Let’s Talk About Make-up Work

 

There is no way to “make up” what a child misses when a student is ill or unable to be in school.  Teachers plan the day’s lessons carefully, introduce ideas, check each student for understanding, monitor carefully during the early stages of work, and re-teach when they see a need.  Because much of our work deals with higher cognitive skills, creative skills and problem solving, many of the lessons are impossible to put in a make-up packet.  Because much of our work deals with higher cognitive skills, creative skills and problem solving, many of the lessons are impossible to put in a make-up packet.

 

Each activity in Math, Language Arts, Science, etc. is guided by professional judgment which is not repeated by sending make up work home.  However, we do want to make every effort to help students learn what they have missed when they are gone.

 

These are some guidelines that will be helpful to students, teachers, and parents as they approach the task of make-up work:

 

1.      If the child is absent or ill for 1 or 2 days, it is best to wait until he/she returns to school in order to get the make up work.  We think reading a good book and bed rest will help students get well more quickly.  They can catch up with work that has been missed when they return to school.  If able, have your child work on previously assigned tasks.

 

2.      Because teachers are involved in teaching, they need a full day’s in order to prepare extended absence make-up work.  If you anticipate your child being absent more than two days, please let us know so that we can gather what work is possible to be completed at home.

 

3.      For extended periods of time away from school (vacations), which are planned by the parent, expect that students should continue with on going reading assignments, a daily journal of experiences as writing practice and other general work that can be handled on a trip.  We cannot provide lessons or homework ahead of time; it is impossible to determine the timing of these lessons and, as stated above, they could not be condensed into a handout anyway.

 

4.   If a project is coming due during a vacation time, it is expected that the project be turned in before leaving.

 

5.  The student should take the responsibility to turn in regular homework as soon as s/he returns to school (in the appropriate teacher’s designated place in the classroom) if it was collected when s/he was absent.