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How can I help support my DC's learning at home?

4 replies

SystemofaDowny · 11/05/2012 00:37

DD is age 6 in year 1, Ds age 5 in Reception at local state primary. I currently read with them every day- they get school reading books twice a week plus we have ORT/ Usborne/ other books at home. DS gets a sheet with 2 or 3 phonics per week to practise reading and writing. DD has a list of 5 spellings to learn also once a week. DD will happily chose a book to read to herself at other times, DS is less keen although he will read random things like cereal boxes!

Last week their school's Ofsted report was published and has gone into special measures. The findings were that pupils were seriously underachieving in reception/ks1 and that even though they made better progress in ks2, it was not enough to catch up with what they had missed in earlier years.

So obviously I'm a bit concerned about the effect this is/has had on my DC's learning. I think that I need to start doing more with them at home, to help them catch up or at least make the progress that they should be. I was thinking maybe half an hour each evening of some kind of structured activity.

I am going to try to find out from their teachers what levels they are at and if they have identified any gaps in their learning. In the meantime I was wondering if anyone could point me towards some good resources or suggest other activities that I can do to help support their learning. I'm not really sure what levels they should be at at this stage or even what they mean, so any easy to understand info about those would also be appreciated.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Grockle · 11/05/2012 00:59

Honestly, I think the best things you can do are:

Read to them - every day
Talk to them - encourage them to ask questions and to listen
Get them to read every day

Ensure they know phonics

Help them develop basic numeracy skills by baking, measuring, counting, sorting, ordering objects and using mathematical vocabulary.

I wouldn't make it too formal or academic - the key thing is to get them to want to learn & to enjoy learning & not see it as a chore.

quiplite · 11/05/2012 01:02

This won't go to your specific concern, but... an Ofsted report is very general beast. Just because there was a problem with children acheiving at KS1, it doesn't mean yours aren't acheiving. Yours have a supportive home environment, lots of books, a parent who encourages reading and helps out with spellings and phonics.

So I think it's a good idea to find out where they're at, but I wouldn't stress too much over their future literacy.

There's great workbooks out there (Letts do a cute variety with wizards and fairies and whatnot) - those would give you an idea what they should be learning. And if they enjoy doing them, fine. Jolly Phonics do workbooks for entry-level phonics and even grammar workbooks for Y1 and Y2.

But before you start teaching them yourself, you should check to see if their teacher is doing that job already! He or she probably is.

sunnydelight · 11/05/2012 06:20

What about Eduationcity or something similar at home? When my kids were younger they thought anything on the computer was a treat so would beg to keep going with it.

MrsHeffley · 11/05/2012 11:35

If it was me I'd focus on reading,writing and numeracy.

Read masses to them.Hear them read every day.Go through the phonics and point out sounds they're learning.Our school does Letters and Sounds and it's very good.You could get the framework free on request then Schofield and Simms do wbs to accompany each phase.These are dry but go though each phase and are cheap on Amazon.If you need help with pronunciation ask in school or on here but do get it right.

Make sure every letter is formed correctly again ask on here or in school(school first).

CGP is a very good website for wbooks. They do books for each year group and I feel are less cartoony and more focused on the actual content of each year group but that is just my opinion.

Write as often as you can and make them focus on capitalletters,full stops,question marks etc.CGP will have the progression,

Re maths count in 2s,5s and 10s.Learn number bonds to 10/20.Make them use real money a lot.........To be honest maths is vast and I'm not your best bet re info.Ask on here Mrz knows her stuff.

Go into school and ask their teachers,if you get no joy go to head of KS then dep head,then head.Keep nagging until you get exact info on things you can do to support your dc.More than ever now they'll be grateful for parents like you.They will have country breathing down their neck so you will get answers.

Good luck!

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