Homework

Homework expectations at Latton Green

Reception

• Daily practise of sounds learned during RWI (Read Write Inc) phonic sessions, these are sent home
• Reading to your child or them reading to you once they receive a reading book (linked to RWI sounds)
• Writing their name

KS1-written homework sent home on a Friday and returned by Wednesday

• Reading daily
• Spellings to practise (linked to their RWI sounds) tested on a Wednesday
• Grid choice- choose an activity from either English, maths or topic to complete each week

KS2- written homework sent home on a Friday and returned by Wednesday

• Reading daily
• Spellings to practise (linked to their RWI sounds) tested on a Wednesday
• Grid choice- choose an activity from either English, maths or topic to complete each week
• Maths questions

Year 6

• Additional work will be set in preparation for SATs

Example of a choice grid- changed termly and based around that term’s topic and English texts

Maths

Helping with maths at home.

1. Always be encouraging and never tell children they are wrong when they are working on maths problems. Instead, find the logic in their thinking because there is always some logic to what they say. For example, if your child multiplies three by four and gets seven, say ‘Oh I see what you’re thinking; you’re using what you know about addition to add three and four. When we multiply we have four groups of three.’ 

2. Encourage children to play maths puzzles and games. Award-winning mathematician Sarah Flannery reported that her maths ability and enthusiasm came, not from school, but from the puzzles she was given to solve at home. Puzzles and games or anything with a dice will help children enjoy maths and develop numeracy and logic skills.

3. Never associate maths with speed. It is not important to work quickly, particularly in the younger years, and we now know that forcing children to work quickly in maths is the best way to start making them feel anxious.

4. Never share with your children the idea that you were bad at maths at school or that you dislike it. Researchers found that as soon as parents shared that idea with their children, their achievement went down in school.

5. Encourage number sense. What separates high and low achievers by the end of primary school is number sense, i.e. having an idea of the size of numbers and being able to separate and put numbers together flexibly.

For example, when working out 29 + 56, if you take one from the 56 and make it 30 + 55, it is much easier to work out. The flexibility to work with numbers in this way is what is called number sense and it is very important.

6. Encourage a growth mindset, i.e. the idea that ability and intelligence change as you work and learn more. The opposite to this is a fixed mindset, where the idea is that ability is fixed and you can either do maths or you can’t.

When children have a growth mindset, they do well with challenges and do better in school overall. When children have a fixed mindset and they encounter difficult work, they often conclude that they haven’t got what it takes to do maths.

There tends to be a cultural view that some people can do well in maths and some can’t. Many adults still believe this even though it has been shown to be completely wrong. The good news is that parents can be very powerful in bringing about change by helping their child to develop a growth mindset and the belief that they can achieve by learning from mistakes.

Reading

Children who do the very best at school are read with at home. You can make a huge difference to your child’s learning by hearing your child read as well as reading and telling stories to them. Research shows that this home reading has a big effect on their school learning.

The best readers read regularly and read a wide range of different texts. So, we encourage you to develop your child’s reading by exposing them to reading in lots of different contexts, be this through newspapers, comics, reading menus and signposts, reading online, looking at fiction and non-fiction books and of course regular visits to the library.

Reading with your child should be a special time together, free from distraction and background noise. Try to read to your child as well as finding time for them to read to you. Lots of praise and encouragement is key, particularly for early readers. Try to focus on the words they are reading confidently, rather than just picking up on mistakes. If your child is hesitating with a word, try to encourage them to use different strategies to have a guess before you offer the correct word. They may be able to sound out, use the pictures for clues or think about what would make sense in the context of the sentence.

Home reading expectations

At the beginning of the year, Reception children will bring home a weekly library book. The children have a free choice and they may not always select a book that they can read independently- this is fine, read it to them and enjoy looking at and discussing the pictures. As the year progress, Reception children will begin to bring home reading books linked to their RWI phonics books.

All children in Y1-6 bring home a school reading book. Once they become free readers, they can select books from the library or bring a book from home to read.

It is important that your child reads aloud to you whatever their age, so we encourage you to continue reading regularly together at home, even when they become a free reader.

Sometimes you (or anyone at home) may be asked to be the child’s Lucky Listener. Children will bring home a short piece of text that they are learning to read with fluency and good expression which will be achieved by reading aloud as often as possible.

Children are expected to read at least four times a week at home and will receive a sticker on their sticker chart each time they read at home. Once they have filled their chart (25 stickers) they can choose a gift from the treasure box in the office.