Learning from home

We are conscious of how busy home life can get in a rural community - whether you are travelling to sports practices or whether there is a lot on at home. As a result, homework can often be a difficult task to manage at home.

We believe the purpose of homework at a Primary School level is to engage parents with their child's learning, and it is optional for students up to Year 7. If you are engaging with your child through ways outside of set homework, then we would encourage you to continue to do so. Do not feel pressured into forcing students under Y6 to complete homework, this is something you can decide at home and the school will support that decision.

Because homework not only takes time to prepare, but also takes time either inside or outside of classrooms to mark, we only want to provide this work for households who will ensure the work is completed (we can often have as low as 10% of students complete set homework each week in classrooms). If you would like to continue to receive homework, please fill out the google form on this page.

If you do not want the responsibility to chase your children up to get homework completed, but wanted them to do something, we have provided some suggestions and resources below that you can use to either sit down with your child and work with them. These resources could easily be used independently as a daily routine at home.

Homework suggestions

If you are still keen to give your child(ren) something to do at home during the year, or if they are absent from school for a period of time, below are some ideas and resources that you can give your child to do. A lot of these resources students can use independently, or you can use a number to of activities to do something together.

I have also provided a list of questions that can be used to help guide students in their activities - and reflect on what they have done. You could get students to write answers to them, or get them to take a photo of their work and explain the answers on seesaw.

Y1-2

Home readers
- - The school will no longer send home readers for students to read to their caregivers. We are following a very structured reading program that concentrates on giving students the skills to sound out words across varying levels. Unfortunately, a lot of the junior texts have a range of sounds outside of what is being taught, which can confuse students learning to read if sent home with students.
  - We encourage caregivers to read to their children every night, and make reading fun!
Math
- - Practise basic facts, addition/subtraction -
    1. 1. Prototec is a great website for students to get basic fact practise. Post your certificate on seesaw so the teacher can see progress!
        Select a stage for your child to be tested on
        If they find it too hard, choose an earlier stage. If it is too easy, choose a later stage
        Click the mark button and post on seesaw!
        We also have a basic facts program called Flash Facts that we can provide for parents upon request - paper copies
  - Practise counting forwards, backwards, and counting objects
Reading
- - Use the sound card just below to say with your child
  - LETTER SOUNDS video for sounds found here
  - LETTER SOUNDS chitter chatter chant found here
  - Read to your children
Practise heart words - lists below

Y3-6

Math
- - Practise basic facts
    1. 1. Prototec
      2. Flash facts
  - Students from Y3 up have Math Buddy accounts that are funded by the school. These have activities for students to do that have been set by the teacher. Students could spend 10-15 mins working on these activities.
Reading
- - Practise heart words if they are still on these lists - lists below (heart words are words that don't follow rules covered in code for that age)
  - I have included a few links below that have activities for students to do at home. Some may involve parents, and some activities students can do independently.
  - Ministry of Education has a page that has ideas for parents here

Y7-8

We are aware that High Schools have homework requirements for their students, so we want to prepare our students for that expectation. We also use this to help to develop time management skills for Year 7 and 8 students. As a result, we will provide structured homework for Year 7-8 students.

Year 1 heart words

my, the, I, to, he, she, we, see, do, are, for, her, have, said, here, they, come, was, one, two, went, look, you, going, like.

Year 2 heart words

there, want, out, could, would, should, all, ball, small, call, other, brother, mother, another, over, after, because, school, people, friend, put, some, were, who, your, what, down, saw.

Year 3 heart words

any, also, ask, ever, many, very, only, help, their, through, bought, really, hour, gone, never, always, house, eyes, more, once, our, fast, last.

Below I have also included links to websites, apps, and activities that have some good activities for students to do.

Sound card used for Year 1-2 students to practice letter sounds. Watch the videos next to the card to ensure your sounds are correct. The school has printed copies if requested.

Click on the image to watch a video on letter sounds

Click on the above image to see someone demonstrate how to use the sound card and the images

Examples of questions for students to answer after doing these activities below...

Summarise what the article is about, and identify three interesting things you have learnt.
- - - Paragraph 1 - What is this article about?
    - Para 2, 3, and 4.
      - First sentence outlines one interesting thing.
        Next 2-3 sentences give a bit more detail about why it is interesting to you.
        Next sentence links the interesting thing, or something about it, to something else in the world.
Draw a diagram or picture that helps explain something you have learnt to someone else. Make sure to use labels to identify the important parts of your diagram. Explain how your object works in no more than five bullet points.
What was the most difficult thing you had to do? Why was this so difficult?
What did you want to learn more about, or improve next time?
Take a picture of the best part of your work, post it on seesaw and write three sentences explaining why you chose this part.

you could choose to use these resources...

as a daily routine where students choose a site to work on for a set period of time
as a weekly routine where students choose a site to work on for a set period of time
you could select a site, or activity, for students to work on for a set period of time
for some sites you could set the challenge of doing 1-5 activities from the site
for the Kiwico site, you may get your child(ren) to work on a project over the week, or longer if required
a prompt for students to show you how they solve problems, or how they can work through the tasks