| What activities can we give children to engage them at home as well as to motivate them at school? |
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Research taster
Parents particularly appreciate activities which give them insights into what and how their children are doing at school. Shoe box activities, where children select objects from home that can fit in a shoe box, and discuss them in class, are particularly engaging for children and give them and their parents a chance to talk about what they will be doing at school. This parent describes her son’s excitement after preparing and discussing his shoe box in class: “He thought he was the bees knees. He really enjoyed doing that … the whole six weeks he was on and on about it.”  .
Your evidence
Some of the assignments you set children to carry out at home may provide greater opportunities for parent-child interaction than others. You may wish to investigate further what these are. You could have a simple list with you at parents’ evenings of the types of activities you set for homework, and ask parents which ones involve greater discussion with their children. (Adapted from reflective activity) Moving forward Having found out the types of activities you are already setting which encourage parent-child discussions, how could you extend your repertoire? You could, for instance, exchange this information with colleagues to find out their practice, and think through adaptations or some new activities. You could also visit the site below for further ideas for home-school activities.  Find out more about the TLRP Home-school knowledge exchange project at: http://www.tlrp.org/project%20sites/HomeSchool/index.htmFind out more about effective home-school liaisons at: http://www.gtce.org.uk/policyandresearch/research/ROMtopics/parentalrom/ or http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/research/themes/parents/ |
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