Here is a sample question of the fifth grade summer homework at Little Brother's school. They were asked to use a ruler, a protractor, and a compass to make the figure on the left with those measurements.
I want to point out how papers are marked here. When an answer is correct, it is circled. At Little Brother's school, homework is graded at home by a parent. This was started a couple of years ago. Students get checks for homework and numerical grades for tests. In elementary school, they get "can do it well", "can do it", and "needs more work" on their report cards.
Little Brother had other summer homework as well. He had to write kanji and read several books. He had to make something and write a report. He made paper and pizza. He also had to clean two things around the house. He had to think of a creative or unique way to do it. He cleaned the fuzz off a rug using masking tape. He scrubbed the bathroom sink with a toothbrush.
School has been in session for almost two weeks now. Little Brother had to carry everything back to school. (See the April posts for "School Days".)
Big sister is studying to take exams to get into high school next year. She had summer homework,too. She had to make appointments to visit three high schools. She had to study for exams in her classes the week after school started again. Even so, they both had some fun, too.
Little Brother needs to take a bucket to school tomorrow. We didn't have one to spare so we bought this one at the 100 yen shop (like your dollar stores). Fifth graders will grow rice in a bucket. First graders grow morning glories and second graders grow sunflowers in flower pots. We can't remember what they grew in third grade, but last year fourth graders grew goya . That's an interesting looking vegetable from Okinawa. It's worth a picture. It's very bitter tasting and it's good for your health.
He also needed a new notebook for school. They use these for each subject. This one is used for sending notes from teacher to parent or vice versa. He also writes down assignments in it. When a student is absent, his parent must write a note to the teacher in this notebook explaining the illness. The notebook and homework sheets are then put in a plastic zipper case. It is given to a friend who usually walks to school with the child. The friend takes it to the teacher. After school, the friend brings the notebook back to the sick child with the day's assignment and a note from the teacher. At the beginning of the school year everyone signs a paper saying who is responsible to do this for you.
P.S. May 19th, Little Brother said everyone brought the same kind of bucket from the 100 yen shop.
"My homework's garbage," Little Brother announced a couple of weeks ago. Taking out the garbage was part of his homework for two weeks. Each day he had to put a circle on a calendar chart. I had to sign it after it was filled in. Taking out the garbage is not such an easy job here. It requires more than just putting a bag outside. There is a schedule for each area in the city. In our neighborhood in Tokyo, all garbage is separated into burnable (kitchen scraps and garden debris), non-burnable (recyclable plastic), recyclable paper (junk mail, school papers, cereal boxes), newspaper, cloth, cans, plastic bottles, glass bottles, and junk that doesn't fit any of the categories (which includes messy stuff that cannot be cleaned up, broken dishes wrapped in newspaper, broken umbrellas, etc.) All cans, plastic and glass bottles, yogurt cups, etc., need to be washed and dried. Each type of garbage has its own color of bag. Milk cartons are washed and dried and taken to a bin outside a nearby grocery store. Batteries and light bulbs are thrown away separately. It can all pile up through the week. It is a big job.
Listed here in For Kids- Japan
HTJ is listed here.
