Think about incorporating a variety of homework activities into your lesson plans. To come up with some great homework activities, think of things that will extend their comprehension of things you are studying in class. Also, be sure to think of activities that will incorporate your students’ home environment.

Here are some innovative homework activity ideas:

Homework activities using the World Wide Web:

The internet is an important part of daily life these days. Think about incorporating it into your students’ homework. Here are some homework activities that use the World Wide Web:

· Create a classroom page or group and have your students post their homework assignments on it. Also, have your students post a comment or question once a week or answer or respond to another student’s comment or question.

· Have your students check online newspapers for stories that relate to whatever lesson you are teaching.

· Have your students make and update their own web pages

Outdoor homework activities:

· Have your students help the environment by picking up litter in their neighborhoods.

· Have your students gather different types of leaves, rocks, insects, etc. and bring them to class. Have them guess what they are, and then have guides in your classroom to figure out what they actually are.

· Make a flower press to add plants to every week. You can then take the pressed plants and add them to a craft project.

· Have your students take binoculars out and look at the stars and observe them every night for 15 minutes. What do they notice changing?

· Give your students a magnifying glass to study the world of their backyard or a park up close. Have them write about what they see.

Indoor homework activities:

· Have your students think of ways that they can conserve electricity or water at home.

· Give your students safe, at-home science experiments. For instance, have them put two ice cubes in separate cups and add salt to one of the ice cubes and see what happens. Or have them mix corn starch and water and see what they get.

· Have your students use household objects to create musical instruments.

· Have your students turn on TV for just 10 seconds, write down as much as they heard and saw, and then have them turn that information into a story.

Other homework activities ideas:

· Give each of your students a chance to come up with their own homework activities (within certain restrictions) to assign the other students.

· Create a scavenger hunt for your students to follow throughout the week.

· Divide your students into groups and have them work together as a team to come up with inventions.

· Have your students call or e-mail representatives of your states with ideas or questions, etc.

· Have your students write to a company to learn more or to express a problem, etc. – teach your kids how they can elicit change in their own environments.