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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Bit shocked at amount of homework dd now getting, Yr 1. What do you think?

21 replies

Eeeeeek · 20/01/2009 16:28

Dd is just 6. Very able I know and of course I want her to be stretched. But I also want her to have time to just be, to relax and play at home. Up until now she was getting some sounds work, such as -ay or i-e, write words with those sounds, so "play" or "time" would be examples. Set on Monday, hand in on Friday.
This week she has got 3 sounds to do (normally writes about 7-10 words for each and draws a little picture.
Also needed to find 4 pictures on a topic from the paper/magazine, stick it in book and write 2 short sentences about each.
And spellings. These are new, just for some of the children. She has to learn
materials, rubber, leather, waterproof, absorbent and transparent .
All to be done for Friday.

Do you think this excessive?

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lljkk · 20/01/2009 18:32

Doesn't sound that excessive, tbh, could she just write one word for each sound, and skip the picture?

sarah293 · 20/01/2009 18:35

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lalaa · 20/01/2009 18:37

Yes. My dd only gets one set of homework a week (plus the reading, of course) and I think that's too much. My neighbour's children's school don't set any homework for infants. Personally, I think that's the way it should be!

backintheUK · 20/01/2009 18:38

doenst sound excessive and similar to what ds get in yr 1 - however the spellings seem a bit random - ds get extension spellings ech week for a test but they tend to follwow on in theme from the main 10

this week it is i-e words -- mine, give etc and he has 'write' and 'writing' as 2 of 5 further ones.

TsarChasm · 20/01/2009 18:39

Those spellings are quite hard.

I am not a big advocate of homework especially for infants though. I completely agree, a bit of reading aside, children should have time to relax and play. 6 hours at school is quite enough.

Mine get 8 spellings a week, reading and the occasional thing to find out or learn. It's not too pressured though I must admit.

The spellings didn't start until yr2 though, and is probably not a bad thing because there'll be loads more of it in junior school

They don't seem to mind too much at the moment, but judging by dd1 who is already at juniors, the homework novelty wears off mighty fast. We get quite a bit from time to time from there.

ChasingSquirrels · 20/01/2009 18:41

doesnt actually sound much to me, although far more than me ds1 (also yr1) gets.
3 sounds - is she asked to do 7-10 words for each sound? I would have thought this would be maybe 15 mins?
4 pics & 2 sentances - split it in 2, so 2 pics and 4 sentances, again maybe 15 mins
Some of those spellings seem v v v hard for yr 1. Would question those.

Smithagain · 20/01/2009 20:00

That's about three times as much (in terms of time required) than DD1 got in year 1 and we had enough problems getting her to do what she had!

In the end, we backed off (with the teacher's blessing) and didn't make her do it. Not worth making it a bit issue at the age of 6. Now she's in Year 2 and quite happy to do homework. But she still doesn't get that much!

Original poster

Eeeeeek · 20/01/2009 20:34

Thanks all for your input and opinions. Varied as I thought would be the case.
The sounds book, that is how many they've been asked to do since September, and a little picture (to maybe help teacher decipher the word!)

Anyway was just curious and I guess surprised at the sudden jump in what was being sent home.

OP posts:

imaginaryfriend · 20/01/2009 21:37

Dd, Y1, gets 10 spellings to learn over the weekend and a reading book each week. That's it!

Madsometimes · 21/01/2009 11:21

The homework would not be excessive if it was set on Tuesday to be handed in the following Monday. However, I think that there are rather a lot of tasks to do, and a year one child would need the weekend to complete them.

I would struggle to find a week day to sit down with my year 1 dd and help her with her homework because we are out most evenings doing extra activities with one or other of my children. For working parents using child minders or after school care, this must be even worse. Most of these providers do not help with homework.

My dd2 gets spellings, a homework task which may be writing or numeracy (but not both) and reading each week. The spellings and written task are given out over a weekend. I think this is reasonable.

vickyconfused · 21/01/2009 11:32

Would love my DD to be getting all this. Is your dd on some sort of recognised extension programme? From the odd activity books we have bought ? seen from WHSMITH I would say these spelling words are beyond Year 3.
Reading all your posts reveals how massive the disparity is at Year 1. We get nothing like any of the tasks mentioned .So much for a 'National'curriculum. At least they have acknowledged her whereas I feel very confused having to try to do all this at home!

ZZZen · 21/01/2009 11:38

I think 3 sounds for which she writes 7-10 words each plus the reading she will be doing is enough.

I don't see the relevance of those particular spelling words at this age. She will rarely need to write or come across in her reading "absorbent" and "transparent" so I think she will forget the spellings fairly soon after she has first learnt them, i.e. I think that is a fairly fruitless exercise. I would find spellings of high frequency words more appropriate at this stage personally.

NINALL · 21/01/2009 11:46

Ds has 10 spellings to write out and learn between Wed and Tues. words such as "shark, shape, wish, like........I have enough probs getting him to do these along with nightly reading. I'd have a huge fight if he had to spell at that level, he'd never get them right and be really p'd off! I thought homework was to cement what they had learnt at school, not learn something new.but IMO I don,t think children in yr1 should be doing anything more than reading at home. They've been at school for over 6 hours....

Buda · 21/01/2009 11:56

DS is in Yr 3 and hasn't had those spellings! They are ridiculous for Yr 1.

Sonnet · 21/01/2009 11:59

Are those spellings from some work they are doing in science?

My DD used to have what they called "topic words" and has had those very ones!

lottysmum · 21/01/2009 12:08

My Dd is in year 2 and we have just changed schools (not happy with mixed yr classes).

The small school she was at sent out spellings every week, plus learning log and reading...it was a good school but homework just seemed OTT and it started in reception.....my daughter's opinion was always I've already done this in school.

New school does not send out homework apart from reading and she may get some maths x tables.....and what a difference it makes...she can actually turn of from school..new school is graded outstanding and I think they have got it completely right.....

IMO ...If the teaching is good enough and they have support to help less able children within school hours then homework should not be necessary until yr3/4.....with regards to spelling..

I found my daughter always did very well in spelling tests (10/10) most weeks but then didn;t apply the spellings she had learnt within everyday writing....now i understand her new school actually encompass the spellings within everyday writing which appears to be a better way of learning and applying them.

mimsum · 21/01/2009 12:30

dd (y1) gets no homework at all apart from reading - they can change their books twice a week, but only have to change once - she will quite often write little stories etc when she gets home, but this is what she's chosen to do - sometimes all she wants to do is chill out in front of the telly - and that's fine too

homework doesn't start until y2 - and the school's currently having a complete reappraisal of the homework policy to make sure it's relevant and appropriate to each age group

hellywobs · 21/01/2009 12:40

We get reading in year 1 which we do nearly every day. We get other stuff as well but I tend not to bother unless it is something like writing something down for the teacher to look at.

At the junior school they have made homework compulsory - I don't agree with it but if the kids do not do it 3 weeks running they get kept in at breaktime! I imagine that if a parent complains they will get a lecture about suppporting the school etc. Personally I think other activities such as sport or music are more important than homework at primary school and arguably at secondary as well. Academic qualifications get you a job but it is the other skills that decide whether you keep it or not.

Original poster

Eeeeeek · 21/01/2009 13:37

Thanks again for posting.
Afaiaa dd is not on any special extension programme, but I did find out today that only her group (the most able 7) get spellings to learn at home. That's fine. Last week which was the first lot they had the words above, across, before, began, different and during.
I think it's the words this week that have thrown me. Dd didn't even know what transparent meant (she does now!)
Think I may just ask her teacher the reasons for those words.

OP posts:

Takver · 21/01/2009 14:20

My dd (yr 2) never gets any homework at all (she does bring a reading book home).

Lilybeto · 23/01/2009 10:37

My charge is in year 1 in Scotland. She gets homework from Monday to Friday. This includes a book every night, words from her word tin which now has over 100 in in, she has to read all the words every night and also has to learn the 3 new words that are put in. Once a week she has maths homework and spelling homework. She turned 5 in august. It generally takes about 30 minutes, which on days that she has activities can be hard to fit in.

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