Homework

We have homework each night which I call Home Learning Time. Your help with this ensures that your child will take off at school and it also gives you an idea of how your child is learning. If you are unsure about anything or worried please don't hesitate to ring me or come in and see me at school so we can get it sorted out. __Reading __ Your child will bring a book home each night and a poem on Fridays. Your child will be able to read this book as they will have read it several times at school and if they have trouble just pause, prompt (to help them) and praise them when they get it right. When prompting you should encourage them to look at the first letter of the word and make the sound, then re-read the sentence and use the pictures to help them, most of the time this should be enough for them to be able to work it out themselves. Reading should be a fun and their way of showing you their reading for the day so chose a time that suits you both and enjoy the experience. __Spelling __ Your child will have a list of emergent words which he or she needs to look at, say, cover and spell. This will help with his/her reading of these basic words in stories and writing the words when writing his/her personal stories at writing time. It would be great if you could spend time on these each night as it really does make a difference. I will put an * beside the words that need to be practiced, this will only be one or two at first and building up over time. I will put a stamp beside each word once it is known and spelt correctly (consistently) and then they will not need to learn this word any more. These do take time to learn and can be a struggle to get them to do it each night, so please be patient and leave it if they are getting tired. __Handwriting __ This is optional but often children want to practice their handwriting at home so they can get better, I am happy for that to be anything you like and as often as they want to (or not). Perhaps their names (first and last), phone number, address, favourite toy, game, programme, shopping lists etc could be good starting points.