Little-Giants' online Learning - Habit Heroes & Key Competencies

During your child’s time at school they will develop a range of skills and capabilities (Key Competencies) that will help them to do well in life. The world is different these days. It’s an exciting time for children to grow up in. It’s not enough for children to just keep learning more information at the expense of learning how to use that information and work with others. As well as learning about a variety of subjects, children need to learn how to learn, how to think for themselves, think alongside others, and be motivated to keep on learning throughout their lives - so that they can do well in their world. Key Competencies help your child learn these things. The Key Competencies (as in the NZ Curriculum) are:

Thinking

Things to try at Home:

Talk to your child about how thinking is important to make sense of everything they do at school and at home.
If you can, find out about the language/thinking strategies your child’s school uses for thinking strategies and different ways of thinking, so that you can notice and reinforce these at home.
Notice and praise your child when they use different sorts of thinking, like mathematical and logical thinking, or knowing how to find flaws in thinking (such as assuming that something is true based on a few examples)
Make it fun. Playful thinking is a great way of building the brain and your child’s thinking abilities. Games of all types - make believe, imaginary friends, “what if” flights of fancy, and so on all provide opportunities for playful thinking.

Using Language, Symbols and Texts

Things to try at Home:

Check whether your child understands the meaning in different types of texts or languages. If they tell you that something “is” so, ask them how they know, or what makes them think that. This can help them think about other possibilities, which is what the teachers do at school as well.
When you flick though the junk mail or watch television together, talk about the language the advertisers have used to make you want to buy their products. Encourage your child to think about how the language makes the advertising claims believable, and what information they leave out and what that also tells us.
Comment when you see a symbol used in a new way, or the same symbol used to mean different things in different contexts. Talk about who might have “invented” each use, and why. For example, the @ sign so widely used now for email addresses used to mean “and the cost is” – for example, “three packages @ $2 = $6 total”. A slightly different example is the morphing of a tick symbol into the Nike “swoosh” as a positive branding strategy.

Managing Self

Notice and comment when children do regular chores or homework without having to be prompted. This shows them that you value their independent self-management.
Talk about the challenges of learning, not just about what has been learned, and show them that you are always learning as well.
Don’t let children make excuses when the going gets hard, or worse, make those excuses for them. For example, instead of saying, “Maths is too hard. I was useless at it and so are my kids”, try something like “Maths is really hard but we’re working at it together”.

Relating to Others

Things to try at Home:

Talk openly about different ways of “being” in the world. Compare the different cultures in your life, so you can talk about what’s right in different contexts, and why. If you model respect, children are more likely to show it too.
Play the “devil’s advocate” from time to time. It is great for children to practice seeing things from different perspectives and to understand that respectful debate is healthy.
Think about how well you listen to, and negotiate with your children. Your child learns how to relate to others from you.

Participating and Contributing

Things to try at Home:

You might be surprised at which parts of your knowledge and skills would be welcomed by the teachers as they work to build more “authentic’ learning for students. For example, in schools where students are learning how to grow food, adults with gardening skills are likely to be able to help.
Encourage your child to take part in things they haven’t tried before. This challenges them and gets them involved in new activities and groups. Talk to them about the new skills and knowledge they gain.
Support your child when they take on leadership roles at school or in the community. This could be something as simple as being the recycling monitor for a week, caring for a class pet over the holidays, looking after younger students during breaks or at a sports day, taking care of equipment or resources, speaking during an assembly – schools are usually really good at providing varied opportunities for students to step up and take a lead for a time.