HOME LEARNING

Our school policy is that children do home learning on school nights. This helps to develop the self-discipline needed as your child progresses through the education system. This type of learning is consolidation, research or an opportunity for extension if the child wishes it.

Tasks will vary from room to room and parents will be made aware of expectations.

If your child is having difficulty with set homework or it seems to be taking too long, please note the problem in the homework book for the child to bring it to school. However, if real tensions arise it is better that the work be left and sorted with the teacher the following day. Staff do not expect parents to find the child’s homework a chore.

Mondays - Thursdays

Each week it is expected that your child will complete some home learning. This is to support what they are working on in class. It is a great way to connect with your child’s learning and to see their progress across the year. 

Remember home and school are a partnership so keep it positive with your child and if it is taking longer than 15 minutes then stop and discuss with your child’s teacher as they may have some tips to help at home or they may need to adjust what is coming home.

Below is an outline of what you can expect. 

Kōrito - 10 - 15 minutes daily

Spelling words. 

Your child will have a list of between 1 and 10 words. These words are a mix of the sound / spelling pattern they are working on in literacy and some ‘heart words’ (the words they can’t sound out but need to know). Children should write these out each day and READ them each day.

Handwriting is not important here as this takes away from the task so please don’t focus too much on the handwriting here.

Sounds:

Your child should have a series of sound sheets in their home learning folder that are related to the stage they are working on in literacy. Each page should be done each day. The first page is more of a ‘how to’ to assist parents in supporting their child. There are QR codes available on the sheet to help you make the correct sound (you may have learnt them differently) and some examples of splitting and blending. For the splitting and blending sheet - just do a few words each day rather than the whole sheet. Perhaps let your child choose and if they do it correctly then they could colour it in that way they can see their progress too.

For the heart words, read them with your child and please don’t have them sound them out. They need to just know these words as many of them have spelling or sound patterns they have not yet learnt.

Books:

Your child will bring home books when they are ready for these. I will talk you through these when they come home.

Basic Facts:

The emphasis is on quality rather than quantity. Aim to complete one column a night - and check in on your child while they are doing so the task remains positive. For those needing a wee boost, use buttons, fingers, lego - anything they can use to group and count!

Once they are getting faster, have them continue to use their fingers but behind their backs (this encourages them to ‘see’ the problem in their heads).

The aim of basic facts is that they become instant and no fingers or ‘think time’ are needed. These form the base for all of mathematics so we don’t move them on until they are instant. These are done at school daily as well.

More-Tī

All home learning tasks given to students are purposeful and follow on from their daily learning at school. Students MAY choose to work on a passion project at home and share this with the class - this may include researching a topic, building something from materials found at home, experimenting with science ect. Please note that this is NOT COMPULSORY!

Reading:

Your child will be bringing home a range of reading materials this year from books, journals, articles or even photocopied stories. Please check in with your child and ensure they are reading for a minimum of 15 minutes each day. Parents are required to complete and sign the reading log for students in Year 4 and 5, Year 6 students have the privilege of completing and signing this for themselves. 

Spelling:

Students will have 10 spelling words to practice each week. These are linked with the spelling pattern that is being taught in their Structured Literacy group. They are to write the words once a night, and this is recorded on the back of their home learning page. There may be additional tasks across the year such as making sentences and finding dictionary meanings. These spelling words will be tested on a Friday in class.

Basic Facts:

All students will receive a basic facts page that has 6 blocks of 10 questions each. Students should be timed to aim to complete one block of questions in 30 seconds. This is to build fluency when answering the questions. Students may only be getting through some questions which is fine however they will notice this increase the more that they practice them.