Guest Posted September 19, 2003 Posted September 19, 2003 Hi, Does anybody out there send 'homework' for thier reception class? If so what kind and when? I am about to start sending words home to learn and our school has always sent home some type of Numeracy homework - activites that parent's can complete with thier child. Does anyone else do this and if so do you know of any good ideas sites/books etc??
Guest Posted September 19, 2003 Posted September 19, 2003 Hi Sarah. Sorry I can't answer your question from a teacher's point of view, but as a parent, I can say my son used to come home with reading books as homework to do with his mummy (me). He also had an exercise book which his teacher wrote three words for him to learn on a weekly or fortnightly bases. It worked. I can't remember any maths (he's in year 2 now so I'm trying hard to cast my mind back and no I can't remember any maths homework in reception). Hope that helps a bit.
Guest Posted September 23, 2003 Posted September 23, 2003 Hi, Does anybody out there send 'homework' for thier reception class? If so what kind and when? I am about to start sending words home to learn and our school has always sent home some type of Numeracy homework - activites that parent's can complete with thier child. Does anyone else do this and if so do you know of any good ideas sites/books etc?? I am teaching in nursery at the moment, so I don't always send homework home, but my sisters son brings home handwritng practise letters, which you could get from loads of websites. if you go to DLTK's page you could also get some nice maths ideas good luck
Susan Posted September 23, 2003 Posted September 23, 2003 Hi we try to encourage our parents to be actively involved with their children by suggesting ways in which they can support them, playing games etc to develop skills and knowledge. This term we are sending home curriculum guidance to support the learning in school and we are setting up dedicated bords within our Reception classrooms to support and extend this. I rarely send paper based tasks home- we don't use worksheets in school so its not appropriate at home either. Children do have library books and will have readers later to share. Besides our school budget can't support the paper costs! We are trying to encourage parents to work with their children and hope to set up the Foundation Share programme later in the school year. Meanwhile, I am going to adapt some of those ideas to send home. Most importantly, children need to have time to play with their toys, watch TV and interact successfully within their families etc not become alienated from school by taking it home when they are tired. Featherstones publish some homework materials but they are paperbased but are matched to literacy & numeracy strategies for Reception. If your population is affluent enough ther are lots of preschool websites that you could point them towards. Susan
Guest Posted September 23, 2003 Posted September 23, 2003 Thank you for your replies, i was not planning to send home worksheets as we don't use them in school either i much prefer (and so do the kids) practical hands on activites to all areas of the curriculum and am planning to send home practical hints and tips, ideas etc. that parent's can do with thier child at home which will support our work in school i am just going to try and find this DLTK's website what is the address?? Sarah
Guest Posted October 25, 2003 Posted October 25, 2003 hi hope this is not too late for a reply I teach in a FS unit and maths homework in our setting is simply a short note to parents asking if they can count how many cars they see on the way to school or can they count the people in their house.These are the types of homework questions we hope parents will help with.Sometimes the questions are topic related eg count the cars in your toy box.Who is the tallest/shortest person in your house draw a picture of them Look for number 3 on your way to school on cars on doors,etc hope this helps
Guest Posted October 27, 2003 Posted October 27, 2003 I send home a 'newsletter' each week which tells parents what we have been learning about that week, any news (eg forthcoming trips) and a box at the bottom with ideas for 2/3 activities that the chldren might want to do at home. Parents say it is great because they know what is going on and can reinforce learning at home. I never send worksheets but may ask for children to bring things in for next weeks work. For example, befor a topic on big and little I asked the children to draw around each family member's feet and bring them in so that we could order them. Children loved doing this. The newsletter takes about 30 minutes to write on a Thursday and is a bit of a pain but the rewards are worth it!
Guest Posted October 27, 2003 Posted October 27, 2003 The abacus foudation resources have ideas for activities which children can do at home related to the numeracy topic for the week. I have the book but I know I used to be able to access the plans through the Hamilton website. It does have some really nice ideas and I just type one out and display it on my classroom door or in a window.
Susan Posted October 27, 2003 Posted October 27, 2003 What a good idea Lynette. Unfortunately I don't think my parents would read it but I may give it a try if I can persuade my head to finance the paper costs! We're about to set up information boards in our class rooms, so it'll be interesting to see the response to that too! We sent home curriculum information for the term this year but have had very little reaction to it. Susan
Guest Posted October 28, 2003 Posted October 28, 2003 The teacher I am currently on my teaching practice sends home little books in which she sticks the childrens homework. These have been various things related to the main theme of the week. Last weeks was to go home and look for differnt patterns and colours around their house. All of the ones I have seen seem to be some kind of hunt around the house, or looking out for something in particular. She also sends home sounds book everyday with the nes Jolly Phonics letter in. It works quite well other then the few that never returns the little books, will never see those again. Am not too worried about having to set homework on my teaching pratcice, after seeing how she does it.
Guest Posted October 28, 2003 Posted October 28, 2003 Hi Personally, as a parent and a teacher I find homework for 4/5year olds a bit silly as they are so young and school is a long day. However, reading books, fine and finding things to take in great, but any paper based tasks I have o ask the question Why? Sorry, a it controversial this and I don't mean to offend anyone who does send stuff home, but I think we are under too much presure from higher authority to produce children who can perform to targets and achieve their goals. Whatever happened to letting children be children??
Susan Posted October 28, 2003 Posted October 28, 2003 Hi Kate, couldn't agree with you more really but when you told you send homework, you have to be seen to be doing so! My Head would not agree with paper tasks but verbal messages are not listened to, if it goes home at all! I certainly haven't got time to write in or stick papers into 30 homework books so thats a no go. I have managed to get agreement that the home school liason book was inappropriate & as far as I'm aware that seems to have disappeared elsewhere too! The majority of our families are EAL but almost without exception seem to favour homework and by that they mean something for the child to do that will not involve them!! I always tell parents at the first parents evening that the homework is to enjoy being 4 & 5 and do all the things 4 & 5 year olds like to do. Many look surprised but never had aby objections! Susan
Steve Posted October 28, 2003 Posted October 28, 2003 almost without exception seem to favour homework and by that they mean something for the child to do that will not involve them!! That's very funny Susan! You could perhaps point them in the direction of this news item: supportive parents aid childrens' development - it might convince them?
Guest Posted February 7, 2010 Posted February 7, 2010 Hi I am a Reception Class Teacher and I send a Phonics Homework book home. It is not compulsory, but lets parents know which sounds we are working on each week. I just stick the Jolly Phonics worksheets that correspond with our Phonics for the week. Every half term I send a letter outlining the next term's topic, with a few worksheets eg handwriting formation, number formation, Reception Keywords, phonics phrases to read. Children have an Oxford Reading Tree reading book, every night, and words to learn for that scheme Lis x
Marion Posted February 7, 2010 Posted February 7, 2010 I used to send "Talk Homework" on a subject we would discuss the following week My favourite holiday My ideal pet If I could be anyone I would like to be ... the idea was that parents and children spent a few minutes discussing the topic and the child could share what they had talked about with the rest of the class.
Guest Posted February 7, 2010 Posted February 7, 2010 Hi we send out talk homework out on a friday, the children also have sound books and reading books with their tricky word keyring x x x but i do agree after a day they do need to rest poor little things x x x
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