Do you point out their mistakes or not?

[dustyroad]

DD is in Year 2. Comes home with small amounts of homework requiring her to write sentences with particular words in them eg "important".
So say she writes something like "It is important to wash yor hands arfter the toilett" by way of example. I look at it and can see that it is a good sentence and uses the word properly but there are 3 other spelling mistakes.
I have been trying to say "well done that's great - oh and by the way toilet only has one "t" on the end", for example. But then I think am I being too critical and always finding fault with her work - or maybe that's how it seems to her - I dont know. At this age nearly everything she writes has some errors so maybe I shouldnt point them out? What do others do?
Am only asking because this work has just started and I am still trying to find the right balance - would just welcome other views.
Thanks

Personally I'd just focus on one thing, so if homework is about how to use the word important in a sentence I'd talk abouit that positively and see how many silly examples you could come up with;

It is important that giraffes wear a scarf in winter.
The ladybird felt very important wearing trhe crown and big boots.
You don't have to be important to tell people what to do, but it helps.
It is very important that I get a cup of coffee right now!

Hopefully, more fun the better!
If its spelling homework then I suppose that's a bit different and you could look through together with a dictionary after if you felt certain key words like 'your' were worth it. But again I'd probably only bother to do that with a couple of sentences otherwise the whole things a bit of a drag. Year 2 is young for homework IMO so I'd not make it too arduous.

I will always correct a mistake, but in a very low-key sort of way, with lots of praise for the right bits?

I would point out the mistakes in words she should know such as 'we played with the batt and ball.' Say to her,'have another look, what may be wrong?' Self-correction is a very important tool at her age.

On words she wouldn't necessarily know yet such as toilet, choose one to correct.

Lots of praise for the sentence is very important.

Most of all encourage her to enjoy is and see it as a worthwhile activity.

I find it very frustrating as a teacher when homework come in all immaculate as it makes it difficult to decipher how much the child knows/has learned.

DD gets het up if I correct too much. Ideally the HW sheet says what the objective is (say, capitals and full stops). So I remind about those specific points, but would let other stuff go, probably.

I do push the praise but I know now that even the low-key pointing out of errors can make her upset with herself. I just find it hard to let these things go - but will try.
Will also encourage some self-correction, I havent really done that up to now (except with reading). It might work and we can use dictionary if she asks me how to spell something.
Will also try to make it more fun and maybe leave some errors for the teachers to find

I am a volunteer in a year 6 and year 3 class at DS's school. The teachers sometimes ask me to help mark work. Their policy is to highlight no more than 3 mistakes and never leave the work in a bad light (regardless of how many there are).

I am not sure of this - surely kids need to know where they are going wrong in a constructive way...? I sort of see where they are coming from though... could you "ration" the corrections?

I think you're doing the right thing.
I teach in SEN rather than mainstream, but if the focus is on the use of a particular word, then that is the bit that needs to be right,i.e. understood by the child, and other spellings are less important in this context so can wait.(though i'd encourage DC to check what they have written - later - in case they can spot other errors) HTH

I would correct the mistakes before they become too ingrained - after all, who else is going to do it? Good idea to balance the corrections with some praise for coming up with a reasonable sentence though.

The task was to write a sentence, not to spell words correctly. Therefore, briefly point out that toilet has only 1 t at the end and then praise for achieving the task.

If you analysed dds exercise books, you will see that her teacher works in a similar way

I'd be a bit more relaxed about that process were it not for teachers making judgements on one of my children's capabilities based on his continuing to make mistakes they're not correcting... what do they expect?

I tend to ask mine whether they want me to correct - "That's a brilliant sentence - there are a couple of spelling mistakes, do you want to put them right?"

I have to literally sit on my hands when mine are doing homework or art type projects. I just want them to impress, but I now have a mantra (which DS1 repeats if I forget). It's his work, let him do it his way.

I leave him to do it on his own,only interfere if he asks for help and only look at it afterwards if he asks me to. I don't see them point of correcting it before the teacher gets to see it. Much as I'd love them to think he's done it perfectly on his own, what would that achieve?

I agree with you on the general principle that you shouldn't do their homework for them, perpetualworrier, and I keep right out of any work done by DS1 (at secondary school) for that very reason (and because I'd rather be doing other things ) However, at primary school age, if you know your child isn't going to be given proper feedback over spelling mistakes by anyone else, do you just sit there and take the consequence that they might not learn?

Yes, I can see the case for not correcting every spelling mistake made by a child with difficulties over spellings who would be completely demoralised by the teacher doing that. But what of those who would be perfectly capable of learning from their mistakes but are just left to continue making them?

It's a common theme on the G&T threads that there would be very little need for special schemes if ordinary class work were properly differentiated - the non-correction of anything other than the specific learning objective is a classic example of not differentiating work appropriately.

As a teacher, I would focus on the words she is learning for the spellings. If she has already learnt words like 'after' and 'your' then she could have a quick check, or underline any words she is unsure about.

but if you make her correct every spelling, she is going to lose heart in her work. when i mark work for my Y4 spellings, I highlight full stops missed out etc, and correct simple spellings - if they are the spelling word they have spelt wrong, they have to redo the sentence.

But if I corrected every single spelling mistake in every child's work, I would be there all day and what would they actually take in? They can't focus on 20 spelling corrections, but they CAN on 3 or 4.

Well this has given me a few ideas now which I will try - clearly it does depend on the situation. Have just looked up "parachute" in the dictionary with her after her lovely attempt at "parashoot"

Unfortunately recently my other DD came home with the word "beatle" in her spelling book written out clearly in big letters by the TA. This is the main word she is expected to write out five times in a column for each day of the week (along with four other words). (No sentences required). Is this a legitimate word? Not according to me What to do?

dustyroad, just tell her it's "beetle" if it's the six-legged variety, and send a little note to the teacher. I've done that before (when DS1 was told to learn teeny-weenie - what kind of a word is that, even spelt correctly?)

Of course, if the other 4 words are "John", "Paul", "George" and "Ringo, it may be correct , but should start with a capital.

Dustyroad, you really should have taken that up with the teacher. That is not good enough. Gosh, (just thinking as I'm typing) your DD hadn't written beetle had she?

I once had to gently explain to my TA that my more able group were quite right to write practise as they were using it as a verb. She had corrected it in their margin as practice. The frustrating thing was that I never allow anyone else to mark my books and she should have just been working on the activity.

Having said that, I feel the need to point out that they (TAs) are very poorly paid and what they occasionally lack in knowledge, they more than make up for in dedication and enthusiasm.

Hallgerda, I would think it rare to find a teacher who only corrects issues relating to the learning objective. I correct spellings in every piece of work just not every spelling. I correct every spelling they (at their own level) should know and one or two of the ones that I would not have expected them to know. G&T children are slightly different in that they often have the ability to take in everything you tell them each time.

The quality of a child's writing (inc sp)is, in almost every case, behind their comprehension and imagination. Therefore, they will often use words that they understand but have no idea how to spell.

When they have produced a wonderful piece of creative writing for me I am loathe to correct all the mistakes they have made when trying to use often quite complex words. Even the brightest, most confident child can be discouraged from using the word exceptional when it's easier to write very good. That is why the writing paper of the Y6 SATs does not give a higher percentage of marks over to spelling.

cushioncover, sadly I have come across teachers who restrict their marking to the learning objective - what you're doing sounds right