Home Learning

Our approach to home learning in Early Years 
 

Daily Reading

At Lime Wood Primary School, we value daily reading with your child/ren. When parents/carers read regularly with children in a positive and enjoyable way, it has been proven to benefit children by providing them with comfort and reassurance, confidence and security, build self-esteem, develop vocabulary, feed imagination and even improves their sleeping patterns. Therefore, we will be sending home a balance of books for early readers. These will include:

• a reading practice book matched to the child’s phonic stage that they can read independently
• a sharing book that they can talk about and enjoy with their parent/carer.

Reading practice book:

Teachers will teach the children how to read the book in school, teaching decoding, prosody and comprehension skills to the children. Your child will then bring this book home with them for them to practice reading with parents/carers. Initially, these books may be wordless. We encourage children to look for words that contain a particular sound. They will then develop to being books with words and then sentences. The children should be able to read the practice book with developing confidence and fluency without any significant help. The parent/carer’s role is to listen with interest and, most importantly, to encourage and praise, enthusiastically acknowledging the child’s achievement (even if, at the early stages, this is only small). After the child has read the book, it may be helpful to talk about the book, but only so far as the child is interested. The parent/carer should keep the experience positive and avoid turning it into a test.

Sharing book:

If children are to become lifelong readers, it is essential that they are encouraged to read for pleasure. The desire of wanting to read will help with the skill of reading. To help foster a love of reading, children will take a book home that they can share and enjoy with their parent/carer. These books offer a wealth of opportunities for talking about the pictures and enjoying the story. Parents/carers should not expect their child to read this book independently and should not try to get their child to do so. The book is for the parent/carer to read to or with the child. Again, it is good to talk about the book with the child, but important not to turn the discussion into a test. The goal is enjoyment. 

Phonics

We send out on Showbie a guide to parents each week about which graphemes and words the children will have learnt in school that week.  This can be used for further practice at home. 

Name Writing, Letter Formation and Number Practice

In addition to daily reading, you can support your child by helping them learn to write their name and form numbers and letters. 

Daily Reading

At Lime Wood Primary School, we value daily reading with your child/ren. When parents/carers read regularly with children in a positive and enjoyable way, it has been proven to benefit children by providing them with comfort and reassurance, confidence and security, build self-esteem, develop vocabulary, feed imagination and even improves their sleeping patterns. Therefore, we will be sending home a balance of books for readers. These will include:

• a reading practice book matched to the child’s phonic stage that they can read independently
• a sharing book that they can talk about and enjoy with their parent/carer

Reading practice book:

Teachers will teach the children how to read the book in school, teaching decoding, prosody and comprehension skills to the children throughout the week. Your child will then bring this book home with them for them to practice reading with parents/carers.  The children should be able to read the practice book with developing confidence and fluency without any significant help. The parent/carer’s role is to listen with interest and, most importantly, to encourage and praise, enthusiastically acknowledging the child’s achievement (even if, at the early stages, this is only small). After the child has read the book, it may be helpful to talk about the book, but only so far as the child is interested. The parent/carer should keep the experience positive and avoid turning it into a test.

Sharing book/Reading for Pleasure:

If children are to become lifelong readers, it is essential that they are encouraged to read for pleasure. The desire of wanting to read will help with the skill of reading. To help foster a love of reading, children will take a book home that they can share and enjoy with their parent/carer. Each week your child will select their book of choice from our school library.  These books offer a wealth of opportunities for talking about the pictures, reading together and enjoying the story. Parents/carers should not expect their child to read this book independently and should not try to get their child to do so. The book is for the parent/carer to read to or with the child. Again, it is good to talk about the book with the child, but important not to turn the discussion into a test. The goal is enjoyment.

Phonics

Each week, a guide will be added to Showbie detailing the focus for our phonics learning – this can be found in the Homework folder on Showbie.  

Tricky Words

During Year 1, we will continue to develop the children’s knowledge of tricky words and words that children are expected to know how to read, write and spell in Year 1.  Please support your child at home to learn these.  A good way to build confidence in your child’s knowledge is by asking them to LOOK – COVER – WRITE – CHECK.   A copy can be found on our website also.

For some children –

Letter Formation and Number Practice

In addition to daily reading, you can support your child by helping them to consolidate their letter formations and number formations.

Maths

Each week, questions/challenges and videos will be added to Showbie for children to practice and consolidate their weekly learning at home.  Have a go!

Curriculum – Curiosity Challenges

At the beginning of each term, the children will be given a menu of activities to select from – we ask that a minimum of two are selected across each term.  We would love to see photos and any examples of learning which can all be uploaded to Showbie in the Year 1 Home Learning folder.  Any examples/models can also be handed to the class teacher for sharing.

If any families require printed copies of the home learning instead of access via Showbie, please indicate this in your child's yellow Reading Record book and we will add to your child's book bag each week. 

- Do find a quiet place at home to use as a home learning area. This includes a flat surface, appropriate lighting and equipment e.g., pens, pencils, ruler, scissors, glue.
- Do be aware of modern teaching methods, e.g., in long division.  Take a look at your child's year group tab and look at our calculation progression document. 
- Do plan a home learning timetable and agree on when your child will do their home learning. 
- Do allow your child to have something nutritional to eat before starting on home learning.                                                                      - Do discuss any home learning activities with your child and see how it connects with what they are learning at school.
- Do turn off the TV - but you could have music on if they find it helpful.
- Encourage your child to independently research or look up any unknown topic or word.
- Keep homework fun and make it a special time that you both look forward to.                                                                                  - - - Find a nice, cosy spot to enjoy a good book together!