Yr3 & 4 holiday homework ideas to keep them ticking over...

[JOJOHNSON23]

No, I'm not going to spend the next 3 weeks forcing my children to work hour after hour but I would quite like a couple of books/worksheets/print outs so we we can do maybe 10-15 minutes a day total of Yr 3 & 4 curriculum relevant work just to keep them ticking over. I've found in previous holidays, that when they get back to school they've almost regressed by a month as they've done no work at home.

Any suggestions of websites or books I can get from Amazon? We have Mathletics but they won't want to do that every day, variety is the spice of life!

Yes, they'll have plenty of time for playdates, trips to the park, cinema, bike rides, nature trails, bowling, lolling watching television, sweeping leaves... and all manner of fun stuff!

I think it's odd if you have a child who really wouldn't want to read anything at all over the holiday break (maybe mine are just bookworms).

I've made mine write over holiday breaks before, DS has big (explosive at school) hangups about it so a little bit of writing every day helps reduce his anxiety.

Most or every?

We have no idea what the op's children are like.

Sorry given my left handers's scrawl and decent memory his time would be far better spent concentrating on handwriting.Different children will have countless areas they need to work on individual to them.

Memory is by no means everything.Core skills are just as important if not more at primary.My dd has to learn her tables however if I and the school were to simply get her to learn them by heart with no concept of multiplication and how it works she'll come unstuck.

One of my dc has an amazing memory and is admittedly very quick with picking up mathematical concepts he does however have to watch his problem solving skills as he can jump ahead too quick at times(far too used to doing everything instantly).

Op has asked for curriculum work,I'm sure she knows her dc best and really not sure why she needs the advice and judging.

Llj I've done that before,there is no way you can get them to do stuff after school so when do you if they need to?Mine love to read but reading isn't really the area ds needs to do a bit extra on.

This thread sooooo reminds me of Boris Johnson's dad writing about benign neglect and how you should leave it all to school,and do buggar all at home and let them run feral.

His kids were at Eton,clearly bright and living on some massive property.

One size doesn't fit all and those of us trying to do our best for our dc shouldn't be judged.

Like the other posters, I'd try and avoid print outs/worksheets too. I'm going to make sure I read with them and will try and incorporate some maths into most days - through counting money and measuring etc. We're also going to get out to museums, woods, library events. All good learning opportunities. There's some fantastic arty stuff on the RedTedArt blog which I'd like to do with my 8 year old as she likes that kind of thing. Sciencesparks.com is good for fun experiments so we're going to do a couple of those.

Oh and OP, you might want to work on your manners over the holiday . Just because you don't like a reply there's no need to be so rude.

I was a teacher. I still work in school. I do realise all children are different. The memory thing was a response to the op saying her child regresses so much after a holiday. This would then suggest the child may benefit from memory skills to aid retention yes?

Worksheets and workbooks can have their place but they are usually very dry. Many child do not like them, I know some do however.

So to make learning a series if games and fun stuff is often preferable and actually can aid retention far more than a worksheet can do.

Most people learn more from doing, Children and adults alike.

People are just offering suggestions of all areas of a primary education.

Ling maybe she didn't didn't like the judgy posts and reference to posters own children (which is neither here nor there) when she was simply asking for recommendations.

Not necessarily Hula,maybe core skills haven't been attained properly and need reinforcing.

Still want to know how the OP is measuring this lack of progression (not being sarky, honestly).

Maybe so. I guess noone knows entirely without more details. Therefore I see no reason to not offer a range of suggestions, not just worksheet based ideas.

I would be concerned personally if I felt my own child, or the children in my classes, were regressing by a month after a short holiday. It is not, ime, the norm to regress by that much. Therefore I also feel it is worth mentioning this so that the OP can look into why that might be happening.

The op, and Kazooblue, both seem somewhat abrupt on people giving a range of opinions and suggestions, rather than just listing some workbooks. I feel this is a shame and somewhat short sighted personally. But hey - this is MN. On Mn, ime, you get a whole range range of ideas and suggestions based on single ops. Still no excuse to be quite so aggressive with responses imo.

OP just asked for recommendations not opinions! She has a plan, shockingly thinks she knows what's best for her kids and had hoped for some useful suggestions. Instead she get given grief.
If you can't say something nice ...

Wouldn't be MN if folk didn't chuck in unsolicited opinions.

Kazoo the OP stated that she wanted to do schoolwork over the holidays because when they get back to school they've almost regressed by a month. The only reason they would have regressed is because they have forgotten what they have done at school. If they can really regress by over a month in such a short holiday then there must be issues with their memory.

Fwiw ds's memory is now excellent and I fortunately don't have the same worry over any length of holiday. However it took a lot of work from the school SENCO and myself to get him into that position and it is not normal to have child that struggles so badly with retaining information as the OP has described.

I'm another one who believes in learning through other opportunities in holiday. Life is about learning! Museums, library trips, nature trails, making homes in the garden for insects or animals.
It shouldn't be about worksheets. I've seen a fair few kids come to resent the academic side of learning at work because of parents thinking that worksheets and formal writing = education. I would however recommend some verbal practice of timestables, Tis rather the root of primary maths and so many children don't ever seem to practice them which is a disadvantage.

OYBBK I'm like you. Ds learns loads over the holidays but none of it involves any formal learning like worksheets etc. This holiday he will be doing 6 days of sports coaching, one day of music practice (composing and playing in orchestra organised by the RCM) plus other things likes Easter egg hunts (which will be a nature trail). He will go back to school rested and having enjoyed the break from the classroom.

Great Bisjo my dc will do plenty of the same however they will also be doing doing some handwriting and maths as a) they need to and b) I can't rely on school.

Honestly, isn't it possible to cook, garden, read play and go to museums together etc, in addition to doing some revision? Why is it either/or? Ridiculous.

OP, I'm very sympathetic because like you, my DC goes to a shit struggling school and there are some issues with core skills that need reinforcing. I've tried several websites (mathwhizz, ixl etc.) but for the past couple of months have been using Komodo Maths (komodomath.com), which I rate very highly. It's fun but not gimmicky, and focuses on basic numeracy. My DC has been doing about 10-15 minutes a day (painlessly) and it's really made a difference to her skills and confidence.

More maths ideas here nrich.maths.org/frontpage

Hi JOJOHNSON23

There's been some good ideas about workbooks/ websites (especially like NRICH maths - some great resources there) but I thought I'd give you some on-line links to worksheet/ website or video game support here:

Some great sites for games/ worksheets here:

BBC Learning (BETA) - a website for schools/ teachers under construction link here: www.bbc.co.uk/schools/teachers/ - about half-way down on the left is an orange outlined box which has tabs KS1, KS2, etc... - select KS2 and then within the box select the area of curriculum you wish to explore. This site will require a bit of time/ patience on your part to hunt out resources that are appropriate/ try out games - but I've found it is worth the time and has really helped in some areas.

This is ideal if your children are struggling on something in particular, have a learning theme which you're looking for additional resources for (e.g. river systems, Ancient Greece, etc...)

Primary Resources - the website has fantastic resources and the worksheets are clearly identified for year group (see numbers after worksheet title). You can search by subject - i.e. Ancient Egypt - and the sheets available will be listed. It takes a bit of hunting through - but I usually find really fun stuff.

Activity Village - has great worksheets (especially useful for crosswords/ word searches) - just type in what you're looking for in the search engine (try Harry Potter for fun - just to see).

Woodlands Junior school Homework Help: www.chiddingstone.kent.sch.uk/homework/ - these are mostly video game format - but nice change for pencil/ paper worksheets.

Just chose curriculum area - resources ordered by topic rather than year - but if you know what you're looking for these are great.

Woodlands Junior School also has a site called Primary Homework Help - which is great if DC comes home with a note about how you're supposed to support their further investigation of some topic at home and have no idea where to begin... link here: primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/index.html

Crickweb: www.crickweb.co.uk/Key-Stage-2.html
If you gently run your mouse over dark blue horizontal menu line under KS2 you'll get subject areas. Mixture of learning aids/ worksheets & mainly games. Just chose area of curriculum you wish to support.

Coxhoe Primary School: durham.schooljotter.com/coxhoe/Curriculum+Links

Links vary - but usually this links you through to games by topic/ sub-topic or themes (Y4 - romans) games or websites. Nice way of finding links to reliable and safe websites for children.

Finally JOJOHNSON23 - I have two other ideas:

1. there is nothing stopping you signing up for free to Times Education Supplement - and then you can access all sorts of worksheets. Link here: www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resources/

2. if you're looking for worksheets related to a book - don't feel you can't just use a search engine (like google) and type in BOOK TITLE - Worksheets - there are some fabulous resources out there - e.g. C S Lewis foundation worksheets (#2 best for KS2) for Lion, Witch & Wardrobe.

HTH

Lots off info for you so far. I find that my son being out and about is the best way to keep him ticking over. To keep him curious and happy. When we are at home: Baking (as mentioned above this involves a lot), building (using his problem solving skills etc), chatting (not that we wouldn't speak to him when he isn't on holiday ), reading about what we have recently seen which then gets him reading too. He is plagued with written work at school because he is below average but we would much rather use the things he enjoys to keep him engaged so any writing which he doesn't initiate himself is a no no for us.

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Forget work and concentrate on reading. Much more fun and great academically of course. My youngest one does about half an hour a day while I have no idea how much my 10 year old reads? Maybe a couple of hours a day through choice.

Was going to add, don't worry about the writing at all. My DS hated writing and wrote very little. We never pushed it at home as I couldn't see the point. However he was and is a total book work. Over the course of 4 years, his writing caught up with his reading and now he is years ahead with both.

I can't believe how judgemental some people are!

I say ... judging.
Lol