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Policy for Homework
and
Reading Brochure
English
The most important way of helping children at home is with the acquisition of language skills. Regular conversation and sharing of books is the best way to increase language development. Once they can already read, most children have far more time to read at home than they do within school, and it is vital that this habit is encouraged. Help with writing, spelling and vocabulary activities at home is also extremely beneficial. Spellings are sent home regularly from Year 2 onwards and are based on Literacy Strategy lists. The school’s reading brochure gives lots of suggestions about how you can help your child with reading and writing at home.
Mathematics
In order to reinforce what we are doing at school and to develop children’s confidence in maths, we will be sending home activities for the children to complete with your support and guidance. The activities should be self-explanatory and most should contain examples explaining how to go about solving/completing them but, if you are in any way unsure, please contact your child’s teacher for help or guidance. In some instances the way in which your child has been taught to tackle a mathematical task may differ from the way in which you have been taught. Always think carefully before attempting to show your child an alternative method for solving a problem - it may only serve to confuse them. Tables are sent home regularly from Year 3 onwards.
Other Work
In addition to learning lists of spellings and tables, older children may, occasionally, be asked to do other activities at home such as research, reading in preparation for lessons, preparing oral presentations etc. The purpose of such activities is to reinforce what is being taught in school or, in some instances, to begin an activity that will be developed by the teacher.
Again, if you have any queries, please feel free to contact your child’s teacher.
What You Should Expect At Foundation Stage (Early Years & Reception)
Children will bring home reading books plus key words on a regular basis. They should be sharing these with an adult on daily basis.
What You Should Expect At Key Stage 1 (Years 1 & 2)
Your child should be bringing home a school reading book and their reading liaison book nightly.
Children at Key Stage 1 should be sharing their reading book with an adult on a daily basis (see Reading Brochure for details). Constructive comments about how you feel your child is progressing should be recorded in their liaison book.
Children in Year 2 will be bringing home lists of spellings on a weekly basis.
What You Should Expect At Key Stage 2 (Years 3 to 6)
Your child should be bringing home a school reading book nightly, together with their homework diary.
Children at Key Stage 2 should be reading at home every day for a minimum of 20 to 30 mins (see overleaf).
All children, even in Year 6, should be heard to read at home regularly (see overleaf).
Children need to have access to a wide range of books to increase their knowledge and choices - regular visits to the County Library are particularly helpful. We are often happy for children to read their library books in school.
Children will be asked to learn a list of spellings weekly.
Maths activities will be sent home on a weekly basis
Times tables will be sent home to learn at regular intervals.
Your child’s homework diary will contain the activities that we would like them to tackle/complete. Please ensure that you check it daily and return it to school EVERY day. It should be signed on a weekly basis.
For Years 3 & 4
A minimum of 20 minutes reading per night (3 times a week reading aloud to a parent/adult),
12-16 spellings per week, a maths sheet and/or tables (10x, 5x, 2x, 4x and 3x in that order for Year 3 children plus 6x for Year 4 children).
Homework at this stage should be about 30 minutes per night.
For Years 5 & 6
A minimum of 30 minutes reading per night (once a week reading aloud to a parent/adult),
20 spellings per week, a maths activity sheet and tables.
Other work will be sent home, as appropriate.
Homework at this stage should be about 45 minutes per night.
We hope this information is helpful and makes our policy clear. May we stress that the aim of these activities is to support the children’s learning and your assistance is vital, both from the point of view of the help that you can provided for your child and the message that it conveys about the importance you attach to learning.
Reading For 4—7 Year Olds
Learning To Read
Learning to read is one of the most important aspects of the early years at school. Children themselves want to learn to read. An enjoyment of books should be central at this stage, creating a firm foundation for reading throughout their school career and later life.
Working With The School
Everyone at Wyburns welcomes the partnership with parents, grandparents and siblings, so never be afraid to -
Ask your child’s teacher for further information or suggestions. Our aim is that you understand what the school is trying to do, hopefully this will prevent your child from getting confused.
Talk to your child’s teacher about any worries your child might have related to reading. Alternatively, it if is easier, write a note in the Home/School Book. Confidence at this stage will provide a good basis for your child’s reading throughout the school.
Helping Your Child At Home
Continue to read to your child and to share books, just as you did in the pre-school years. Reading aloud to your child daily promotes characterisation and atmosphere and meaning in your voice. Children will often then duplicate the way you have read it and internalise the skills.
On walks or car journeys, point to road signs and notices to make your child aware of the importance of reading.
Show how much you value reading by making sure that your child sometimes sees you read your own books, magazines and newspapers, etc.
Share the books your child brings home from school with enthusiasm. If your child thinks you’re not enjoying a book, then the motivation to read may disappear.
Help reinforce what the school is teaching children about caring for books. Return books to school regularly with your comments.
Encourage book ownership. A child’s book collection is important, something to be treasured.
Visit the local library. See what’s available: books, tapes, CDs, etc.
Listening To Your Child
The staff at Wyburns recognise how valuable all adults can be in this respect and so hope that parents, grandparents and other adults will listen to their children read regularly at home.
It need only take five or ten minutes each day and should be a relaxed and enjoyable time for you both.
Making The Most Of Hearing Your Child Read
Choose a time when you both want to read and your child is not too tired. Sit somewhere comfortable, where your child can concentrate.
Discuss the cover of the book. Ask what the book might be about. If the book is one your child has already started, ask what has happened so far. Cover the words in the early stages and tell the story through the pictures first.
Encourage your child to use the pictures as a clue to unknown words in the early stages of reading.
From time to time, encourage your child’s comments, details of illustrations, what they think might happen next.
Short spells of reading are the most valuable. If either of you find yourself becoming irritated or impatient, then STOP. When reading longer books, you don’t have to finish it in an evening.
If the book proves too difficult (ie more than one word in ten of the words are not known) read aloud together and then let your child’s teacher know.
When your child makes a mistake, wait to see if they correct it after a few more words before you point it out.
When your child comes to an unknown word, wait four or five seconds to give them a chance to work it out.
After reading, take a while to talk about it, to make sure that your child has understood, eg Which bit did you like best? Why?
Praise and encourage all your child’s efforts. They need all the encouragement they can get. Telling a child they can’t read can destroy their confidence and enthusiasm.
Accept that your child may enjoy reading comics, football programmes, etc. but encourage wider reading of factual books, poetry, etc.
Encourage your child to read books about their interests, eg football, ballet etc. then branch out from that.
Re-reading favourite reading books, library books and books of their own isn’t a crime! It helps to develop confidence and reinforces key words.
Reading For 7—11 Year Olds
Building On Early Reading Skills
From seven to eleven, in the KS2 phase of education, your child will be building on what they have learned in their first few years at school. At Wyburns, our aim is to extend and consolidate every child’s reading skills. We do this progressively from Year 3 to Year 6. The children begin:
tackling longer books, building up their reading stamina;
reading and responding to more demanding and sophisticated books with more complicated storylines or subject matter;
Developing their research skills in order to use more advanced information books for their classwork.
Even though we hope that children at this stage are reading reasonably well by themselves, children still need support from their parents.
Working With The School
Everyone at Wyburns welcomes the partnership with parents, grandparents and siblings, so never be afraid to -
Ask your child’s teacher for further information or suggestions. Our aim is that you understand what the school is trying to do, hopefully this will prevent your child from getting confused.
Talk to your child’s teacher if you have any worries or concerns about your child’s reading.
Supporting Reading At Home
Finding time and motivation for reading is difficult for some children, on the other hand, some children never seem to have their noses out of a book! What you can do:
continue to read aloud to your child, showing that you still value this special time together. This enables your child to experience and enjoy books which are still too demanding to tackle alone. It allows your child to experience more sophisticated language and use of words. Try to read a range of things to your child.
Encourage your child to have a regular time for reading, eg bedtime. This will give them the opportunity to build up independent reading stamina.
Encourage book ownership. A child’s own book collection is important, something to be treasured.
Support membership of the local library. Make visits on a regular basis, look together at the books, tapes, etc. available and at how the books are organised there.
Accept that your child may be enjoying reading comics, football programmes, etc. but encourage wider reading through the points above.
Encourage your child to read books about their interests, eg. Football, ballet, etc. then branch out from there.
Use audio and video tapes (and CDs and CD ROMs) as a stimulus.
Make The Most Of Hearing Your Child Read
Choose a time when both of you want to read, somewhere where your child can concentrate.
Discuss the book cover and what it might be about. If it is a book your child has already started, ask what has happened so far.
If the book is too difficult, share it or sensitively take over the reading yourself.
When your child comes to an unknown word, wait four or five seconds before you say what it is.
After reading, praise your child’s efforts and talk about what has been read.
Don’t put your child under unnecessary pressure to reach a certain level. Encouragement and fun are both key factors to successful reading.
And finally,
encourage reading to be FUN
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