Home Learning

Lots and lots of informal home learning goes on at home every day through day-to-day interactions, play and family life. Well researched studies suggest that most ‘homework’ is not very useful or has minimal benefit for primary-aged students. However, regular reading at home for at least 30 minutes a day is very beneficial. Therefore at Ruahine School our Home Learning aims to:

Provide a positive link between home and school that enhances a child’s learning.
Promote reading mileage and reading for enjoyment.
Reinforce skills previously taught in the classroom.

All students should be engaged in reading for 30 minutes daily Monday to Friday (or x5 days per week – there will be nights where family commitments outweigh home learning priorities).

READING WITH EMERGENT/DEVELOPING READERS

Emergent and developing readers need plenty of practice reading aloud to others to practise their oral fluency, accuracy and expression. Students are expected to read aloud to a sibling, parent, grandparent daily.

Texts that are sent home should be easy for students to read as reading as home reading should be enjoyable and positive (texts will be provided in the reading pouches for younger students and may also include basic sight words of alphabet letters). Please don’t limit yourselves to these reading experiences.

Reading for enjoyment and listening to or sharing a book with adults are valuable learning experiences. This will help them develop their reading mileage and range of vocabulary, as well as allow them opportunities to practise the skills currently being learnt in the classroom. Discussion of the meaning of new or interesting words children have found whilst reading also helps develop their vocabulary and comprehension.

READING FOR FLUENT READERS

Once a students has become a fluent reader they will be allowed to select their own reading material for home reading.

Reading for enjoyment is a valuable learning experience. Children can select what material they read, for example: magazines, comics, newspapers, TV guides, books and novels (fiction/non-fiction) websites etc. This will help them develop their reading mileage and range of vocabulary, as well as allow them opportunities to practise the skills currently being learnt in the classroom.

Reading a variety of text types is important for fluent readers to improve vocabulary and comprehension.

SPELLING AND BASIC FACTS

Spelling and basic facts lists will not be sent home for home learning. We appreciate that some family/whānau like to practise these at home to practise good ‘work habits’.
Essential Spelling Lists and resources for practising basic facts are provided below.

STUDENTS WHO NEED EXTRA SUPPORT

Sometimes students need a little extra practice in different learning areas. If a teacher feels your student would benefit from extra support through home learning they will meet with family/whānau and work in partnership with you to discuss experiences or activities at home that will support your child. We do not want to recreate school at home. We will work in partnership to devise activities that will easily fit in with your home environment.

YEAR 8 PASSION PROJECT

As part of the William Pike Challenge, Year 8 students will need to complete at least 20 hours of a passion project over the year. This will help them develop skills around the effective use of time and organisation.

ADDITIONAL

From time to time, students may be encouraged to practise something at home, e.g. class speech.

Please note the following:

Non-completion of Home Learning will not be a disciplinary issue at school.

OPTIONAL HOME LEARNING

SPELLING

If you wish to spend time supporting your child with ‘Spelling’ we do provide a series of Essential Spelling Lists for your child to learn at home. We suggest that you:

Have your child spend time learning these words, 5-10 each week
Practise using the word in a sentence
Have them spell the word out loud to you when you say it to them.
Have them write the word when they hear it said to them.
Practise typing the word using a computer keyboard when the word is said.

This is an optional home learning activity the you may choose to do with your child/ren.

Spelling List 1

a	I	it	the	was
and	in	my	to	we

Spelling List 2

at	had	of	that	up
but	he	on	then	went
for	is	she	there	when
got	me	so	they	you

Spelling List 3

about	be	go	into	our
after	because	going	just	out
all	came	have	like	said
are	day	her	mum	some
as	down	his	not	were
back	get	home	one	with

Spelling List 4

again	do	next	people	time
an	first	night	put	took
around	food	no	ran	two
big	from	now	saw	us
by	good	off	school	very
can	has	old	see	what
come	him	only	started	well
could	house	or	their	will
dad	if	other	them	would
did	little	over	this	your

Spelling List 5

am	door	last	once	through
another	everyone	left	play	told
away	family	long	really	too
bed	five	looked	room	walked
been	found	made	something	want
before	friend	man	still	way
best	fun	more	thing	where
brother	heard	morning	think	which
called	here	name	thought	who
car	know	never	three	year

Spelling List 6

also	cool	eyes	head	jump
always	dark	fell	hit	knew
asked	decided	felt	how	later
black	dog	find	inside	life
boy	eat	four	it’s	live
bus	end	gave	its	lot
cat	even	getting	I’ll	lunch
coming	every	great	I’m	make
minutes	place	sister	top	water
most	ready	sleep	town	while
much	ride	suddenly	tree	why
nice	right	take	turned	window
opened	run	tell	until	woke
outside	say	ten	wanted	yes

Spelling List 7

any	each	ground	money	soon
baby	ever	guard	mother	stay
bad	everything	hand	myself	stop
ball	face	happened	new	swimming
being	fast	happy	parents	tea
bit	father	help	picked	than
boat	few	hole	playing	tried
bought	finally	hot	presents	under
camp	finished	hour	road	wait
dead	game	let	side	work
died	girl	look	small	won
doing	gone	many	sometimes	world

BASIC FACTS

Why is learning Basic Facts important for your child?

Children learn to solve everyday mathematical problems that can be complicated and require higher level maths concepts. Basic Facts knowledge frees the brain to focus on finding correct and effective problem solving strategies rather than working out basic calculations.
By learning Basic Facts, your child will also develop a keen number sense. This means that he/she will better understand the relationship between numbers.
If your child is struggling with recalling his/her Basic Facts each day, he/she may lose his/her confidence in mathematics abilities. This can lead to a loss of interest or effort in mathematics.

Learning basic facts is a daily focus at school. If you wish to spend time supporting your child with ‘Basic Facts’ we provide the resources below to support this. Try to make basic fact learning fun and enjoyable!

Year 0-2

Addition and Subtraction Facts to 5
Doubles to 10
Addition and Subtraction Facts to 10
Doubles to 10 and Halves from 20
“Ten and” facts
Multiples of 10 that add to 100

Examples of Activities for Year 0-2

Fingers (Facts to 5)

Ask your child to hold up the fingers of one hand. How many fingers have you got? Ask your child questions about making 5, for example: Show me 2 fingers. How many fingers to make 5? Show me 4 fingers. How many fingers to make 5? Ask your child questions about taking away from 5, for example: Show me 5 fingers. If you tuck 3 away how many would be left standing? Show me 5 fingers. If you tuck 1 away how many would be left standing? Work through all the combinations of 5 in this way.

Skittles (Facts to 10)

Using 2 balls and a set of 10 skittles (you can make these using empty plastic bottles with a little sand or water in them to help them balance), set up skittles in a 4, 3, 2, 1 triangular array. The child rolls the ball. Talk about how many skittles have fallen, for example if three skittles are down: How many skittles are standing? 7 How many skittles have fallen? 3 We can say 7 and 3 is 10, or 10 take away 3 is 7. It is important to focus on both addition and subtraction facts to help your child understand the link between these. Help your child to write the addition and subtraction facts on a piece of paper: 7 + 3 = 10 10 – 3 = 7 Set up the skittles again and repeat.

Rock, Paper, Scissors (Addition Facts)

Two players sit opposite each other and like the game Rock, Paper, Scissors they hold closed fists and count together to 3. Then they open their hands and show a number of fingers. The first player adds the numbers together. This is their score for the first round. Record the score on a piece of paper. The second player then has a turn. At the end of 5 rounds each player adds their 5 scores together (using the calculator) and the winner is the player with the highest total score.

Save the Whale (Bonds to 10)

Website: ICT Games Save the Whale

Cards (Pairs to 10 and 100)

Use a pack of cards with picture cards removed. Shuffle the cards and deal 6 cards to each player. Place the other cards in a pile face down between the players with the top card turned over beside the pile. The aim of the game is to make pairs that add to 10, pairs are placed on the table. The first player can take the face up card or one from the pile. The players take turns until one player wins the game by placing all their cards in pairs on the table. The cards can be used to play ‘Memory’, where a pair is two cards that add to 10, for example 6 and 4. Extend this game to facts to 100 by helping your child write the pair to 10 (3+7=10) and then the related pair to 100 (30+70=100).

Year 2-4

Addition and Subtraction Facts to 20
Multiplication and division facts for x2, x5, x10
Multiples of 100 that add to 1000

Examples of Activities for Year 2-4

Card I-Spy (Addition and Multiplication)

You can use a pack of cards to practise addition facts and multiplication facts. Deal out the cards in 10 rows of 4 or 5 rows of 8. Players take turns to challenge the others. For example: I spy two cards the add to 14 OR I spy two cards that multiply to make 30. Players look for 2 cards next to each other, horizontally, vertically or diagonally, that add/multiply to give the number specified. The player that finds the combination collects the 2 cards. If the combination of cards cannot be found, the player who posed the ‘I Spy’ question takes the two cards. If the player made an error and there is no such combination of cards, nobody collects any cards and the next player takes their turn. As cards are removed, the remaining cards are rearranged to fill in the spaces. The winner is the player with the most cards once all the cards have been collected. A simpler version for multiplication is to use fewer cards: aces, twos, threes, fours and fives. This is a total of 20 cards that can be arranged in 4 rows of 5

License Plates (Addition and Subtraction)

As you drive in the car or walk beside the road, write down the numbers you see on vehicle license plates. Add up each of the digits to give a total. For example if the license plate has the numbers 5682, the total of the digits is 5+6+8+2=21. Who can spot the car with the highest total? Add or subtract the digits to get as close as possible to zero. For example, if a license plate has the digits 3726, you might say “7+2-3-6=0”.

Make 1000 Challenge (Facts to 1000)

Use a calculator to challenge each other to make number pairs that add to one thousand. Enter a three digit number that is a multiple of 100 into the calculator. For example, 400. Challenge the other player to make the number into one thousand using just one other number. In the above example the child needs to enter “+ 600=” to make one thousand. Take turns entering numbers and completing the challenge using many different three digit numbers. Use the facts to ten that they know to help them work out facts to 1000. For example, if you know 2 + 8 = 10, you can use this to work out 200 + 800 = 1000.

NZ Maths Learning Object Website: NZ Maths Addition and Subtraction Basic Facts

You will need to create a FREE account using an email address.

XtraMath Website: XtraMath

You will need to create a FREE account using an email address.

Year 4-6

All multiplication and division facts to x10
Multiplication facts with 10s, 100s and 1000s

Examples Activities for Year 4-6

Card I-Spy (Addition and Subtraction; Multiplication and Division)

Play I-Spy addition and multiplication as described to the left. Extend this game by making it compulsory for the player to say the family of facts before they pick up the cards. For example: I spy two cards that add to 17. The player picking up the cards then needs to say 8+9=17; 9+8=17; 17-8-9; 17-9=8 OR I spy two cards the add to 48. The player picking up the card then needs to say 6×8=48; 8×6=48; 48÷6=8; 48÷8=48.

NZ Maths Learning Object Website: NZ Maths Multiplication and Division Basic Facts

You will need to create a FREE account using an email address.

XtraMath Website: XtraMath

You will need to create a FREE account using an email address.

Rock, Paper, Scissors (Multiplication Facts)

Make sure numbers over 5 are displayed using all the fingers on one hand and some from the other hand.

Tens, Hundreds, Thousands

Type a basic fact into the calculator, for example “10 x 100”. Before you press “=” ask your child to predict what the answer will be. Take turns with your child to enter the basic facts into the calculator and predict the results. For each fact that you solve, discuss whether the answer from the calculator is reasonable. For example, 10 x 100 = 1000 can be reasoned as “5 x 100 = 500, and 500 is half of 1000, so 1000 must be the right answer.” This encourages your child to check the answers they receive from the calculator, rather than accept them as correct without consideration. Keep a list of the problems you solve. Can you see a pattern in the answers? Look at the number of zeros in each problem and solution.

Year 6-8

Divisibility rules
Square numbers and square roots
Fraction, decimal and percentage conversions
Factors, common factors, highest common factors
Multiples, common multiples, least common multiples

Examples of Activities for Year 6-8

Calculator Factors

Enter a 2 digit number into the calculator. Ask your child to name as many factors of this number as they can. Factors come in pairs that multiply together to give the number. Every number has at least 1 and itself as factors. If your child is unsure whether a number is a factor, use the calculator to check. For example, if they are unsure whether 6 is a factor of 48, calculate 48 divided by 6. This will tell you the number that multiplies with 6 to give 48. In this example 48 ÷ 6 = 8 so both 6 and 8 are factors of 48. If the answer to the division is not a whole number, ie, it has a decimal point, then the number is not a factor. For example 48 ÷ 5 = 9.6 so 5 is not a factor of 48. Take turns with your child to name factors for numbers and use the calculator. Use the basic multiplication facts they know to help them identify factors. For example, if you know 4 x 8 is 32, you can use this to identify that 4 and 8 are factors of 32.

License Plates – Divisibility Rules!

Each time you are out in the car look for car license plates that are divisible by 2. As players find numbers that can be divided by 2 with no remainder they call them out. If you like you can keep a track of the score, with players receiving one point for each correct answer. Once your child is confident finding numbers divisible by 2, move on to look for numbers divisible by 3, 4, 5, 9 or 10.

Equivalent (Fraction, Decimal and Percentage Conversion) Website: ICT Games Equivalence

Decention (Fraction, Decimal and Percentage Conversion) Website: Math Playground Decention

Common Factor Challenge (Factors and Common Factors)

Using a deck of cards with all face cards removed, shuffle the cards and deal out two pairs of cards face up. These represent two 2-digit numbers. Ask your child to name the factors of each. Factors are numbers that divide evenly into a number with no remainder (e.g. the factors of 6 are 1, 2, 3, and 6). Factors come in pairs that multiply together to give the number. Every number has at least 1 and itself as factors. You may want to list the factors of each number on a piece of paper. If either of the numbers have only 1 and themselves as factors, then they are called prime numbers. Ask your child to identify the common factors of the two numbers – if there are any. Repeat the steps above with more random pairs of numbers. Encourage your child to quickly identify some common factors without listing all factors, for example: All pairs of numbers have 1 as a common factor; If both numbers are even they have 2 as a common factor; If both numbers end in either 0 or 5 then they have 5 as a common factor; If both numbers end in 0 then they have 2, 5 and 10 as common factors.

Common Multiple Challenge (Multiples and Common Multiples)

Using a deck of cards with a face cards removed, shuffle the cards and deal out two cards face up. Ask your child to name some multiples of each. Multiples are numbers you get when you multiply the number by another number. If your child knows their times tables this will be easy for them, for example, the multiples of 7 are 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42… Ask your child to identify one common multiple of the two numbers. The easiest way to do this is to multiply the two numbers together. For example, if the two numbers are 4 and 6, one common multiple is 24 (4×6). Ask your child to identify at least two more common multiples of the two numbers. They can find common multiples by doubling or tripling the first one they found (for example 48 and 72 are also common multiples of 4 and 6), but encourage them to look for others. Ask your child to identify the lowest common multiple of the two numbers. This may be the result of multiplying the two numbers together but often is not. For example, the lowest common multiple of 4 and 6 is 12. If one number is a multiple of the other then the lowest common multiple will be the higher number, for example the lowest common multiple of 3 and 6 is 6.

Repeat the steps above with more random pairs of numbers

Common Multiple Challenge (Multiples and Common Multiples)

Using a deck of cards with all face cards removed, shuffle the cards and deal out two cards face up. Ask your child to name some multiples of each. Multiples are numbers you get when you multiply the number by another number. If your child knows their times tables this will be easy for them, for example, the multiples of 7 are 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42… Ask your child to identify one common multiple of the two numbers. The easiest way to do this is to multiply the two numbers together. For example, if the two numbers are 4 and 6, one common multiple is 24 (4×6). Ask your child to identify at least two more common multiples of the two numbers. They can find common multiples by doubling or tripling the first one they found (for example 48 and 72 are also common multiples of 4 and 6), but encourage them to look for others. Ask your child to identify the lowest common multiple of the two numbers. This may be the result of multiplying the two numbers together but often is not. For example, the lowest common multiple of 4 and 6 is 12. If one number is a multiple of the other then the lowest common multiple will be the higher number, for example the lowest common multiple of 3 and 6 is 6. Repeat the steps above with more random pairs of numbers.

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Term Dates 2023