Homework in the Raleigh Federation

Why should children do homework? It is a government requirement that schools issue homework. Children benefit from regular opportunities to consolidate their learning. Particularly through daily reading and playing with number facts. Children learn best when they are supported by an adult who cares about them and whom they trust. Family members are therefore ideally placed to support them in their learning. The home offers the opportunity for further 1:1 time with an adult.

Recommended Time Allocation Homework should never be too onerous nor should it ever create stress within the pupil’s family. If parents have any concerns they should not hesitate to contact the school. Normally, more than one day will be allowed for the completion of a homework task, except where daily practice is to be encouraged e.g. reading, spelling and times tables. Government Recommendations as appropriate time allocations for homework activities. Years 1 and hour per week Years 3 and hours per week Years 5 and minutes per day

The Role of Parents and Carers. How can you support your child? Provide a suitable place and time for your child to carry out their homework where they can concentrate and be supported. Make it clear that you value homework and support the school by explaining how it can help their learning. To become actively involved and support your child with homework activities. Encourage and praise your child when they have completed their homework.

How can you support your child? Find the best times and places to do homework. It doesn’t all have to be done in one go. Popular times for reading are just after the evening meal, before bathtime, 15 minutes in the morning before you leave for school. In the park after a run around. Whatever works best for you and your child. Talk to your class teacher (or write a note) if you are having difficulties.

Why is it important to hear your child read daily? Children need regular opportunities to read and learn sight words and apply their phonic knowledge in order to build fluency when decoding. They need regular opportunities to discuss the books they are reading to build comprehension skills and enjoyment of their reading. Little and often builds reading muscles and in turn builds self esteem. The support and interest of a loving family member helps to model good reading techniques and skills. Confident readers are able to access the curriculum more independently and this encourages a thirst for learning.

What does good homework look like in years 2 and 3? We would like children to read daily to an adult. To practice number facts such as number bonds, times tables and to use maths in practical contexts such as cooking or making things. To write for a meaning. That is to be motivated to want to write for a real purpose. This might be to explain something they have tried out, to record information they have researched or to share original and creative writing. To practice spellings.

Building number knowledge Number is all around us and you can help by encouraging children to use their numeracy skills in practical contexts. They might help work out your change at the shops, measure ingredients when cooking, use measuring tapes and rulers accurately when making things or work out how long it is until their friends arrive to play. You can also practice learning number facts off by heart eg = 20, help them to see the connections between that and = 10 or = 100. Times tables are often learnt by rote but you can also write individual tricky ones around the house. Playing board games reinforces number confidence.

The answer is …. This week I would like you to practise making different numbers in as many different ways as you can. The answer is 7, how could you make this? 1+6, 2+5, 3+4, 10-3, 12-5, 1x7, 14÷2, 35÷5 etc. Try this with as many different numbers as you can, but stick to numbers below 20. The Big Challenge – try numbers bigger than 20. Remember, my challenge is a two minute a day challenge! Counting We need to practise counting in 3’s, 4’s, 6’s and 8’s. We can use fingers to support our counting and as a means to calculate how many 4’s in 32, how many 8’s in 40 etc. How quickly can you count forwards to 10 times 3, 4, 6 or 8? The Big Challenge – can you count backwards? Year 3 had fun this week with half the children counting forwards in 4’s whilst the other half counted backwards! Remember, my challenge is a two minute a day challenge! Telling the time We need to be able to use an analogue clock – one with hands – to tell the time. Most children can tell the time to o’clock, half past and quarter to and quarter past. We can all count around the clock in 5 minutes. Try to look at a clock and say what the time is at any point in the day. The Big Challenge – what time would it be if the clock you look at is 10 minutes fast or slow? Remember, my challenge is a two minute a day challenge!

Learning spellings and writing We all learn best when we are actively engaged. There are lots of different ways to learn things. You can help your child best if you let them try a range of different ways and if one of them works particularly well remind them to use it. A fun activity to help to visualise spellings is to create the word using small objects such as lego, pasta, drawing the word in sand, flour or even something more gloopy like custard and jam! Writing the word several times helps to build muscle memory which will aid the children to write the words fluently. Breaking the word down to look at the phonic patterns may also help. Spell the word out orally or make up a little rap or a dance movement to remember the letters. Use a mnemonic such as the famous ‘big elephants can’t always use small exits’ to spell because.

Topic or curriculum connections We may also set some homework which is related to our topic. This may be pre-learning where we ask children to go away and find out about something such as ‘dinosaurs’ or to write down questions they have about a topic. This gives them time to think about it more deeply and also to share their interests with family members. If you have something to contribute such as you have a historical story or artefact or are an expert in a particular field and could come in and talk to the children please let us know. This is very powerful for the child to bring in knowledge or people from home.

Teacher’s Role We will set homework which is appropriate and relevant to the child. We will share the homework with the children in class before it goes home. Ensuring that they understand the task. We will try to make it manageable and flexible enough to fit in with the demands of family life. If you need specific resources we will provide them or give you more time to complete. We will give prompt and timely feedback to the children either directly when the bring it in (if enthusiasm demands it) or more usually through written feedback in their books. We will understand if a busy family weekend makes it difficult to complete on occasions. We will support you if your child is resistant to doing homework by rewarding them in class for efforts made.

And finally but most importantly …. The goal is to support the children in their learning and help to build a positive independent approach to learning. Talk to us if you find yourself in a battle. Do enjoy the opportunity for extra quality time with your child. Our goal is happy, independent, enthusiastic learners and happy stress free families!