First Class – If you would like to supplement your child’s homework.

Lost in Thought Patrick Henry via Compfight

1. If you haven’t already, join the local library and visit it weekly.

2. Try an activity from the webmix for 1st class (see below).

In particular there are lots of Maths games on it. (There is some science too).

3. Try games such as scrabble, draughts, chess,

Monopoly and card games

4. Perhaps start an ‘extra work’ copybook.

In it you could …

5. Write a book review or a film review.

What was it? What happened in it?

Was it enjoyable?

What mark would you give it out of 10? Why?

6. Make a bookmark for your favourite book

or the most recent book that you have read.

7. Make a card or write a letter

to a family member or friend.

8. Beginning with the letter ‘A” list in alphabetical order

as many names you can think of.

(Other lists can include: places, animals, foods, sports,

hobbies, jobs people have, things you would find in school,

in the kitchen etc.)

9. Write a story or poem.

10. Compose tune. Write the words to this song.

11. Write down all the things you are good at.

12. Describe how to play your favourite sport.

13. Write down 5 facts about something that interests you.

14. Listen to some music and draw what you see.

15. List as many adjectives or describing words that

you can think of to describe yourself

16. Describe yourself for an alien. Can you write a story about meeting an alien.

17. Who is the person you would most like to meet?

What would you like to ask this person?

18. Design a useful invention.

19. List all the verbs (doing/action activities) you will do today.

20. Paint how you are feeling using colours.

21. What would you do with 3 wishes?

22. Invent your own super hero. Describe and illustrate. Can you put him in a story. What happens? Who needs rescuing? What happens in the end?

Supplementary Homework in Maths

Here are a dozen links to Maths Activities

that you might like to try:

 

Many of these games were sourced from 

Maths Primary National Strategy – Maths Activities

This is easy; practising ‘counting on’ with 

Online ‘Snakes and Ladders’

Snakes and Ladders
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: John Johnston via Compfight

As an alternative to the

Balloon Popping Game to practice tables,

you can practice addition tables on Circus Climber

 

This activity teaches about Data

 

These are more challenging:

Practising computation with

Swimming Lengths

Long Jump

 

Measurement;

Reading measure with Javelin Throwing

 

Measuring angles;

estimating or using an online protractor with Sailing

 

Practicing Addition using ‘Who Wants To Be A Mathionaire?’

 

This is a more challenging game;

 ‘Who Wants to Be A Mathonaire?’

Mastermind
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Steve Berry via Compfight

Like the game Mastermind this is an online game

called Code Breaker

Here is another version from Creativity Games.net

My child is not getting enough homework. What should I do?

Those of you with older children know

how the amount of homework

will build up over their years at school,

but if you feel your child

needs more of a challenge, 

here are some suggestions:

1. If you haven’t already, join the local library

and visit it weekly.

2. On this blog click on the link for ‘Educational Websites’

at the top of the page.

3. Try games such as scrabble, draughts, chess,

Monopoly and card games

4. Perhaps start an ‘extra work’ copybook.

I would be very interested any extra work done

and if your child brings these in will correct them.  

In this copy you could try some of the following:

5. Write a book review or a film review.

What was it? What happened in it?

Was it enjoyable?

What mark would you give it out of 10? Why?

6. Make a bookmark for your favourite book

or the most recent book that you have read.

7. Make a card or write a letter

to a family member or friend.

8. Beginning with the letter ‘A”

list in alphabetical order

as many names you can think of.

(Other lists can include: places, animals, foods, sports,

past times, jobs people have, things you would find in school,

in the kitchen etc.)

9. Write a story or poem.

10. Compose tune. Write the words to this song.

11. Write down all the things you are good at.

12. Describe how to play your favourite sport.

13. Write down 5 facts about something that interests you.

14. Listen to some music and draw what you see.

15. List as many adjectives or describing words that

you can think of to describe yourself

16. Describe yourself for an alien.

17. Who is the person you would most like to meet?

What would you like to ask this person?

18. Design a useful invention.

19. Draw yourself as a cartoon character.

20. Make up to quiz questions you know the answer to

and write them down.

Bring them into school and we will have a quiz.

21. List all the verbs (doing/action activities) you will do today.

22. Paint how you are feeling using colours.

23. What would you do with 3 wishes?

24. Invent your own super hero. Describe and illustrate.

If none of these appeal to you,

read or

read or ….

then again

…. read  🙂

 

Future bookworm
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: talkingplant via Compfight

Finally; some food for thought:

The following link tells the story of a school

that abolished homework and had the children read instead!

The School That Abolished Homework … and asked children TO READ instead.

It would seem to have had a positive effect.

Just a quick note about spelling for homework

Dear Parent,

1. First Teacher Pre Tests

We are starting with the Dolch List

of most frequently used words.

I am pretesting the children,

so that time is not taken up with spellings they already know.

I have stapled the Dolch List

into the Spelling/Free Writing copy.

 

I am also sending home an enlarged copy

of  list of the Dolch List  home.

You might find it useful to pop it up on a wall

somewhere at home.

 

Dolch List

I would suggest that the class levels at the top of this page

e.g. Pre Primer/2nd Grade are certainly American

and probably date back to the last century

when it was compiled by Dolch himself.

I don’t think it has any relevance to us.

2. Then she highlights the ones that need to be learnt

I have marked the misspellings from the pretests

on the photocopied page with a yellow highlighter.

I would like your child to learn five a night.

When they know them I would like them

to put them in sentences.

 

3. Then the children learn them

Understandably children often ask me

can they put their five spellings in just one sentence.

I would prefer them to write five sentences.

 

One sentence for each spelling helps practice punctuation

i.e. remembering that sentences begin with capital letters

and end in a full stop.

Also putting five random words in one sentence

can result in some very random sentences.

 

I would like the children to work

on the quality of the sentences they write

when they are practicing their spellings

and so avoid very simple sentences

like ‘I am funny,’ ’Where am I?’ or  ‘I am here’.

 

A post about developing the quality

of these sentences will follow shortly.

When a child completes the Dolch List

they can do ‘free writing’ at this time instead,

for a period of time.

 

Reading the ‘free writing’

will be a good starting point for me

for establishing words

that are frequently spelled incorrectly.

 

These are the words that we will work

on when we have finished working on the Dolch List.

 

Spelling Homework in a nutshell:

Learn five of the highlighted spellings a night.

Use the approach to learning spelling

that you were taught last year

i.e. Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check.

When you are confident that you know the five spellings

write five sentences using each one.

Remember capital letters and full stops.

Good penmanship and presentation is also important.

 

Other homework this week:

The other homework this week is Mental Maths as marked

and reading one comprehension piece from

‘A Way With Words’

 

Further information:

Scroll down this link for additional information

about a year’s plan for spelling here:

Class Plan for Learning Spelling 2012

When planning for spelling this year

I came across this very helpful blog:

Johanna Stirling’s ‘The Spelling Blog’

Thanking you, Teacher

 

And to finish:

a quote from Terry Pratchett:

 

“Nanny Ogg knew how to start spelling ‘banana’,

but didn’t know how you stopped.”

– Terry Pratchett, ‘Witches Abroad’

 

I found spellings hard at school and remember the feeling well 🙂

Reading ‘The Snow Spider’ by Jenny Nimmo

As part of their homework, the children are asked to read four pages a night of their new class novel; ‘The Snow Spider’.

If possible an adult should do this with them, reading every second page.

In this way children ‘model’ their reading on that of the adult, attending to expression and punctuation.

‘The Snow Spider’ is a challenging novel. It may help the children to see extracts from the 1988 ITV dramatisation.

Link to view Snow Spider Part 1

Please don’t leave your child to watch You Tube unattended 🙂

The internet is a portal to the world outside. Children should be supervised.

Good Mums in the Animal Kingdom

Good Mums in the Animal Kingdom.

 

Our Mums gives us food we like to eat.

A mother swan finds tender shoots that are easy for her babies to swallow.

 

Your mother loves to play games with you.

A mother cheetah plays a game to show her cubs how to hunt.

 

If a mother has to leave her baby, she chooses someone she can trust.

Mother giraffes help one another by looking after each other’s babies.

 

A mother’s voice is special. Babies always know their mother’s voice.

 

A mother dolphin makes a clicking sound. Her baby knows to follow it from the moment he’s born.

 

Mothers carry their babies close to them to keep them safe.

A mother orang-utan carries her baby for more than two years. Luckily her arms are strong and powerful.

 


We are growing peas. The little shoots have just sprouted.

If you wish to supplement homework given …

My priority this month is tables and reading and maintaining the ‘homework habit.’

Those of you with older children know how the amount of homework will build up over their years at school. However if you feel your child needs more of a challenge, here are some suggestions.

– If you haven’t already, join the local library and visit it weekly. Particularly in these recessionary times, the library is a wonderful service.

– On the internet kidsclick.com lists a wide range of sites. Click on
kids.org for games that help with maths and language

– Try games such as scrabble, draughts, chess, Monopoly, card games
– Here are some other ideas. I have tried to come up with a range of ideas that would address the different types of intelligences that individuals have.

1. Write a book review or a film review. What was it? What happened in it? Was it enjoyable? What mark would you give it out of 10? Why?
2. Make a bookmark.
3. Make a card or write a letter to a family member or friend.
4. Beginning with “A” list in alphabetical order as many names you can think of. (Other lists can include: places, animals, foods, sports, past times, jobs people have, things you would find in school, in the kitchen)
5. Write a story or poem.
6. Compose a tune. Write the words to the tune.
7. Write down all the things you are good at.
8. Describe how to play your favourite sport.
9. Write down 5 facts about something that interests you.
10. Listen to some music and draw what you see.
11. List as many adjectives you can think of to describe yourself
12. Describe yourself for an alien.
13. Who is the person you would most like to meet? What would you like to ask this person?
14. Design a useful invention.
15. Draw yourself as a cartoon character.
16. Make up 10 quiz questions you know the answer to and write them down. Bring them into school and we will have a quiz.
17. List all the verbs (doing/action activities) you will do today.
18. Paint how you are feeling using colours.
19. What would you do with 3 wishes?
20. Invent your own super hero. Describe and illustrate.

If your child does any of these and brings these in I would love to see them.

On this blog you can also find age appropriate educational websites that you and your child may find of interest. To access them put the keywords ‘Educational Websites’ in the search facility or follow this link
Websites to Supplement Homework

Maths – Simple Computation: Addition & Subtraction in Second Class.

Maths – simple computation: addition/subtraction in Second Class

If you feel the need to supplement homework, these are some suggestions.

Learning simple computation (addition/subtraction tables to 10+10) really benefits the student in second class. Because when they go on to learn how to add tens and units with renaming they can concentrate on this new methodology because the addition and subtraction come easy to them.

We will be doing this in class. These websites may help you help your child.

The first  is an addition speed test.

http://www.mrmyers.org/Math_Mania/ttadd.html

http://www.ohio-distinctive.com/toybox/mathbarge/mathbarge.html

In preparation for adding tens and units with renaming, this game might be useful.

http://www.ictgames.com/sharknumbers.html

This is a good site for practicing number facts and computation:

TUTPUP.COM

Finally this site has games that practice addition and take aways at speed.

SKILL BUILDERS

Finally following a recent recommendation I will be using the following site in class.

Problem Solving with Thinking Blocks

The Thinking Blocks website teaches a visual strategy for problem solving.

Hope you find these helpful.

Teacher