Learning and Teaching 

Supporting your child at home

As we settle into the next stage of remote learning, we can remember much of what we learned last time. As parents, you set up routines and assisted your child/children in their learning. Children were able to complete activities either independently or with your support. Some simple reminder tips are included in the image below.

Writing support

Writing is an area where teachers want to see the mistakes children are making as they write. This is important as it helps us to identify specific teaching areas to focus on such as spelling, grammar, punctuation, language use and paragraphing. When we see what the children write themselves, it allows us to specifically teach to their needs. Talking about the writing task before they start is a good support for the children. They can then have a good understanding of what they need to do.  When your child is completing their writing, we ask that you allow them to complete it themselves. 

Some tips for parents

• Allow your child to complete their writing independently
• Ask your child to sound out unfamiliar words and have a go at writing it
• When they have finished, read their writing and talk to them about what they have written.
• Don’t edit for them, edit with them. 
• Ask your child to use a different colour pen or pencil to edit:
  • Capital letters at the start of the sentence and names
  • Punctuation - full stops, exclamation marks, commas and question marks
  • Correct formation of lower case and upper case letters
  • Spaces between words
  • Spelling - sound out the word with them while editing
  • Paragraphs
  • Sentence structure - do the sentences make sense?
• After your child's edit, read through the work and talk about any other changes you would make (see list above).

As children become better writers they are able to independently edit their work. Children in the younger years of schooling will still need support with editing. 

Deborah Courtney

Director of Teaching and Learning