INTRODUCTION

This year we will work hard in class. This will include improving

– writing and presentation,

– reading and comprehension and

– maths; computation, tables and problem solving.

When the children work to the best of their ability at school, I don’t like to give the children too much homework.

If the weather is kind I’m sure you agree that it is preferable for them to be outdoors, getting some fresh air and exercise. In this way they have a balance in their lives.

That said, it will be very unusual if your child comes home and says that they have no homework. This is because I would like them to read every single day at home. I can’t recommend this highly enough. Reading assists your child’s language development and their writing style. It also helps your child with their spellings.

To my mind reading homework and number patterns/tables are the most important part of the homework at this time in your child’s school career.

READING HOMEWORK

This first week we will be doing ‘free choice’ reading from the school library.  There will be some reading of comprehension texts from ‘Away With Words’.

This will be followed by ‘paired reading’, with which you are familiar with by now. Homework may involve reading the class readers. Later in the year we will be reading a variety of ‘real books’.

Reading Independently

We are working towards your child becoming a fluent and independent reader with excellent comprehension skills. When that happens your child is more likely to be bringing home a ‘real’ book than the class reader. To help your child become an independent reader, I also recommend that as well as reading ‘homework’ your child should have a period for reading built into their timetable, perhaps the twenty or thirty minutes before ‘lights out’. I know this is a tradition in many homes already.

Even when your child is an independent reader, it is beneficial to spend some time reading with them. I still read with my fourteen year old. Reading the first chapter of a more challenging book with your child motivates and encourages children. It sets them up for continuing with the book. He or she come to associate these good times and closeness with a parent with books and reading.

Spellings

Initially spellings will be from the Dolch List. Plan for Learning Spelling 2nd Class 2012

MATHS

For the time being the maths homework will be from the Mental Maths book. I will be sending home tables as homework from the end of the month. This is because I want to make a good start on them at school, before sending them home. As is good practice initially we will be revising last year’s tables.

EXTRA HOMEWORK

Sometimes your child will be asked to finish something they didn’t get finished in school. This will be clearly marked by me. Hopefully getting extra homework like this will motivate your child to finish work in school. I have also found a small amount extra homework effective when a child is misbehaving repeatedly. Where this would happen the reason for extra homework will be clearly marked in the homework notebook.

TIME

Children have different ways of working. Some have a longer attention span than others. Some are perfectionists and take great care in the presentation of their work. From experience I know that I can set homework that I would expect to take twenty minutes, and that for some it would take ten minutes and for others up to an hour. If you feel your child has worked to the best of their ability and the homework is taking longer than it should, please mark how long it took, sign this and allow your child to stop. I would suggest that in second, homework take between twenty and thirty minutes. Reading and memory work, especially tables are the priority. The written work is less important.

If the homework is taking significantly less than this, please note this in the homework notebook. Check that your child’s presentation of their work is all that it should be.  I can take it from there. For example if this is true of the whole of the class, I can give more homework. If it is just some individuals I can make suggestions as to how they might use the remaining time.

FINALLY

It is my intention that the homework is fairly predictable initially. Our aim should be to have the children able to work on homework independently. That is what I am working towards, though I do realise some children are doing this already. As the year progresses, and certainly by the last term, I intend that the children would do project work at home, but first I want to ensure that we have the second class curriculum in Maths and English covered.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CO-OPERATION & SUPPORT FROM HOME.