Reception Homework

23 March 2015

Below (in orange) are some more sentences for your child to write at home.  It’s helpful to follow this process…

• Read the sentence to your child.
• Ask them to repeat the sentence several times. They could whisper it, shout it or say it in a silly voice.
• Count the words.
• Say the sentence word by word for your child to write.
• Remind them to use a capital letter, a full stop and finger spaces.
• Ask your child to read the sentence back to check they have written every word.
• Write the sentence together, modelling how to read back.

1. I must not tramp on the flowers.
2. I kept bumping into things in the dark.
3. A crab crept into a crack in the rock.
4. Milk is good for children’s teeth.
5. A drip from the tap drops in the sink.
6. The clown did tricks with a chimpanzee.
7. I can hear twigs snapping in the wind.

06 March 2015

I can respond to a book

As it’s recently been World Book Day, please  read and talk with your child about their favourite book.

Perhaps they could draw a picture and write about why they like it.

02 March 2015

Below (in orange) are some more sentences for your child to write at home.  It’s helpful to follow this process…

• Read the sentence to your child.
• Ask them to repeat the sentence several times. They could whisper it, shout it or say it in a silly voice.
• Count the words.
• Say the sentence word by word for your child to write.
• Remind them to use a capital letter, a full stop and finger spaces.
• Ask your child to read the sentence back to check they have written every word.
• Write the sentence together, modelling how to read back.

1. I can see a pair of boots on the mat.
2. The farmer gets up at six in the morning.
3. Jill has fair hair but Jack has dark hair.
4. Jim has seven silver coins.

Supporting your child’s maths at home

This article is a thought-provoking read, and might inspire you to support your child in different ways; in it, Professor Jo Boaler sets out this list of top tips for parents who want to support their child in Maths:

1. Encourage children to play maths puzzles and games at home. Anything with a dice will help them enjoy maths and develop numeracy and logic skills.
2. Never tell children they are wrong when they are working on maths problems. There is always some logic to what they are doing. So if your child multiplies three by four and gets seven, try: “Oh I see what you are thinking, you are using what you know about addition to add three and four. When we multiply we have four groups of three…”
3. Maths is not about speed. In younger years, forcing kids to work fast on maths is the best way to start maths anxiety, especially among girls.
4. Don’t tell your children you were bad at maths at school. Or that you disliked it. This is especially important if you are a mother.
5. Encourage number sense*. What separates high and low achievers in primary school is number sense.
6. Encourage a “growth mindset” – the idea that ability changes as you work more and learn more.

More homework? No – more encouragement

We had a record number of parents / carers who attended parents’ evenings this week – thank you to all who showed up.

A small number of parents asked for more homework. Please bear in mind we asked your views about homework in the Annual Survey last year, and the findings were quite mixed: some thought there was too much whilst about the same proportion thought there was not enough. The majority agreed with us: the amount of homework we set is about right.

Taken from our Homework Policy, this is our rationale for giving homework:

Educational experience that a school by itself provides is limited; children benefit from wider, complementary experiences out of school. However, some prompts and guidance from school can direct these experiences and develop greater learning. We see homework as an important example of cooperation between teachers and parents / carers. An aim of our teaching is to promote independent learners; homework is one of the ways in which children can acquire the skill of independent learning.

We recognise the importance of quality family time; this policy should help to promote opportunities to be creative rather than labour over frequent worksheets or carry out activities that pupils and / or parents / carers may not understand.

Whilst homework develops children’s learning and independence, quality family time, play and free time are also important. Homework should not prevent children from taking part in wider activities such as those offered by out-of-school clubs and other organisations. Children develop their interests and skills to the full only when parents/carers encourage them to make maximum use of the opportunities available outside school.

Also in our Homework Policy is this statement:

We believe the frequency of homework set out here provides the right balance for pupils and meets the expectations of most parents (whose opinions we sought in the Annual Survey, 2014). Staff may occasionally provide additional homework; this will amount to two or three extra pieces across the year. As an alternative, staff will be happy to suggest to parents other ways they can support their child’s learning at home.

Please do not expect extra homework for you child to be set as a matter of routine. Governors want to protect teachers work / life balance, but – importantly – we believe extra homework would not be helpful for most pupils.

09 February 2015

Here are some sentences for your child to write at home.

• Read the sentence to your child.
• Ask them to repeat the sentence several times. They could whisper it, shout it or say it in a silly voice.
• Count the words.
• Say the sentence word by word for your child to write.
• Remind them to use a capital letter, a full stop and finger spaces.
• Ask your child to read the sentence back to check they have written every word.
• Write the sentence together, modelling how to read back.

1. Lots of shops sell chicken as well as fish and chips.
2. I will soon visit a farm.
3. We can all run to the park.

Homework in Reception

Now that we’re well into the Spring term, we’ll be sending homework every Friday. In addition to the new phonemes and tricky words the children are given to learn, your child will receive either practice handwriting sheets or sentences for your child to write independently.

Please check on the homework section of this website for practice sentences from next week.

It’s half-term…

…so there’s no specific homework this week, apart from ensuring your child spends at least 20 minutes each day reading and 5-10 minutes learning their number bonds / times tables.

Enjoy your October break. If you stay in Leeds, check out all the activities the museums and art galleries have on offer.

Ready to learn

It’s the summer holidays and, in line with our homework policy, there is no formal homework set over the six-week break.

That doesn’t mean that your child won’t be learning!  We learn all the time – and so do children, whether it’s through play, day-trips, independent reading, discussions at home…

And of course, you’ll be keen to support your child at home so the basic facts aren’t forgotten.  Please think about key English and Maths knowledge that you can gently practise over the holidays:

• number bonds: knowing pairs of numbers that add to make ten, like 3+7=10 and therefore 10-7=3).  When your child is secure with pairs that total ten, can they extend this knowledge to pairs which make 20 (13+7=20, for example) and 100 (such as 30+70=100) – make this fun by using some sweet treats or how about stringing ten loom bracelets on string and then hiding some and making the link with the ones that are left (how many are hidden if you can see three bracelets?)
• times tables: Year 2 children should have an emerging knowledge of the 2 times table and the 10 times table at least, and children who have just finished Year 4 should know all their times tables (up to 12 x 12) and the division facts, too (7×8=56 so 56÷7=8) – think about chanting some times tables or buying an app to practise just a few minutes every day to keep your child’s knowledge sharp!
• reading: lots of reading over the holidays will help your child in lots of different ways – visit the local library; take part in our Extreme Reading competition; if you’re going to a theme park or museum, read the leaflet and the website… there are loads of opportunities to build in reading as a daily activity!
• writing: reading will help your child’s spellings and writing style, so don’t force lots of writing, but do try to encourage some useful, purposeful writing – write some postcards to friends and relatives , or send some emails instead, and make lists for what to pack on holiday, or what to buy if planning a sleepover.

Check out this guide about supporting learning, useful whether it’s term-time of holiday time!

Finally, make sure you enjoy the summer break!

11 July 2014

This week’s whole school homework is creative following our themed week, Staying Safe.  It should be returned by Wednesday 16 July.

I know how to stay safe.

Throughout this week, a variety of visitors have worked with classes to deliver key learning about different aspects of safety.  These include:

• water safety (lifeguard – Mr Glass and RNLI)
• scooter training (Mrs Strange)
• bike maintenance (Edinburgh bicycle cooperative)
• skateboarding (sk8 safe)
• trampolining (Roundhay high school)
• food/kitchen safety (school kitchen)
• first aid (British Red Cross)
• e-safety (One day creative)
• road safety (Leeds City Council)
• drug education (dside)
• safety within engineering (Mr McDermott)
• bike security (police)

Alongside these external visitors, children have been learning other aspects of safety within their class.

The creative homework is a great opportunity for your child to demonstrate their learning from this week. They could:

• write a poem
• produce a quiz
• create a comic strip
• produce an information leaflet
• create a crossword
• …or anything else they can think of.