How to help at home

Phonics and Reading

Read with your child daily and practise the sounds that they are learning at school!

Writing

Support your child in their writing by encouraging them to listen to the sounds in words and write them down, they will hear more sounds in order as they become more confident. 

You can help at home by:

• providing opportunities for independent mark making
• valuing and encourage all mark making
• praise your child for having a go or being resilient when writing.
• avoiding scribing for your child (dotting / writing over the top / copy writing)
• practising the phonemes and grapheme correspondence
• encouraging the use of phonemes and accept their own spellings e.g. hows (house)
• encouraging the correct pencil grip - 'froggy legs'

Number 

You can support your child with their number skills at home by:

• singing songs that take away or add things e.g. 10 green bottles, 1 man went to mow, 5 current buns
• exploit all counting opportunities – count stairs, count buttons, count lampposts on a walk, count ‘red’ cars on a journey etc.
• commercial games such as snakes and ladders - these help with the counting on strategy.
• throwing beanbags/balls at numbered targets and adding up scores – who scored the most? The least? You could even start recording a score as you go, using numbers or a tally.
• practise counting in 2s, 5s and 10s.
• look for numbers whilst walking or on a journey
• ask questions like ‘if I took one away how many would I have left? ‘ or if I add one how many have I got now?
• use magnetic numbers on the fridge or foam numbers for the bath. Put them in order. Miss one out of a sequence – do they know which one is missing?

Shape, Space and Measure

You can support your child in developing their shape, space and measure understanding at home by:

Looking for and naming shapes at home and in the environment

• Talking about 3D (solid) shape names - packaging for food items is an excellent way.
• Junk modelling with 2D and 3D shapes – can you name them all?
• Making pictures with different shapes.
• Involve your child in cooking. Look at numbers on scales and measuring jugs.
• Measure and compare feet sizes and height of other family members.
• Shopping activities – real or pretend – use real money to help identify coins and weight.

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Useful Websites

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize 

www.topmarks.co.uk 

http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/kentict/content/games/ 

www.ictgames.com/literacy 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/index.shtml 

www.phonicsplay.co.uk 

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/PicnicOnPluto.html

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/reading-owl/expert-help/phonics-made-easy