!

Another trick that you can use when your child is learning spellings is to write them in foam or in magnetic letters. It sounds simple, but  we can guarantee that it will make homework a lot more fun for your child.

These maths games for kids and times tables games are a great place to start.

Quick win: If you’re looking for some fun homework ideas then check out this simple multiplication activity you can do at home, it’ll even get in one of your child’s five a day!

9. Let them play teacher

Make another fun homework game by creating your own mini-classroom and letting your child step into the role of teacher.

Have your child explain a concept to you as a teacher, as you, or their sibling, plays the role of the student. This game works particularly well with subjects that require theory, like Science for example, as it will improve their understanding of the concept and build logic and reasoning skills.

Quick win: Make homework fun by getting your child to choose their favourite teddys and toys and setting them up in their own mini classroom. Start off with registration, ‘mummy’ ‘present’, ‘mr teddy’ ‘here’ etc. You’ll soon notice that your child is growing in confidence regardless of the topic as children love playing teacher!

10. Use a timer

Some children may have difficulty working for prolonged periods of time without a break, so using a timer can be great for getting them to complete homework without the whining. For example, if your child is given 20 maths problems for homework, you can say “Complete the first 10 questions then we’ll take a 5-minute break, then complete the next 10 questions”.

Many children will need a mental break and will work more effectively when given the opportunity to take one. At the end of the task, they get to pick an activity of their choice. If your child gets easily distracted, a timer game can work well to keep them focused on the task in hand.

Quick win: Put the timer on your phone so that your child can see the countdown whilst they’re working.

11. Create a special homework space

A special study space can make homework more fun and help motivate your child to get it done! Choose a space in your house that’s least likely to distract your child, and create a simple, organised, and kid-friendly homework HQ.

You could hang up some of their artwork above the desk, and have all their school essentials nearby so everything is close to hand.

Quick win: Make sure that they aren’t surrounded by things that will distract them. Televisions and iPads are a no go at homework time!

12. Remember to be positive

Remember to always be upbeat and positive about school and the importance of their homework. Give your child lots of praise and encouragement about how well they’re doing to help them stay motivated and on track.

Quick win: After every homework session spend five minutes talking through what your child has accomplished. If you’re running out of activities to do, have a look at our list of home learning packs – all free to download.

13. Get help if you need it

Homework can be frustrating if your child doesn’t understand the material or gets bored easily. If your child is struggling, get them some expert help!

Quick win:  Third Space Learning has plenty of advice on learning maths for kids and parents but if you need more support, our primary school maths tutors are easy to organise and very affordable.

DO YOU HAVE STUDENTS WHO NEED MORE SUPPORT IN MATHS?

Every week Third Space Learning’s maths specialist tutors support thousands of students across hundreds of schools with weekly one to one tuition designed to plug gaps and boost progress.

Since 2013 these personalised one to one lessons have helped over 150,000 primary and secondary students become more confident, able mathematicians.

Learn how pupils make accelerated progress or request a personalised quote for your school to speak to us about your school’s needs and how we can help.

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5 Best Homework Ideas For Teachers To Make Distance Learning Fun

19/01/2024 09:57

Homework forms an important aspect for students in academic progress. This academic process of learning could have gone for a toss during the Covid-19 pandemic were it not for the virtual environment. However, the pandemic has instead brought to the fore some innovative homework ideas for teachers, that if incorporated, bring about the best outcomes from the students. SuperTeacher takes a look at 5 such innovative homework ideas for teachers to incorporate into their classrooms.

Online Learning

Online classes and teaching did prove to be extremely beneficial amid the pandemic. However, this mode of teaching also has its own limitations for a student. Hence, teachers need to assign tasks and incorporate ideas for homework outside the ambit of online classes to continue the process of online learning for students. Teachers can incorporate gamification to conduct assessments and assignments. This simply enhances the interactiveness as well. Hence, online learning can be incorporated into ideas for homework.

Indoor Games

Physical activities are important for the overall development of students. It significantly strengthens and develops the students’ core skills and competencies. However, Covid-19 restrictions make it difficult for them to play outdoors. Hence, teachers can incorporate indoor gaming ideas to boost their overall development. Besides, homework ideas for teachers could also include brain training activities for students.

Art and Craft

It has been generally noticed that students love to spend time on arts and crafts. Indeed, art and craft are some of the best ways to develop a child’s creativity skills. As a teacher, you should encourage your students to practice art and craft during their school hours through creative projects and presentations.

Social Work

Every teacher should ensure that they inculcate the value of empathy among their students from a young age. Teachers could promote the value of empathy in a number of ways. One of the best ways to do is to encourage them to volunteer at old age homes or orphanages. Thus, social work can be included in the list of top homework ideas for teachers.

Reading Books

Reading has an instrumental role to play in the development of a child’s acumen. Teachers can incorporate reading schedules into the students’ homework schedule as it will enhance their reading skills and further enrich their vocabulary. It also enhances their intellect. Thus, reading books form an integral part of innovative homework ideas.

Teachers should understand that assignments and homeworks are not just a part of a child’s learning process. It has a role to play in their personality development as well. Hence, it is the responsibility of the teachers to help the students develop in every aspect possible. Many times, the workload of studies could be mentally and physically draining for students. During such times, teachers should take a step back and reevaluate their strategies and approach towards teaching. Meanwhile, if you haven’t joined India’s fastest growing online teaching platform – SuperTeacher, do it now!

Fantastic Summer Homework Ideas for High Schoolers

If your high schoolers are anything like my high schoolers, they love spending time talking about how bored they are. Yet for whatever reason, that talk never turns into action. Nothing seems to change at the end of the year, as kids are making plans for what they will be doing, or not be doing, over the summer. I always enjoy making an addition to their plans–a little bit of summer homework from their (not always) favorite art teacher. For me, there are always a few of ways to go about it–required summer homework and optional summer homework.

Required Work

For my students who will be in AP Studio Art , I require that they complete 2 projects over the summer that are “portfolio-worthy”. I type out assignment sheets for 3 projects with in-depth explanations. However, each of the three has enough open-endedness within a theme to allow students room for expression and personal voice. If students don’t like any of those 3 projects, or don’t want to do them, I allow them to complete projects of their own choosing. As long as the quality is there, I am open to just about any idea they bring to me.

Photography List

In addition, I send AP students home for the summer with a checklist of photography subjects. The photos students take are referenced and utilized throughout the year in a myriad of projects. The more images they come in with, the better. Many students end up using the cameras on their phones, which is OK because the quality doesn’t have to be stellar. The idea here is not for the photos to serve as the art project, per se; the idea is to have a library of images that can serve as backgrounds, design elements, and inspiration for them come fall.

You can download my 3-page PDF list by clicking the image below, or get a customized Word version by clicking here .

Download Now

Optional Work

For the rest of my students, summer homework is optional. I have a list of projects that I give to whoever may want it, and to a few others that I think might just take on the challenge. These are more lighthearted, fun projects that could take all kinds of different directions. I think it goes without saying, but if kids enjoy the work they are doing, they are more likely to complete it.

Here are a few ideas I like to use:

• Have a friend pose for you. In 20 minutes draw 20 poses. Go!
• Create a drawing or painting inspired by song lyrics or a piece of writing.
• Create a time-lapse video of you working on a drawing or sculpture.
• Sculpt your favorite food out of mud or sand. Photograph it from multiple angles.
• Visit someplace colorful–a farmer’s market, a flower shop, a candy store, or a museum. Make art inspired by the location.

Media Consumption

Lastly, I love to have students take the time to look up interesting artists using not only books and websites, but videos and other media. Artists my students really respond to are Banksy, Robert Longo, Maya Lin, Cheeming Boey, Kara Walker, James Turrell, and Kehinde Wiley. The Art 21 series from PBS is also a great resource. The key is to make the artist interesting enough that kids want to look at more of their work and learn more about the art being made.

Whether your students are making work because they want to or making work because they have to, summer homework is a great avenue to keep them involved and engaged over the summer. There is undoubtedly a challenge in seeing that work is actually completed, but if it is, students come back to the next school year with renewed energy, more confidence, and hopefully a little better understanding of their own art and the art of others.

Do you assign summer homework? Why or why not?

What summer homework assignments have been successful for you?

Magazine articles and podcasts are opinions of professional education contributors and do not necessarily represent the position of the Art of Education University (AOEU) or its academic offerings. Contributors use terms in the way they are most often talked about in the scope of their educational experiences.

Timothy Bogatz

Tim Bogatz is AOEU’s Content & PD Event Manager and a former AOEU Writer and high school art educator. He focuses on creativity development, problem-solving, and higher-order thinking skills in the art room.

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13 ESL Homework Ideas

Homework may not be many students’ favorite thing, but research says it’s truly an effective learning tool that teachers should use .

The trick is assigning great homework.

To help you do this with ease, we’ve compiled an awesome list of 13 homework assignments that will have your ESL students begging for more.

1. Read a Short Story

2. share a passion, 3. start a chat group, 4. listen to a podcast, 5. write a letter, 6. write an amazon review, 7. do a wikipedia edit, 8. write a short story or poem, 9. share their culture, 10. catch a movie, 11. meet new people, 12. analyze a song, 13. go on a photo scavenger hunt, what makes homework effective.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Have students read a short story for homework and then ask them to tell the class about the story in the next session.

I would recommend giving students some suggestions on what short stories to read, depending on the level of your students.

Here are some suggestions of short story collections for each level of ESL learner:

• “The Very First Americans” by Cara Ashrose: This collection of short stories features Native American culture and history, written in simple language.
• “Oxford Bookworms Library: Starter Level” This series offers simplified versions of classic stories, such as fairy tales, adventure stories and more.
• “Classic Tales for ESL Students” by L.A. Hill: This collection of classic stories from literature is retold with easier vocabulary and sentence structure.

Intermediate

• Thousands of learner friendly videos (especially beginners)
• Handpicked, organized, and annotated by FluentU's experts
• Integrated into courses for beginners

• “The Best American Short Stories” This series features contemporary short stories from a wide range of American writers, so there’s something for everyone here.
• “Short Stories in English for Intermediate Learners” by Olly Richards: This collection of engaging stories is designed specifically for intermediate ESL students.
• “Roald Dahl: The Collected Short Stories” This delightful collection of quirky and imaginative tales has become a favorite of many of my students.
• “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri: This Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of short stories explores the immigrant experience, something which many ESL students can relate to.
• “Dubliners” by James Joyce: This classic collection of interconnected stories captures the essence of Dublin in 1914. But it still feels modern to many students.
• “Nine Stories” by J.D. Salinger: This classic collection of short stories is a class favorite when I’ve used it.

What do your students really care about? Give them a chance to talk about it in front of the class. 

Have each person choose something they’re passionate about, something they might consider themselves an expert on.

Challenge students to think of a creative way to present five must-know facts about that subject. They might make a movie, create a poster or brochure, write a song or even put on a skit.

Have each person present their creative project to the class, and then give the class five minutes to ask questions of the presenter.

Set certain parameters like students must speak in complete sentences or require that every student ask at least two questions at some point during the presentations.

• Interactive subtitles: click any word to see detailed examples and explanations
• Slow down or loop the tricky parts
• Show or hide subtitles
• Review words with our powerful learning engine

Students will love sharing about their passions, and they’ll get some great speaking, listening and discourse information in the process, as well as teach the rest of the class some interesting vocabulary.

Ask for class for a volunteer to start a class WhatsApp chat group. They can also decide to use another messaging app like Telegram, Viber, Voxer or any other app that has a group chat function. 

Encourage them to send at least one message and to respond to a couple others for their homework. 

This text group has the added advantage of students being able to make friends with one another, and a place to ask about missed homework assignments on days when they can’t make it to class.

Note that if a student doesn’t want to be included in the chat group, you should have a back up assignment prepared for them.

Listening is one of the ESL student’s most difficult skills to acquire, so listening to a short podcast episode is ideal homework.

You can ask students to write a little about the podcast to turn in to you, or you can ask them to briefly summarize what they heard for the class in the next session.

• Learn words in the context of sentences
• Swipe left or right to see more examples from other videos
• Go beyond just a superficial understanding

Here are some suggestions for well done podcasts:

The English We Speak : Produced by the BBC, this podcast focuses on teaching commonly used phrases and idioms in conversational English.

The Moth : A storytelling podcast where real people share their personal experiences and anecdotes in English.

Stuff You Should Know : Though not specifically designed for ESL students, this podcast covers a vast array of interesting topics, providing exposure to diverse vocabulary and subject matters.

Ask your students to write a letter . The letter can be written to a friend or family member (which they could then actually mail or email), or it could be a fan letter to a favorite musician or actor. They could even write a letter to Santa Claus or a historical figure. 

For example, a student might choose to write a letter to Marie Antoinette, asking her what it was like to be the queen of France at such a young age. 

You can also choose to have students write letters to one another. Then the next homework can be writing that letter writer back.

• FluentU builds you up, so you can build sentences on your own
• Start with multiple-choice questions and advance through sentence building to producing your own output
• Go from understanding to speaking in a natural progression.

Ask you students to review a product on Amazon (or any other shopping website that has reviews). Ask them to select a product they have really used, so they have a genuine opinion on the quality of the product and whether it lived up to their expectations.

Then, in the next session, show the reviews on the overhead projector to the class and ask a student to read the review.

You can then go over any errors in vocabulary, grammar or sentence structure and revise the review together as a class.

Since anyone can edit a Wikipedia article, it’s a great place for ESL students to hone their writing and editing skills, and they’ll have a built-in readership, too!

Ask students to select a person that they know a lot about—a well-known figure from history, pop culture, music or film would all work. Then ask them to read the Wikipedia entry to see if they can add anything else to the article.

Perhaps the article on Ryan Gosling is missing a key detail about his recent Ken performance. If so, the student will revise and edit the article. They should take notes on what they changed, so they can explain it to you or the class the next day.

• Images, examples, video examples, and tips
• Covering all the tricky edge cases, eg.: phrases, idioms, collocations, and separable verbs
• No reliance on volunteers or open source dictionaries
• 100,000+ hours spent by FluentU's team to create and maintain

Ask your students to get creative. Have them write a short story or a poem . This can get them to use descriptive language that they don’t always have a chance to use.

One good activity to do before you assign this homework is an adjective bubble chart. For this, you start with one adjective. For example, write “moist” on the board, circle it and then draw 4-5 lines coming off of the”moist” bubble.

Ask your students to come up with other adjectives that are related to “moist” and so on. They may come up with “wet,” “watery,” “soaked” or “damp.” Then draw lines from each of those. This can lead to words that you never expected to come up.

Have your students select 3-4 adjectives from this introduction activity that they’ll use in their story or poem.

Ask your students to prepare a short presentation on an aspect of their home culture to tell the class about in the next session. 

For example, a student from China may explain the Lunar New Year, a student from Vietnam may explain Tet or a student from El Salvador may tell the class about their quinceañera .

They can use photos, art, a PowerPoint presentation or they can just explain in their own words.

Then open the class up for questions.

Can you legitimately send students to the movies for homework? You can when you’re teaching ESL.

Your students don’t have to commit to a full-length movie. Instead, you can use the videos on FluentU to screen mini-lessons using clips from TV shows and movies, movie trailers, news segments, vlogs or music videos.

Use these videos in the classroom or assign homework to watch a few and complete the subsequent quizzes. You can also ask students to complete flashcard quizzes based on vocabulary words you want them to pay special attention to. These quizzes are adaptable so every student will have a unique experience catered to his learning level.

There are plenty of ways to use a movie for language development. And whether students watch a new release or catch an old Elvis flick on TV, they can do any of the following activities as homework:

• Summarize the plot.
• Describe a main character.
• Note new or interesting vocabulary (particularly slang) they hear while watching.
• Write an interview with one of the characters in the movie.

I’m sure you also have your favorite movie-related language activities and many work as homework assignments. So get creative with how you have students share about what they watched.

For the most part, people are willing to help someone in need, and that is doubly true for someone who needs to complete an assignment for school.

That’s why sending students out to interview native speakers on campus is such a fun homework assignment.

Start by helping your students write a list of questions they’ll use for their interviews. Students can choose a topic or you can assign one, like leisure activities or celebrity news.

Tell students to list five to ten questions they might ask on that topic that will elicit specific answers. 

As a class, discuss how students might introduce themselves to a potential interviewee. 

Then send students out to their interviews after class. They can share the answers they got in the next session.

Music is great for English learners since it stresses many aspects of language that can otherwise be hard to isolate, like the emotion of language, intonation and stress.

Have students choose their favorite English language song to listen to for homework and then ask them to do the following:

• Practice the lyrics to learn intonation and rhythm.
• Note slang and cultural references in the songs.
• Summarize the theme of the song, or just what it’s about.
• Have students share their favorite lyrics and what a particular song means to them.

Give individual students or groups of up to three students a list of items to find on their homework scavenger hunt. But instead of being specific in your list (for example, including items such as cat), be descriptive in your list.

You might include items such as something frightening, something beautiful, something quiet, something cool.

Students find items they think fit the description. For example, someone who is claustrophobic might choose an elevator for something frightening. They then take a picture of it.

The next day, have each person get with a partner and show them the pictures they took for each item on the list.

If the connection is not obvious, students should ask their partner to explain why they chose a particular item, such as the elevator.

Assigning homework that works isn’t as hard as you might think, especially if you focus on the following points.

• Put your homework in writing. It can be tempting to just announce homework assignments to students at the end of class, but language learners benefit when you reinforce what you say with what they can see. So take a minute to write any homework assignment on the board so students can read it as well as listen to it.
• Let students know what goals you have for a particular assignment. Is it practicing a certain grammar point ? Improving their listening skills ? Pronunciation practice ? When students know why they’re doing something, they’ll be able to tell on their own when they’ve successfully completed their homework assignment.
• Keep your homework practical . Your students may not find themselves planning out a menu for Thanksgiving when they leave your ESL classroom, but odds are they’ll have to order food at a restaurant at some point. Think about realistic ways students will have to use English in the real world and try to make your homework practical.
• Let your students be creative . Give your students choices on how they express themselves or present information. It’s okay for students to make a home movie, put on a one-man play or paint a picture to present to the class. Just because you prefer a particular type of creative expression doesn’t mean your students do, so give them choices and let them express themselves.
• Make homework fun! Every class has its own personality, so what’s fun for one might not be fun for another. Tailor your assignments to the personality of your class. Think about what they would think is fun, and go with that.

No matter what you believed in your student days, homework doesn’t have to be boring. With a little creativity when assigning homework, you might find that the activities you assign for outside of class become the highlights of your students’ days.

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10 entertaining homework ideas for online English Language Learners

Did hearing the words, “do your homework,” when you were a child excite you? 

For most of us, the word homework doesn’t conjure up exciting or fun memories. 

Homework was likely one of the last things you wanted to do as a student!

However, what if you could make homework fun for students? What if homework was entertaining? 

In this article, we share some entertaining homework ideas for English language learners to help them improve their English while having fun!

You might be familiar with lots of ESL games and activities for your students , but assigning the right homework can feel overwhelming. 

This is particularly true if you don’t want to burden your students with a tremendous amount of information. 

Have you ever thought about combining games with homework? 

There are many alternative ways to create memorable lessons, such as incorporating karaoke songs to learn English. 

Here are 10 fun and entertaining homework ideas for your ESL students:

• Cafe hopper
• Tiktok star
• Let’s go to the movies
• Hello Mr. Teacher
• Interview a stranger
• Shine like a Karaoke star
• Expert on the loose
• 24 hour challenge
• It’s a wrap!
• Masterchef in the making

1. Cafe hopper

Most people love checking out cafes and this is an easy homework task to assign to your students.  

Have your students visit a variety of cafes as part of their homework. 

Then, consider what they could do for homework in a cafe of their choice.

Here are some fun ideas for turning cafe-hopping into homework:

• Practice ordering in English off of the menu.
• Take a photo of the cafe’s and share the differences and similarities with you in class.
• Speak to a stranger in each cafe in English and ask them some interesting questions about their life.
• Interview the barista about their favorite kind of coffee or beverage.

This is a stress-free homework idea that your students will love, especially if they are coffee or tea lovers!

2. TikTok star

Tiktok is a fun social media application where you can watch videos and songs from creators. You can also watch creators lip-synching to catchy tunes.

Show some fun examples in your class of some famous TikTok songs being lip-synched to by others and practice doing one together.

• For homework, have them choose their favorite song on TikTok.
• They can lip-synch to the song and download the song to their camera album without having to actually post it to TikTok.
• Have them share their creation with you in the next class!

Depending on the age and location of your student, TikTok might not be an option for them. If you are teaching older students or adults , then it might be easier for them to use social media for this homework assignment rather than young children.

If they are too young to use the app, have them find an online video of their favorite song and ask a parent to record them singing!

3. Let’s go to the movies

Going to the movies doesn’t sound like homework, does it? Well, as you might already be discovering, homework doesn’t have to be conventional!

Find some interesting movies that are playing in your students’ area or ask them to watch a movie of their choice in English. 

Tell them that their homework is going to be based on the movie they watch.

Here are some ideas for making going to the movies part of their homework:

• Have them write a summary of the movie or their favorite part.
• Tell them that they have to give you a movie review in your next class.
• Have them act out their favorite part of the movie with a sibling or family member and record it (in English of course!).
• Ask them to make a poster advertising the movie with captions, titles and text to accompany any drawings.

If you are struggling to find movies they can go and watch in the cinema, you can always use these ESL movies and TV shows as a resource. 

Students can also watch movies from the comforts of their homes. 

4. Hello Mr. Teacher!

Students love playing the role of the teacher! 

This can work for in-person or online ESL classes.  

Tell them that as part of the next classroom activity, the first 5 – 10 minutes will be their time to shine as the teacher!

For homework, ask them to:

• Think of one topic that they know a lot about (This could be a sport, musical instrument, game, topic, etc…).
• Have them prepare 5 important things that someone needs to know about their topic.
• Tell them that in their next class they will be the teacher and share their knowledge! (They can even give you homework!).

Have fun with this homework idea and role-play the student where you ask them questions after they finish. 

Your students will love this one!

5. Interview a stranger

This one might need some parent support and guidance if you are teaching children, but having them interview someone is an entertaining homework idea for English language learners.

• It encourages their own voice as they come up with ideas.
• It helps with writing skills as they write out their questions.
• Interviewing encourages conversation and role playing which is a fun way to learn English.

You could have your younger students interview a family member and ask questions related to that family member’s childhood. 

Here are some sample questions you could help your students form:

• What kind of things did you like to do when you were my age?
• What was your favorite thing about school?
• What types of sports did you play when you were young?
• Tell me about what life was like when you were a child.

Have them choose and write out 5-10 questions and come back to class to report on their findings!

6. Shine like a Karaoke star

Who doesn’t like a bit of karaoke? Imagine….singing your heart out to “I love rock n roll” in the privacy of your own home!

You don’t need to go to a karaoke place to actually sing karaoke songs. There are lots of great karaoke songs available online to learn English with your students.

YouTube is a great place to start, just by searching for your favorite song + “karaoke lyrics” in the search bar.

In class, help your student(s) choose a song and task them with finding the online karaoke lyrics to sing along.

Have them sing this for homework! You could even ask a parent to help them record it if they are comfortable with that.

Here are some fun and popular karaoke songs online to learn English:

• “I Will Survive” with Gloria Gaynor
• “Livin’ on a Prayer” with Bon Jovi
• “Summer Nights” with John Travolta and Olivia Newton John
• “Don’t Stop Believin’” with Journey

7. Expert on the loose

There is an expert in all of us, including your students!

In this fun and entertaining homework idea, have your student share their expertise on something!

To add a different dimension to the homework idea, “Hello Mr. Teacher,” task your students to dress up as the expert and make a short speech on their topic of choice.

Here are some examples:

• Harry Potter
• Michael Jordan (to talk about basketball)
• Favorite sports athlete
• Insect scientist
• Astronaut (if your student knows a lot about space)
• Presidential candidate
• Pilot (for students who know a lot about countries)

Even if they are not an expert on the topic, part of the homework assignment could be to do some research and learn more about their chosen field.

You could even ask them to dress up and come to class in the role, ready to share their knowledge with you! 

8. 24 hour English challenge

This one is self-explanatory and incredibly fun!

Set a challenge for your student to only speak in English for 24 hours. 

This means that you might need to get parents involved with the homework assignment, so that they can help out.

The idea is that they have to speak only in English (as much as is possible given their situation) when interacting with family, friends and at school.

Your students might already be immersed in English environments, but, oftentimes, they are speaking their native language at home with family and friends.

Having your students force themselves to only speak in English is challenging and a great way to encourage English outside the classroom.

9. It’s a wrap!

Lots of students love to rap! Rap music is poetic and encourages a lot of ESL language skills that we want to build in our students.

This is an activity that you can model with your students in class and assign it for homework for them to create their own rap.

Again, they can come back to class and rap their new song to you! It might, however, work better with older students who have a good base level of English, to begin with.

Here are some fun homework assignments incorporating rap:

• Create their own rap if they are the creative type
• Find a well known rap online and practice it to present in class
• Assign your students to find a rap online that they sing and record with their friends

10. Masterchef extraordinaire

For the food lovers, creating a homework assignment that includes cooking can be really fun.

Most kids love the idea of cooking, especially if it centers around cooking their favorite food!

When considering this as a homework idea, consider these possible assignments:

• Create and write out a recipe for a unique culinary dish.
• Make a video about the cooking experience.
• Record a tutorial of how to cook something.
• Turn it into a competition if you have multiple students.

Plus, this works with physical and online classrooms. 

Of course, if you have a physical classroom with multiple students, this could be a really fun in-class experience with some homework assignments to accompany it.

Who doesn’t love a food-related assignment? 

If you choose Masterchef extraordinaire, allow your students to share the food they make with the class and encourage lots of conversations in English.

Homework doesn’t have to be boring!

As you can see, homework doesn’t have to be boring! 

Most of your ESL students have a lot to do even outside class, and that’s why assigning homework that doesn’t feel like homework is ideal!

This is an opportunity to get creative, creating excitement for your students to learn English.

If you use some of the homework ideas mentioned here, make sure you document the experience and continue to discover new activities that bring laughter and joy to the classroom. 

And when you are applying to online teaching jobs , be sure to share how you plan to creatively incorporate class assignments and homework for your students!

Enjoy the process and make learning an enjoyable experience for everyone. 

Enjoyed this article? Don't forget to share.

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Published: Aug 5, 2021 · Modified: Aug 28, 2021 by Rachel

30+ Homework Station Ideas for Kids and Teens

Ready to make your family’s after-school or home school routine a bit less stressful? An organized homework station is the answer! I’ve included easy tips for small spaces and multiple kids so everyone can have a quiet, supervised space to study.

Table of Contents

It’s back to school time again and along with that comes a flood of emotion. While its sad to see our babies growing up, my inner organizing dork gets a boost of excitement. Create a cheerful space with these homework station ideas to inspire learning, even if you’re short on space!

A homework station is an inviting area that is dedicated to learning, homework, and informal learning like arts and crafts project. Although the kitchen table will suffice for a quick review or a worksheet, we’ve found it’s nice to have a homework zone where school supplies, books, and school calendars can have a dedicated place of their own. This cuts back on clutter and distractions.

I was inspired to write this post because of what I’ve learned from our frustrations with my son’s severe ADHD. At first, homework hour was a stressful experience full of tears (mine), yelling and every possible distraction under the sun. No exaggeration – 20 minutes of homework regularly took almost 2 hours. The material was never the issue. Home school moms, you have my admiration!

That’s where a dedicated space and equitable ground rules saved the day (and my sanity!)

How To Setup a Homework Station

I’ve learned a lot over several incarnations of our homework space. Creating a basic homework station area is simple and effective with these tips below:

• Choose a quiet area. The biggest chance of success is to limit distractions. Preferably with a handy outlet for a laptop, or charging accessories like headphones. For my son, I find that headphones with music (on loop) works wonders.
• Stock it with necessities. My son is the king of wasting time looking for misplaced items. Before official homework time, I ask if he has everything he needs to minimize the chances of him getting up from the desk.
• Set a routine. Same time + Same space = Success. I personally give my son a short break after school before we get down to business.
• Keep ’em close. While we must balance distractions, young children especially need supervision and usually help.
• Minimize your own distractions. When my son was in elementary school, I couldn’t continue working from home during homework time. It wasn’t fair to ask him to stay focused, when I myself wasn’t focused on his questions. So I placed a tiny desk in our kitchen. That way I had both eyes on him while I washed dishes or prepped dinner. I was available, yet still productive.

Homework Station Supplies

Below is a handy list of supplies that are sometimes useful.

• Pens and pencils
• Loose leaf paper for scratch paper or notes
• A timer or clock
• A folder with pockets
• 1 box of color pencils or crayons
• Computer and charger
• A planner (checklists are the lifeblood of this house!)
• Craft supplies as necessary – glue sticks and scissors are examples
• A comfy chair

Homework Station Setup Ideas

Finding the right space is often the most challenging part! I’ve included some inspirational ideas below to get focused. You don’t need to have an elaborate space, but these are great jumping off points to inspire your creativity.

Nooks & Crannies

While most of us don’t have room for a dedicated office, there’s usually space to spare like under the staircase, an unused closet, or an awkward alcove . These centrally located spaces are often quiet and can be quite magical.

A small closet can be transformed into a useful desk space. Source: This Old House.

The unused space underneath a staircase like this desk is also perfect for using as a small homework station. This design utilizes fun lines and strokes to make it visually interesting.

Homework Stations that Foster Creativity

I honestly believe that adding a little creativity to the space fosters the desire to learn and leads to great ideas. Classrooms are full of stimulating decorations for a reason.

Here’s a few creative concepts to enhance your learning environment:

Inspirational quotes on a paintable chalkboard from Dawn Nicole add a touch of whimsy and keep students motivated during tough assignments.

A simple wall Children’s art display like the desk above allows kids to hang their accomplishments and past artwork.

Add a splash of color or maybe some wall flash cards.

While these beautiful spaces are awesome, sometimes we just need a simple option like this portable homework station .

More portable homework station ideas :

• Use a bath caddy to hold supplies so you can grab and go.
• A tiny desk and rolling cart makes it easy to move supplies where you need them, when you need them.
• I love my car seat organizer for homework on-the-go. It’s a lifesaver when I have to run errands.
• This fold away desk vault in a box is brilliant!

Room for Two (or more)

If you have more than one child, figure out how they learn best. Do they prefer to  study  together? Try setting up the desk so it can accommodate everyone. A collaborative study area is less isolating.

I’m a big fan of this option . Everyone has dedicated space and no one is encroaching on the other’s turf.

This desk utilizes a stacking bookshelf to create two separate work areas and provide ample storage for each user. To save space, you could also have the desks face each other with the bookshelf between them.

This study zone melds learning and fun. It’s an especially fantastic space for large families. The multi-functional area can accommodate everything from homework, to art projects, and amazing Lego builds.

During my own work hours, I share a space with my son. Our craft room makeover project had to include key elements like tandem workspaces, ample organization elements and creative ways to display our greatest hits!

PRO TIP: Peg Boards are excellent additions to any Homework Station. They allow you to customize your storage and wall display without limits. Here’s how we built a DIY pegboard organizer.

Space Saving Solutions

House a homework nook in even the tiniest space. These space saving desks are brilliant!

Wall Mounted Desk

Ladder Shelf

Wall mounted

Space Saving Shelf Desk

Do you have a dedicated studying area in your home? What’s your top tip for handling the daily homework assignments?

More Ideas You May Enjoy

PS I love seeing your creations! Be sure to take a photo and tag  #cravingcreative  on Instagram ! You can also  stay in touch with me through following me on  Instagram ,  Pinterest , and subscribing to the newsletter!

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August 31, 2015 at 11:36 pm

Meredith @ The Palette Muse says

August 31, 2015 at 10:42 pm

• Grades 6-12
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50 Fun Earth Day Crafts and Activities Using Upcycled Materials

Save the earth, make art.

Earth Day is fast approaching (April 22), though there really is never a bad time to celebrate Mother Earth. It’s important to teach students the environmental benefits of recycling, like conserving energy and natural resources and reducing air and water pollution, all year long. While recycling breaks down old items in order to create something new, upcyling makes something new from an existing object in its current state. Challenge your students to create something unique and wonderful from preexisting items like magazines, plastic water bottles, tin cans, egg cartons, and more. Check out our list of the best recycled crafts for Earth Day or any day, and give some of them a try!

1. Make wildflower seed bombs

Give back to Mother Earth with these easy-to-make seed bombs. Blend together used scraps of construction paper, water, and wildflower seeds in a food processor, then form them into tiny muffins. Let them dry, then toss them in the ground. As the seed bombs receive sun and rain, the paper will eventually compost and the seeds will germinate.

Learn more: Learn How To Make Seed Bombs

2. Put together nature wreaths

Take your kids on a nature walk to gather interesting leaves, flowers, berries, and the like. To make the wreath forms, braid together strips of old T-shirts and form them into a circle. Then attach natural items into the crevices and secure with clear fishing line or hot glue. Attach a ribbon at the top to hang your wreath.

Learn more: Kid-Made Nature Wreath

3. Construct a bug hotel

Create a cozy place for all the creepy-crawlies to hang out. Cut a two-liter plastic bottle into two cylinders, then stuff it with sticks, pine cones, bark, or any other natural material. Make sure to pack the organic material tightly. Then loop a piece of twine or yarn around the two cylinders and hang your bug hotel from a tree branch or fence.

Learn more: Simple Bug Hotel for Kids

4. Make a quilt

Textiles make up a huge portion of municipal solid waste—over 16 million tons per year. Teach your kids to repurpose old material that would otherwise end up in the landfill by putting together a cozy quilt.

Learn more: Create a Classroom Quilt

5. Use magazines to create a bowl

We love Earth Day crafts that result in a practical object you can use around the house. This project is best for older students who have the patience and dexterity necessary to carefully roll their magazine strips and glue them together.

Learn more: Easy DIY Magazine Bowls

6. Create a planet Earth craft

Pay tribute to our lovely planet on Earth Day with these fuzzy moss balls. Kids who love getting their hands dirty will particularly love this craft. All you do is squish pre-soaked sphagnum moss into a tight ball, wrap it tightly with blue yarn or strips of discarded T-shirts, layer more moss and more yarn, etc., until you’ve created an Earth-shaped orb. Finish with a loop of yarn and hang it in a sunny window. To keep your moss ball healthy, simply spray it with water every couple of days.

Learn more: DIY Earth Moss Ball

7. Plant a hanging garden

Large plastic bottles become beautiful hanging planters in this green-living, green-thumb project. A great way to make a gorgeous hanging garden.

Learn more: DIY Recycled Hanging Planter

8. Upcycle trash into flower art

Scraps of paper are the only supplies you need for this recycled-flower-garden activity and lesson. The measurement and math element is an added bonus.

Learn more: Fun Earth Day Recycled Garden Activity

9. “Grow” an egg carton tree

Save those egg cartons! This simple project only requires a few supplies to make a recycled egg carton tree.

Learn more: Recycled Egg Carton Tree

10. Repurpose paper towel rolls into binoculars

Save those paper rolls so your class can customize their own binoculars! Have a variety of paints, stickers, and the like on hand so your students can really personalize their bird-watchers.

Learn more: Paper Roll Binoculars

11. Construct your own flexible seating

One of our favorite Earth Day crafts has to be upcycling tires into comfy seating for our reading nook.

Learn more: DIY Tire Seats

12. Fashion a pop-top bracelet

Aluminum beverage pop-tops become wearable jewelry thanks to some ninja ribbon work. Show this video on your interactive whiteboard to give your students the full 411, and then get crafting!

Learn more: Pop Tab Bracelets

13. Create colorful suncatchers / wind chimes

Go outside for a nature walk and gather sticks, weeds, and pickable blooms, then bring the treasures inside to be showcased in recycled jar lids. With some wax paper and string, your students can craft this surprisingly beautiful recycled wind chime.

Learn more: Homemade Nature Suncatcher Wind Chimes

14. Make recycled crafts from paper bags

Brown paper bags become eco-canvases for artwork and a perfect way to adorn fridges for Earth Day. Bonus points if you can source handled bags because the handles serve as built-in artwork hangers.

Learn more: Paper Bag Paintings

15. Build a recycled city

Create an adorable village using little more than paper rolls, paper, scissors, paint, glue or tape, and your imagination!

Learn more: How To Make a Mini City Out of Paper Rolls

16. Create pebble art

Take students outside to collect small rocks and pebbles. Have them arrange the rocks into a pattern of their choice. Get creative, and try for as many different designs as you can!

Learn more: DIY Pebble Art Tutorial

17. Use old crayons to make Earth Day crayons

This isn’t just any recycled crayon—it’s a gorgeous Earth crayon! You can make these with your kids using a muffin tin. You just need to sort out the right colors.

Learn more: Earth Crayons

18. Use upcycled objects to make mazes

STEM and recycling go together wonderfully! This idea is a great way to challenge kids to make mazes or something else entirely.

Learn more: Kid-Made DIY Recycled Cardboard Marble Maze

19. Make a rope snake

Recycling projects that use objects you may have lying around your garage or shed are some of our favorites. Grab that old rope you’ve been saving and create these adorable rope worms/snakes with your students.

Learn more: DIY Rope Snake Craft

20. Feed the birds

Herald spring with this easy crowd-pleaser: the large plastic bottle bird feeder. This short video will teach kids how to get started constructing their feeders.

Learn more: How To Make a Birdfeeder From a Bottle

21. Get organized with old cans

Tin cans are easy to get your hands on, and they can go a long way in organizing supplies. Get your kids involved by having them help decorate the cans. They’ll really take ownership of this, which will hopefully inspire them to keep supplies more organized.

Learn more: Homework Supply Caddy

22. Make papier-mâché pots

Cut off the bottoms of beverage bottles or reuse food containers and jazz them up with bright-colored paper scraps. Except for the glue, these papier-mâché planters are composed solely of recycled materials.

Learn more: Papier Mache Pots

23. Make a necklace out of found items

Earth Day art that is wearable is a bonus! Use found objects or some string to create these unique necklaces.

Learn more: Recycled Cardboard Art Necklaces

24. Make chair fidgets out of old tees

Give old T-shirts new life with this craft by making chair fidgets. This uses a simple braiding technique, and your kids will love helping out.

Learn more: Make Your Own Chair Fidget

25. Collaborate on an aluminum can recycling bin

Kids can work together to create an aluminum-can recycling center. Watch the video to get the simple instructions and learn how your school can make recycling fun and rewarding.

Learn more: DIY Recycling Station From Aluminum Cans

26. Build tin can robots

Recycling projects like these are the best since kids love robots. Be sure to have an extra pair of adult hands around to help with the hot glue for these Earth Day crafts.

Learn more: Tin Can Robot

27. Fashion fairy house night-lights

Are these the sweetest Earth Day crafts ever? Plastic bottles from home become homes for fairies, thanks to paint, scissors, glue, and real or faux greenery.

Learn more: Fairy House Night-Lights

28. Create a giant upcycled art wall

This is an amazing recycled wall masterpiece. You could set it up on a cardboard backing and then let students add to it, paint it, and create with it whenever they have free time throughout the day.

Learn more: Recycled Materials Art Wall

29. Make your own games

Use bottle caps in a game of tic-tac-toe. They can also be turned into checkers. This would be a great makerspace activity. Give your kids several upcycled items and challenge them to create games with them.

Source: Tic-Tac-Toe on the Go

30. Make a treasure magnet

These treasure magnets are just so beautiful! Recycle a bottle cap, and glue a variety of gemstones and beads inside. Then add a magnet to the back.

Learn more: Treasure Magnet

31. Turn old magazines into art

We love how this upcycled magazine cut-paper art project can be modified for primary students or used to inspire sophisticated art by high school students.

Learn more: Cut Paper Art

32. Build a beautiful DIY terrarium

A bottle gets a second life as a museum-worthy terrarium as well as a home for an environmental science project. Be sure to add the activated charcoal and moss for plastic bottle terrariums that flourish.

Learn more: Coke Bottle Terrarium

33. Paint with corks

This is the perfect kind of Earth Day art since you use recycled material (corks) to paint your favorite scene from nature.

Learn more: Cork Painting Activity for Kids

34. Set up some self-watering planters

Your classroom studies of plant life, photosynthesis, and water conservation will get a boost with this hands-on crafting of a self-watering planter. The base? A good ol’ large plastic bottle.

Learn more: DIY Self-Watering Planters

35. Form flowers from water bottles

Create these stunning flowers from plastic bottles and water-based paint markers. String them together for a colorful garland for your classroom.

Learn more: DIY Eco Pledge Flower

36. Build cardboard castles

Gather all your recyclables and put those tiny engineers to work. You’ll be amazed by what they create!

Learn more: Recycled Castle Art Project

37. Make these newspaper owls

Old newspapers find their spirit animal when they become recycled newspaper owls. All you need are markers, watercolors, and paper scraps to make them come alive.

Learn more: Colorful Newspaper Owl Craft

38. Construct a plastic bottle recycling bin

Water bottles come together, as do your kids, to make this water bottle recycling center. This project combines teamwork with respect for our environment, a double win.

Learn more: DIY Recycling Station From Plastic Bottles

39. Let your imagination run wild with cardboard

Cardboard is one of the easiest, least expensive materials you can get your hands on. Grab a ton of it and challenge your kids to make awesome creations. You never know what they might come up with.

Learn more: Make Your Own Cardboard TV

40. Make a musical instrument

There are no limits to the recycling projects you can create using cardboard. This DIY instrument will teach kids about vibrations and sound.

Learn more: Cardboard Flute

41. Create a spinning top

Do you have a bunch of CDs lying around that never get played anymore? How about a box or drawer of markers that barely write? If you answered yes to these questions, then this is the perfect project for you.

Learn more: Recycled CD Spinning Tops

42. Fashion lady bugs from bottle caps

These little ladybugs are so cute and yet so, so simple. Grab some bottle caps, paint, googly eyes, and glue and get ready to make some adorable friends!

Learn more: Bottle Top Ladybugs

43. Create a coffee filter Earth

Simple to make and beautiful to display, these coffee filter Earths are a cinch. Simply color with blue and green markers, then squirt with a water bottle.

Learn more: Coffee Filter Earth Day Craft

44. Create Earth Day agamographs

An agamograph is a piece of art created from strips of paper strung together. Choose an Earth Day theme and try your own!

Learn more: Earth Day Agamographs

45. Make DIY recycled plantable seed paper

Not only is it beautiful paper, it can be used to grow beautiful flowers!

Learn more: DIY Seeded Paper

46. Craft a pair of egg carton glasses

How creative is this egg carton craft for Earth Day? All you need is egg carton sections, pipe cleaners, scissors, and craft paint, and voilà! Superhero goggles.

Learn more: Egg Carton Superhero Goggles

47. Put together an Earth Day mosaic puzzle

Create this colorful Earth-shaped puzzle using torn pieces of green and blue paper glued onto recycled cardboard puzzle cut-outs.

Learn more: Mosaic Earth Puzzles

48. Construct a papier-mâché globe

Most kids love the sloppy process of papier-mâché. Here, learn how to make a DIY globe with recycled paper that they can treasure forever.

Learn more: How To Make a Papier-Mâché Planet Earth

49. Make Earth Day salt dough crafts

Salt dough crafts are so much fun to celebrate Earth Day! Make these colorful medallions, then attach string. Your kids will wear their Earth Day pride for all to see.

Learn more: Earth Day Salt Dough Craft

50. Mesmerize with DIY Earth Day discovery bottles

It’s amazing what a calming tool you can make with just glue and water inside of a recycled bottle.

Learn more: DIY Earth Day Sensory Bottles

What are your favorite things to do for Earth Day? Come share in our We Are Teachers HELPLINE group on Facebook!

Love spending time outside try these fun outdoor science activities ..

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Homework tips for supporting children in primary school

Homework can be a sticking point for busy families.

After experts questioned its relevance for primary schoolers, many of you weighed in on Facebook, disagreeing on how much, if any, homework is the right amount for this age group. 

So, what is beneficial? And what are some strategies to help make it a less stressful part of the day for both parents and kids?

What's the value in homework?

Grattan Institute deputy program director Amy Haywood says there is value in homework — particularly set reading — for primary school-aged kids.

Ms Haywood, based in Naarm/Melbourne, says time spent reading independently or with an adult "is a really good use of time because it builds up the vocabulary".

In addition to reading, other key skills such as maths can be a focus.

"In classes is where they're doing a lot of the learning of new content or skills, and then outside the school might be opportunity to practise."

She says there's "clear evidence around practice leading to mastery, and then the mastery having an impact on students' engagement in school, [and] their confidence with taking on different learning tasks".

There's also a case for homework in later primary years as you might want them to build some of those study habits before they go into secondary school.

But, she says "schools need to be careful about what homework they are setting".

Communicate with the school

Ms Haywood encourages parents to speak to teachers if they have concerns about set homework.

"[Teachers] may not necessarily realise that a student is spending a lot of time or needing quite a bit of help.

"That new information is very useful for a teacher because it means that they can go back and understand what they might need to reteach and any misconceptions that they need to go over."

Find the best time for your family

Parenting expert and family counsellor Rachel Schofield says finding the best time for homework in your family's routine is important.

Based in New South Wales' Bega Valley, on traditional lands of the Yuin-Monaro Nations, she says for some families fitting it into the morning routine is easier.

It's also about when parents and caregivers are in "the best shape" to help, "because if you've got a kid that's battling homework, you're going to have to be in emotionally good shape".

"If you're really stressed at the end of the day, then that's probably not the best time."

Ms Schofield says "parents have incredibly busy lives" but if you can carve out the time "homework can become a place where you actually get to slow down and stop".

She says children below the age of 10 need a lot a supervision and shouldn't be expected to do homework independently.

Why homework straight after school might not work 

Ms Schofield says kids "need decompression time after school".

She says there's an understandable tendency among busy parents to get homework out of the way as soon as possible, but this could be working against them.

Snacks, play and time to offload are usually what primary-aged kids need, Ms Schofield says.

Some time to play and connect with a parent after school can be "really helpful".

Even 10 minutes "can make the whole trajectory of the evening go differently", she says.

Ms Schofield says kids can come home with "a lot of emotional stuff" and rough-and-tumble-play can be a good way to spend time with them and help them decompress after school.

Ms Schofield says you can also try and engage with your child 'playfully' if they are refusing to do homework.

It's tempting to be stern and serious in response, but she says treating it more "goofily" by poorly attempting to complete it yourself or asking your child for help with a task might get a better result.

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• School Education /

10 Creative Ideas for Holiday Homework for Class 5 EVS

• Updated on  
• May 30, 2024

Vacations are an opportunity for students, to learn new and interesting things. It’s a time to indulge in hobbies, watch favourite movies, and relax. However, it’s also crucial that students stay connected with their studies. Holiday homework is an excellent way to ensure this balance. In this blog, we present 10 creative and fun holiday homework ideas for Class 5 EVS. These activities are designed to be both educational and enjoyable, helping students learn while having fun. Read on to discover these exciting project ideas that will make learning a delightful part of the vacation.

Table of Contents

• 1.1 1. Nature Journal
• 1.2 2. Plant Growth Project
• 1.3 3. Environment Poster
• 1.4 4. Mini Garden Project
• 1.5 5. Water Conservation Diary
• 1.6 6. Wildlife Research
• 1.7 7. Recycling Craft
• 1.8 8. Weather Chart
• 1.9 9. Energy Audit
• 1.10 10. Community Clean-Up
• 2 FAQs 

Holiday Homework for Class 5 EVS

1. nature journal.

Encourage students to keep a nature journal during their vacation. They can document plants, animals, weather patterns, and other natural elements they observe. They should include drawings, photos, and written descriptions.

2. Plant Growth Project

Ask students to plant a seed in a pot and observe its growth over the vacation. They should record daily observations, including measurements, drawings, and any changes they notice.

3. Environment Poster

Students can create a poster on an environmental issue such as pollution, global warming, or recycling. The poster should include information about the issue, its effects, and possible solutions.

Also Read : Exciting Class 2 Holiday Homework Ideas: Sparking Creativity and Adventure

4. Mini Garden Project

Ask students to create a mini garden in a small space at home. They can use pots, recycled containers, or a small patch of land. They should document the types of plants they grow, their care routine, and the benefits of having a garden.

5. Water Conservation Diary

Have students maintain a diary on how they conserve water at home. They should list activities that save water, like taking shorter showers, turning off the tap while brushing teeth, and using a bucket for washing cars.

Also Read : Essay on Summer Vacation: Samples for Students  

6. Wildlife Research

Students can choose a local wildlife species to research. They should create a report or presentation about the species’ habitat, diet, behavior, and conservation status, including pictures or drawings.

Also Read : 10 Ways to Make Your Summer Break Productive  

7. Recycling Craft

Encourage students to create something useful or decorative from recycled materials. They should take pictures of the process and the final product and write a short description of how they made it and why recycling is important.

8. Weather Chart

Ask students to keep a weather chart for the duration of their vacation. They should record daily temperatures, weather conditions (sunny, rainy, cloudy), and any significant weather events, then summarize the data at the end.

Also Read : Computer Holiday Homework For Classes 5 to 8  

9. Energy Audit

Have students conduct an energy audit at home. They should list all the electrical appliances and devices, note how often they are used, and suggest ways to reduce energy consumption.

10. Community Clean-Up

Encourage students to participate in a community clean-up activity. They can organize or join a local clean-up drive, document the activity with photos, and write a short report on the experience and the importance of keeping their community clean.

Explore interesting ideas for school children here : 

Ans: Here are some ways to finish holiday homework on time. Set a study schedule. During the holidays, you can have a lot going on, so it’s crucial to make sure you schedule time each day for studying.  Get rid of online distractions.  Take short breaks.  Check your work.  Prepare your material.

Ans: Plan your schedule well in advance. Keep your study place neat and organized, and keep your study materials handy.

Ans: Holiday homework is essential to ensuring that students don’t lose touch with their studies. Making different projects and implementing various ideas helps them get creative too. 

To refer to interesting ideas related to children’s school education activities, follow Leverage Edu now!! 

Aayushi Vardhan

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Emory students won a $10,000 prize for their AI tool. Then the university punished them.

• Emory University suspended students who created a celebrated AI-driven study tool.
• The students won $10,000 last year from a school pitch competition for the product.
• One of the students just sued the school, saying there's no evidence anyone used his product to cheat.

Emory University students created an artificial-intelligence-driven study tool last year.

Professors and students praised the program, called Eightball. The student newspaper wrote about it. The founders won a pitch competition sponsored by the school and took home $10,000. The business school highlighted them on social media .

Then at least two of the students were suspended for Eightball, which they'd already scrapped. Emory said the duo violated the school's honor code because students could use Eightball in ways that would breach it.

Benjamin Craver, a junior and history major who led marketing for the platform, sued the university on Friday. His complaint said there's no evidence any students used Eightball improperly, including to cheat.

The case highlights the tensions between universities eager to foster young entrepreneurs and administrative rules that haven't caught up to new tech.

After publication, an Emory spokesperson declined to comment, saying the university is not able to discuss pending litigation.

Expulsion, suspension

Craver, who said he had never been in trouble at Emory, partnered with a student developer last year to promote Eightball. The premise was simple: Students could upload materials to a private server not accessible to other users, then use AI to generate study materials.

Related stories

He and his cofounders won a business-school pitch competition last year, and the business school's website spotlighted them — until this week, when the page was removed, per a comparison with the archived page .

Eightball's founders marketed the program as a study tool — not something to "do their homework or be a cheat sheet," one founder said on the now defunct business-school page.

But in October, Emory told the developer that he may have violated the honor code, per Craver's lawsuit. In November, Emory told Craver that it was weighing five honor-code violations for him. He said he asked the developer to immediately shut Eightball down, which the developer did.

Craver was put on disciplinary probation for a semester by the Office of Student Conduct, and he submitted a formal written apology. At a January honor-council hearing, a Spanish professor and four undergraduates weighed a bigger punishment for Craver.

Writing that the founders built Eightball with the intent to cheat, they recommended a one-year suspension for Craver and expulsion for the developer, the lawsuit says.

They heard no evidence Eightball was used for cheating, Craver said in the lawsuit.

Craver was ultimately suspended for a semester and summer, while the developer's yearlong suspension was later reduced to a semester, he said in the lawsuit.

While Craver was preparing an appeal, Emory's venture program reached out, asking whether he'd like to participate in an accelerator for Eightball.

He lost his appeal last week. His lawsuit said the disciplinary record could stymie his plans to apply to law school: "Emory willfully and self-servingly deviated from proper Honor Code procedures to make a public example out of Ben."

Craver is seeking a jury trial and damages of at least $75,000, per the complaint.

Watch: The 10 most challenged books in the US

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