Homework support for parents

Homework in Reception Homework will be available every week to support your child with what they have been learning in mathematics and English during the week or basic skills work will be provided to support your child’s needs. There will also be activities to support basic skills (for example cutting and other fine motor skills). Children will be rewarded for completing homework. Homework can be found in the ‘Parents box’ near the main entrance to reception. Please help yourself to the homework and speak to your child’s teacher for support or further guidance. Reading Children will have the opportunity to choose a homework reading book and a library book. When they are ready to, children will start bringing books home to read to an adult. Encouraging your child to point to the words as they are being read is important. Discussing the story and the characters and asking questions about the book will help with your child’s understanding of language. Children may be at the point where their reading book doesn’t have any words in it therefore they need encouraging to make up the story using the pictures which is also a really important part of a child’s development and will help them later on when they begin to read stories. When children begin to read words they will either be using their phonic skills by decoding or using their sight vocabulary by reading tricky words. Letters and Sounds (phonics) is broken down into six phases. In reception we recap phase 1 where needed and start phase 2. In phase 2, children learn the sounds in a particular order that helps them to read and spell VC (vowel and consonant) and CVC words (consonant, vowel, consonant) like c-a-t, a-t, t-a-p and s-a-t. Children start learning the letters for each sound at the beginning of phase 2. Please check with your child’s teacher which phase they are working on as it is important to consolidate learning before moving to the next phase. Phase 2 and 3 graphemes are below. By the end of phase 3, children have learnt one way to make every sound in the English language. Also, see our Letters and Sounds policy for more information.

Tricky Words Tricky words are called this because your child will not be expected to use their phonic skills to decode them. They are words which should be learnt by recognising them. Regularly practising reading the words, looking out for the words in reading books and playing games with them, will really benefit the child. For some children, it will be useful to practise writing the words as well as reading them. The teachers may send home games to give parents some ideas. It would be useful if these words were practised on a regular basis in the summer holiday before year 1, as well as parents continuing to share books with their child. Tricky word from Letters and Sounds Phase 2 Tricky Words

Letter Formation At the beginning of your child’s first term in Reception the class teacher may provide parents with a sheet to support children with letter formation. This shows where to start and finish when forming each letter and what each letter should look like. Giving children the opportunity to practise forming letters and also developing drawing skills with a variety of different tools is always valuable. The important thing is to watch them and correct any mistakes sensitively, so they don’t fall into bad habits. See how we form letters and numbers at Brooklands below.

How much time should be spent on homework? Reception: Approximately 15 minutes per day (depending upon the child’s stage of development).

Maths homework in reception There are different counting and number skills that children develop during their Reception year. Initially the children are encouraged to say the number names in order. They are then encouraged to count objects, saying a number name for each object and to recognise the numeral. It is very important that children practise these skills as often as possible e.g. counting apples in the fruit bowl, peas on their plate and playing 'I spy number...' when you are out and about.

Homework in Key Stage 1 For children in Key Stage One, we encourage parents to work together with their child to support them with their homework. Year one and two children will be expected to read on a regular basis ensure they complete at least one reading book a week, practise spellings and use their counting and multiplication booklet (see below for more details). Maths is one of our main priorities this year so children will also have either some computer based work such as TT Rockstars or My Maths or some work in a book to consolidate their learning from lessons. What type of work will my child get? Reading Reading on a regular basis is vital when children are in year 1 and 2. Children will bring their reading books home every evening, and the role of the adult is to listen and support them. It is important to remind them to use different strategies to read new words e.g. using their phonics knowledge to sound words out, looking at the pictures and looking for words within words are ways in which the child can read an unknown word. Just as important, is discussing the book to check that the child has understood what they have read. Children will have a reading record which parents/carers should sign and/or comment in each time they read with the child. When your child has completed their reading book they will be able to select their own and should place a spot on their Rainbow Reading bookmark. Children receive a prize each time they complete a bookmark and when the whole class have completed one they get to have a reading picnic! We are teaching our children to use different reading skills. VIPERS stands for each of the reading skills we teach. We have included the types of questions you could ask. Please see below:

Key Stage One reading VIPERS- Example questions for each reading skill.

High Frequency Words/Spellings Children will have daily Letters and Sounds (phonics) lessons throughout Key Stage 1, which will also include ways that children can build up a secure sight vocabulary. It is vital that children build up a bank of words which they can read and spell on sight. Children will bring home some words each week to read and spell. Parents can help children to learn these, by practising them regularly. Children will sometimes receive the same words again in order to practise them further. Children will be given new spellings once a week and be tested on them. Please look on our half termly newsletters for when spellings/homework is given out. Children should have the opportunity to practise their words over the summer holidays to ensure that skills remain embedded and they can make further progress when they come back to school in the autumn term. Letters and Sounds tricky words from phase 2 -5

The tricky words from Letters and Sounds are also within the common exception words for Y1 and 2. Children need to be able to read and spell these. They can be found in the middle of your child’s reading record.

Children will take home spelling each week that match where they are working at within Letters and Sounds. Spelling words will focus on particular sounds, patterns or spelling rules. Children may also bring home personalized spellings which may include the common exception words. Maths homework As a school we are striving to improve children’s basic skills to enable them to apply this to more challenging tasks. This year we have got a focus on children learning their times tables. Each child will bring home with them their very own ‘counting and multiplication tables’ booklet.

Front and back of the booklet Inside of the booklet

Children should take this booklet to and from home as we will be

using them in school too. In Year 1 children should be focussing on

their counting skills and using the inside of the booklet to support

them. Children will need to be able to count forwards without

support to achieve bronze, backwards to achieve silver and count

from any given number for gold e.g. 12, 14, 16, 18. Children will

be assessed at school and highlight the circle/medal at school.

Children will also receive maths homework which is either computer based such a TTRockstars or My Maths or maths work which consolidates learning from lessons.

At the back of the booklet

Homework in Key Stage 2 Reading As above in Key Stage 1. Children should be reading on a regular basis and changing their homework reading book and library book on a regular basis.

Spellings

Children will come home with weekly spellings as they will have done in Key Stage 1. This may come in many different forms such as an investigation, applying them within a sentence or personalised spellings. By the end of Year 4 children should be able to spell all of the Y3/4 words common exception words and by the end of Y6 children should be able to spell the Y5/6 words. Because these words are common exception ones, a good strategy for spelling is to say the letter names as your child is writing the word. The common exception words can be found in the middle of your child’s reading record. Children use this to keep a track of the ones which they can spell and the ones which they know the meaning of. Year 3 and 4 common exception words Year 5 and 6 common exception words

Maths homework As a school we are striving to improve children’s basic skills to enable them to apply this to more challenging tasks. This year we have got a focus on children learning their times tables. Each child will bring home with them their very own ‘Multiplication tables’ booklet. The instructions are on the back of the booklet. Children will be assessed at school and fill in whether they have achieved bronze, silver and gold.

Children will also receive maths homework which is either computer based such a TTRockstars or My Maths or maths work which consolidates learning from lessons.

Front and back cover

Inside of the booklet

What will happen if children don’t complete their homework? The expectation is that children will read, practise spellings, practise times tables/counting and an aspect of maths. However if for any reason children are unable to complete their homework, parents/carers should provide the class teacher with a note or contact the class teacher explaining why the homework has not been completed on the day the homework was due to be returned to school. Teachers will keep records of children completing homework and these records will be checked on a regular basis. A comment will also be made on children’s report. Children can always join the homework club to support them in getting it done. There may be occasions when a child will miss playtime or some of their lunch time if they have not completed homework. What if a child says they have received no homework? If there is any reason why a child has not received homework their teacher will inform parents. If parents have not received a letter/text, then they should check with the child’s teacher.