Homework for YR3 - quantity/quality?

[Melaniefhappy]

Hi

I know homework seems to be a contentious issue on MN, but wondered if any of you would be kind enough to share the following with me so I can understand what is 'normal or usual' for this age group. My DD gets HW twice a month, literacy only, no spellings and no work sheets (Head doesn't believe in either). What is everyone else out there used to?

How often do you get homework? Bi monthly, weekly?

Do you get spelling tests?

Do you get work sheets for numeracy or just asked 'to learn times tables'?

Where are you based in the country?

Many thanks for your help.

DS in Yr3 gets weekly spellings, one maths sheet a week.
Literacy or project sheet or activity about once every 3 weeks.
Time tables to be learnt as and when. Then I listen to his reading / check comprehension daily.
Seems about right to me.

Do you think it is too much/little??

DS gets a literacy and numeracy sheet each week. He also has spellings every week and brings home a times table that he has to learn. There will also often be an additional piece of random "topic" type work. As I don't think a 7 year old should have any homewirk, this is way too much IMO.

Hi

Would love pinktortoise's rations!

We moved schools due to moving home, from an academic one (which was, and still is, awful at bullying) to a non academic one (which is great at manners, behaviour and arts and crafts). A balance of both would have been perfect!

Ealingkate: I feel the Head should at least listen to what other schools offer in terms of homework- and why. I see lots of children with maths work sheets from other schools (friends' kids) and wonder why ours don't deserve the same access to learning. In short, we don't do enough homework which consolidates learning in class...Also, parents have no access to what kids are actually learning that week/month so can't support if we choose to.
I have battled for two years on this (politely) and thought getting some data together to share informally with the head might stimulate at least discussion, if not action. In the meantime, I do work sheets with my children but wonder why in the state system there is not parity of homework offering.

DD (yr3, independent school) gets homework five days a week - a maths sheet, completing science work, finding out various geographical facts, answering a couple of English comprehension questions and so on. Normally it takes her less than 15 minutes a night once she actually gets started, often even less. They also have a weekly spelling test, but I've never noticed her actually doing any preparation for that since the first week .

At her old school (state) I think her current year group gets one homework task a week, which is usually some kind of work sheet, plus reading and I think some times tables. Alternate half terms they have project-based homework instead, which means researching, designing and building/drawing something relating to their current topic (Romans, Egyptians etc). Some children love that and get stuck in, but some leave everything to their parents the last minute and don't really get much out of it.

I'm not hugely convinced of the value of homework per se, except to get them used to the idea of doing stuff independently at home - DS hadn't had much homework before he moved to secondary, and it was a bit of a shock to the system at first.

Gooseyloosey,

Agree your DS seems to have an awful lot- is this a state school? Amazing that schools differ just so much- bet you would love our school!!!!

DS has spelling words and either maths or literacy homework once a week, they shouldn't spend more than 30 minutes on each task. He is also asked to do 5-10 minutes reading each day.

I don't believe homework is necessary for primary school and like your schools approach.

It is a state school.

Dd who is 6 has 1 sheet of literacy or numeracy a week and a list of spellings

DS (7.5) in year 3 (State primary, Oxfordshire) has:
-weekly maths (not a worksheet though)
-weekly literacy homework (variable topic-related stuff)
-weekly spellings (learning them and practice by putting words into sentences etc)
-daily reading (not set, but expected to read at least 10 mins/ day)
-times tables as and when; they are still consolidating 2,5 and 10, and actively learning 3&4

We get a homework grid for maths and literacy at the beginning of each short term (IE 6 per year), so we know what homeworks are coming up, and they get to choose from 3 different tasks (broadly split up into auditory, visual and kinaesthetic learning styles). In practice some of the 'literacy' stuff is so woolly that the choice is more or less made for you.

We have something each night -
Monday most of a comprehension - about an A4 page of writing to do
Tuesday history - lighter, eg describe an anglo saxon feast in at last 2 paragraphs, or labelling up a diagrame
Weds 2 pages of heineman mental maths problems
Thursday French, always farcial - colouring with french key or fill a few blanks
Friday finish or work on from science (eg suggested sensible and silly materials for 20 objects.
Plus spellling test weekly, daily reading record to be completed and weekly tables if you havne't gone through them all so often it is getting silly.

This week DS has had spelling words to learn and sentences to write, a science worksheet about the human body and a couple of chapters of his novel to read. He is 8 and we are in Scotland.

Normally he has a times table to 'go over' too.

It seems pretty appropriate for age and stage.

In North Hampshire, DS in yr 3 gets a weekly spelling test of 10 words, weekly times tables, though is just moving onto fraction tests now these are done (DS doesn't actually practice these at all so it is homework but in name only), plus 1 or 2 other things to do a week - this week we have a maths sheet and he has to go to a shop, find out where 10 fruits or veg come from and mark it on a map of the world. Overall takes less than an hour a week so its OK.

Plus we are supposed to do reading every day but don't - he hates reading and I've given up nagging. Cue much maternal guilt.

Dd2 gets spellings which have to be written into sentences, and a worksheet which is either literacy or numeracy once a week. Writing the spellings into sentences is a pita, but I think she gets the right amount of homework for Y3. She is at a London state primary.

When dd1 was in Y3 she had the same teacher, but rarely got homework, and never got spellings. When homework was handed out, it was usually too ambitious. Thankfully the teacher is more experienced now, and the work she sets is appropriate.

sagey, I got my DS to read for fun by getting him:

Mr Gum books, and Tintin comics.

Lots of boys that age find Mr gum (Andy Stanton) books very funny( very very silly books...)

back to OP:

15 words spelling a week (he is bottom set)
times tables always ongoing
I read with him 3 times a week (but he is behind, so it's "extra")
1 project a week (science or history, usually takes 1 hr or so)

Ds gets homework set on a Friday, to be handed in following Thursday (which I like as we can balance it according to family-life, ds's mood, time available etc)

Anyway, he has 5 spellings to learn which he has to also write in a sentence.
An activity, may be maths or science or literacy. Usually consolidating something they have done in class. Varies hugely how long this takes according to subject and interest
A times table or division which they are tested on on the Friday.

Also need to read 10-15 minutes at least 3 times a week. Ds s a bookworm so no bother there. They then have to complete a written task (there are 15 different ones to choose from) so something like give a summary of the story; find 5 words you didn't understand, look them up in the dictionary and write their definition; dscribe how your non-fiction book is set out/arranged; describe the main chasacters in the book; when you are half way through the book, write what you think may happen.

I do think it is quite a lot, but it has a point to it. I hate homework that is set just because something needs to be set.

Ds is at a state school in London.