What work over the summer hols?

[Campaspe]

Just wondered if any teachers or experts could advise really. DD has just finished Y2, so moves to Y3 in September. The school have given them 50 spellings to learn, which we will plough through. What else, if anything, should I be doing with DD to help prepare her for the transition to KS2? What sort of maths? Any hand writing practice?

Would also be interested to hear what other parents are doing. Thanks.

Absolutely nothing. Honestly. I'm studying Education at university, and it's ridiculous the way education has changed for the worse, even since I was at school. It's stopped being about children, and all become about test scores, and reports and OFSTED reports.

Work on the spellings if you want to, but it's not the end of the world if you don't. Concentrate on doing things your DD will enjoy, and exploring a range of interests with her. If it's interesting, she might want to write about it. Or draw pictures. If she wants to buy something, get her to count her pocket money and see if she has enough. That's maths. If she wants to find out about something, help her google it, or get a book at a library. But only if she wants to. Summer is a time off from school, to recuperate ready for the new year.

Relax, have fun, and the learning will come incidentally.

As a parent, I get my DDs to write holiday diaries. It keeps up the handwriting. I started to help my then 8 year old DD1 practice writing in detail and remembering sequences of events, but DD2 has been writing one since reception. It's also a nice record of the holidays and shows how much they have improved over the year.

We always randomly do mental maths to keep it going.

We always do the library reading challenge.

We do other stuff only if clearly behind. Last year DD2 did 'apples and pears' spelling. This year she will do a bit of written maths on basic calculations. We get it done first thing, and then enjoy the rest of the day.

I am not an expert but I agree with nothing! Cook and bake with them. Take them to a beach and a forest look at the rock pools/flowers/ponds/critters... (if you don't know the name yourself google with them).
Library challenge. May be postcards to family/friends.
Can they skip? play tennis? hoola hoop?
Drawing and paintings.
And it is very important to let them get BORED. It improves their creativity, reasoning and imagination.

Do nothing. They need the break. Read with them and to them, cook and bake, go on trips and show them maps, make, write and send their own postcards - there are so many fun things which aren't overtly educational which are nevertheless worthwhile. They really don't need worksheets.

Apart from encouraging reading I agree with nothing, if they want to keep a diary or anything, great but don't make them.
Adults don't expect to have to do work in their holidays.

We do the other stuff people mention too.

Maybe your children all find school easy? Given the 'average' NC levels posted generally on here, I wouldn't be surprised. But my children find school stuff hard.

6 weeks off (plus at least 1 week at the end of the summer term where they down tools) is a long time for some children to forget skills. A little time every day when they are not tired from school can pay massive benefits for them when it comes to catching up on things they have struggled with.

OK, thanks everyone. I find it easy to do reading with DD, as we both enjoy this, and I can see it's easy enough to do postcards, diaries etc to practice literacy.

But I must confess to be a bit uneasy about doing no maths, especially as DD really lacks confidence, and hence doesn't like the subject (according to her teacher). She doesn't like baking, and we tend to shop using cards Last summer I paid for IXL, we did 10 minutes a day, and I thought it helped. Do you really think it would be harmful to do this? I don't like maths myself, and was rubbish at it, so I'd love an excuse not to revisit times tables etc, but surely practice makes perfect?

DS2 has just finished Y3 and after a rocky start at school and a move at the end of Y1 has just come up to around the average NC levels for his age. With this in mind, I have bought a couple of workbooks 'Enchanted English' and 'Magical Maths' and we are doing 10 mins or so on each most days plus carrying on with regular reading.

I want to keep things ticking over for the next 7 or 8 weeks and he is quite happy to do it.

Maths is so much easier if you know and can use your times tables.

(ps please don't tell your children you don't like maths and are rubbish at it!)

Maths through cooking and shopping I would say. Children often really struggle with money as a concept, so getting them using it really helps. For example, maybe you give them some spending money to last a week, then they are working out how much will be left if they buy a comic, an ice cream, what the change will be etc. Cooking doesn't have to be baking, DS1 always much preferred making meals, learning to mash , chop and peel whilst weighing out quantities of pasta, rice etc.

I would really recommend giving them time off, we have always read lots, but also cooked, made models, gardened and so on. Education is about more than just what they cover in school, I always regard the summer as a time to catch up on the wider stuff!

Campaspe

Perfect time for you and DD to learn your times tables together then? Then it's not just her working and I'm sure she'd love 'helping' you.

If you want to encourage her to do maths, giving her some cash spending money would probably help - let her work out what she can afford to buy if she sees something in a shop, and what change she might get? Or could you play 'shops' with her with toy money?

Now, why did I think I might have to do maths?!

Thank you for your advice everyone.

DD is going into yr2 in September & will probably end up doing quite a bit with her as she demands it.

Our local bookstore is doing free literacy workshops (she is going to one tomorrow) & another one later on in the holidays.

She will read daily & probably go on maths whizz (gets it from school) & basically whatever else she wants to do.

DS is going into yr5 & he will probably do very little

DS did
Reading before bed from books picked from library; doing the library challenge every summer as they get medals and prizes. My son received his certificate at school from the local library and was so proud he was the only one to complete the challenge in his year 3.
Counting in 2s, 5s, 10s in the car. + when possible handling money.
Time tables, some spellings and punctuation every other day ONLY 5 minute each!!!
Getting involved in cooking, measuring, mixing, etc. helped with maths and science in Year 3.
Writing post cards to friends and family, writing shopping lists, and short diary entries over the summer. (They did it in Year 3 straight after starting school in class & as homework).
Research on the internet under adult supervision when looking for places to visit.( They had to do research for homework in Year 3 so good to know how before September).
Made up stories and to act out with friends in the garden. In Year 3 they often had to make own version of stories studied in class.
Junk modelling when bored... they can practise making towers, castles, lighthouses etc, DS did DT in second term of Year 3 for 'Topic' and because we kept his models he had very little homework to do.
We didn't do art last year and DS got 'satisfactory' in Art... Such a shame. He was gutted!

There are maths games online on maths zone. My DD enjoys some of these...and sees it as playing on the computer!!

Also do the library reading challenge....reading is the best thing to keep up..

I'm a TA in a primary school and plan to do very little.

Reading will be encouraged also and times table practice. Ds going into y3 will practice counting aloud in 3,5 and 10's. Maybe small addition sums talking aloud as we relax on sofa for example.

The boys like number bond challenges. I call a number and they tell me the number to make the sum of 20 for ds7 and 100 for ds10.
For example, I say 13 and ds7 says 7.
They test each other,get all competitive and have fun. And I smile because they're learning.

Also ds's will go on my maths online from the school.

Ds 7 is happy to do this, ds 10 not so, and don't want to have to nag.

They are doing puzzles today as it's pouring,and I count that as learning too.

If they are not interested, I leave it. I have five children and two are at university and dd has just finished A levels.

So I don't worry about it one iota.

A useful and enjoyable book can be found in the MN Book Reviews, "Children's educational books and courses" section. The Oxford Phonics Spelling Dictionary lists words according to initial SOUND, and also has various hints and tips to clarify some spelling difficulties. The MN review links to sample pages, so you can see what it is like, and then purchase if you wish. It will take a child right up to secondary level.

This is my standard numeracy advice. I would also add 'data collection' and producing charts and graphs can be an interesting activity.

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Practical things are best for grasping number concepts - bricks, Lego, beads, counters, money, shapes, weights, measuring, cooking.

Do adding, taking away, multiplication (repeated addition), division (sharing), using REAL OBJECTS as just 'numbers' can be too abstract for some children.

Number Bonds of Ten forms the basis of much maths work, so try to learn them. Using Lego or something similar, use a LOT of bricks (of just TWO colours, if you have enough) lay them out so the pattern can be seen of one colour INCREASING while the other colour DECREASES. Lay them down, or build up like steps.

So:

ten of one colour none of other
nine of one colour one of other
eight of one colour two of other
seven of one colour three of other

etc, etc

then of course, the sides are equal at 5 and 5; after which the colours 'swap over' as to increasing/decreasing.

To learn TABLES, do them in groups that have a relationship, thus:

x2, x4, x8

x3, x6, x12

5 and 10 are easy

7 and 9 are rather harder.

Starting with TWO times TABLE, I always say: "Imagine the class is lining up in pairs; each child will have a partner, if there is an EVEN number in the class. If one child is left without a partner, then the number is ODD, because an odd one is left out."

Use Lego bricks again, lay them out in a column of 2 wide to learn 2x table. Go half way down the column, and move half the bricks up, so that now the column is 4 bricks wide. That gives the start of 4x table.

Then do similar things with 3x and 6x.

With 5x, try and count in 'fives', and notice the relationship with 'ten' - they will alternate, ending in 5 then 10.

It is important to try and UNDERSTAND the relationships between numbers, and not just learn them 'by rote'.

I am sorry it seems complicated trying to explain these concepts, but using Lego or counters should make understanding easier.

An inexpensive solar powered calculator (no battery to run out!) can help learn tables by 'repeated addition'. So: enter 2+2 and press = to give 4. KEEP PRESSING = and it should add on 2 each time, giving 2 times table.

There are good web sites, which can be fun to use :

www.ictgames.com/

www.resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/index.html

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