Curriculum Evening How can you help at home? March 2013

Reading How can you help your children at home?

Reading with your child is vital. Research shows that it's the single most important thing you can do to help your child's education. It's best to read little and often, so try to put aside some time for it every day. BBC Learning website

Two strands of reading Comprehension The action or capability of understanding something. Questions Beyond the text Decoding text Phonics Sight vocabulary (the)

Try to listen to your child read regularly. Shorter sessions four times a week is much better than longer sessions once a week. Find a quiet place to share books where you can be comfortable. Talk about the book and ask questions. Encourage your child to read a range of texts such as newspapers, comics, poetry, non-fiction, etc. Share a book with your child. This may involve you reading to them or reading and talking together about the book. Play word games. Encourage children to read a series of books from a favourite author or books on topics of interests especially to keep reluctant readers interested. How can you support your child’s reading at home?

-Your child doesn’t have to read the whole book -Play word games -Find texts that interest your child -Make reading a fun experience -Create a reading den at home -Take advantage of all opportunities to include comprehension questions. How can I support my child who is a reluctant reader?

Comprehension questions Recall/knowledge What characters were in the story? Write 6 facts about the story. Comprehension What was the cause of the main event in the story? Application If you had to cook a meal for one of the characters in the story what would you cook? Analytical What part of the story was the funniest/saddest, etc? Why? Synthesis Make a story like this one but use only your friends as characters in it. Evaluation Was this the best ending for the story? Why or why not?

What do you think is happening in this picture? Why? Who do you think the most important character in this picture is? Why?

What time of day was in when this photograph was taken? Where are they going? What happened before/after this photograph was taken?

Keep asking them comprehension questions when you can Set your child challenges to complete when they have finished the book. Have a book club Ask your child to write comments about the book in their communication diary. Get your child to be the teacher My child likes to read independently how can I help them?

Other reading opportunities Visit the library Online stories Instructions (games, building) Road signs TV guides, Magazines, Comics Movies Show your child that you read too!

How can you help your children at home? Mental Maths

What is mental maths? Rapid recall of number facts is just one aspect Others include Working out answers using known facts Understand and use the relationship between the four operations Construct equivalent calculations

Research Learning key facts “by heart” enables children to concentrate on the calculation which in turn helps them develop calculation strategies Using and applying strategies to work out answers helps children to acquire and so remember more facts

Practical Equipment Mental calculations involve visualising, imagining and working things out in your head But Children cannot visualise if they have not had practical experiences Therefore Provide suitable equipment for children to manipulate and explore how and why a calculation strategy works

Underlying Teaching Principle Ensure that children can confidently add and subtract any pair of two digit numbers mentally, using jottings where necessary ONLY then will children be able to successfully apply themselves to written column methods

Ideas for home Counting footsteps on the way to school (in 1’s, 2’s, 5’s etc forwards and backwards) Making up dances/moves/songs for times tables/number bonds Quiz Number of the day Making number lines Cooking Measuring Gardening Lots of practise and it should be fun

“Educate not censure” What is E-Safety?

Statistics  67% of 5-7 year olds use the Internet at home.  82% of 5-7 year olds use a gaming device.  Children aged 5-7 use the internet for an estimated 5.2 hours in a typical week.  5-7s use of social networking sites has increased from 7% in 2009 to 23% in  34% of 8-12s have a profile on sites that require users to register as being 13 or over. Source: Ofcom Report on Children’s Media Literacy 2011

What are your favourite sites and services?

 Sharing Top Tips  Coming up with your own E-safety rules at home. Do they know what to do if they come across something that makes them feel uneasy?  Looking at E-safety websites together  Encourage the use of devises with webcams in busy places in your house  E-safety is about educating and being aware of risks How can we help our children to use the internet safely?

A website set up and run by local teachers They have researched over 500 APPs and only around 70 made it on the site. You can search by age and subject Each app has a review and the price

A list of useful websites me/index.shtmlhttp:// me/index.shtml

The children use it at school to support their learning Literacy, Numeracy, Science From EYFS to Year 6 Home access - £2 per year for each child You will get a unique login It will be on in Snowy Owls for you to try. Let us know tonight or by next week if you would like to join.

For advice on setting up parental controls on your computer these seemed like useful websites aspx#fbid=J3Rad3K2YEZ controls-laptop.html

Workshops Badgers – ICT and SATs Snowy Owls – mental maths Tawny Owls – phonics Otters - reading