Reading at home

Make reading fun

• Help your child to follow a recipe and cook for the family.
• Encourage your child to read and follow instructions for playing a game, making or using a piece of equipment, or completing a competition entry form.
• Remember their reading doesn’t have to be a book – it could be online content, magazines or newspapers.

Talk about it

• Ask your child to talk about parts of a story they liked and why. Talk about the key facts, characters, plot, setting, theme and author’s purpose. Have them retell the main ideas or describe characters, events or facts they were interested in. Ask them to show you where the story supports their thinking.
• Be a role model. Show you read for a variety of reasons; for example, to compare products advertised online, to be informed on current issues or to relax.
• Try reading the same book as your child so you can talk about it together.
• Talk about TV shows or online content you are watching. What were the main ideas? Talk about the order events happen in – practising this skill is important as children can find this difficult to learn. What did they like/dislike and why?

Read to your child

• Just because your child can read doesn’t mean that they don’t enjoy listening to someone else reading. It could be a non-fiction book on a topic they like or a short story or a longer book read in instalments. It could also be a more difficult book/article that your child needs your help to read and understand.
• You could also listen to audio stories together – you can borrow these from the library or download them.
• Encourage your child to read the lyrics to their favourite songs, waiata or haka. Talk about why the composer wrote the song. What were they trying to say?

Keep them interested 

• Find books, magazines or online content about your child’s interests. Reading about their favourite sport, player, team or kapa haka group or an issue they are interested in will help them to be an expert on a particular subject.

• Find books that relate to TV shows, movies or videos they know, or the area they come from. Knowing some of the ideas, characters or ancestors/tīpuna before you start reading can make it easier to understand a book. Talk about how the book differs from the TV show, movie or video and how it builds on what they already know.

• Join the library and visit regularly to help your child choose books that interest them – you may want to encourage your child to read different types of books including non-fiction stories.

Writing at home

• Encourage your child to listen for and use interesting words. Having a wide range of words will help your child create stories which will increase in complexity.
• Use technology. Messaging using apps with appropriate parental supervision is a form of writing even if the language is not always standard.
• Use a laptop or other device if your child isn’t keen on writing. They don’t have to think about the presentation of their work and editing does not require a complete re-write. Spell-check helps, too.
• Complete crosswords and word puzzles.
• Create a message board such as a white board, blackboard or pin board. The messages might be instructions, reminders, or praise for a job well done, as well as examples of work. Encourage your child and other family members to respond with messages, too.

Talk about writing with your child 

• Talk with your child about their day. Talking helps them to organise their thinking and is an important first step for any writing.
• Talk about new words your child is not familiar with, using an online dictionary to find out more. 
• Be a positive audience for your child. Always respond to the effort behind the message and the message content first (regardless of how the message is written) and the presentation second. Keep in mind what your child is currently learning to do, and comment just on that.
• Keep a holiday journal. Before the holidays ask your child to write a list of possible activities they want to do that keep to your budget and get them to draw up an activity plan. Remember to include any events or activities you have to attend; for example, school camp, noho marae, church, doctor, sports training, family/whānau reunion. Your child could write a list of what to pack.

Keep them interested

• Encourage your child to read. Reading and writing are linked and success in one is likely to lead to success in the other.
• Buy interesting stationery for your child to use. Coloured pens and pencils can be an incentive to write together with special paper or books. Give a diary, book or notebook as a present.
• Set up an email account together where they can write to friends and family. Support them online using guidance from NetSafe. 
• Plan for them to be able to use a device for writing either at home, at school or at a library.
• Look for real reasons for writing. Encourage your child to read and write letters, messages, postcards, invitations, lists, rosters, thank-you notes and recipes. 
• Make lists for a particular reason; for example, shopping lists or jobs to be completed.
• Encourage your child to write on their own - on paper or on a device. Poems, songs, waiata, short stories or a diary or journal. A journal can be a way for your child to keep track of their thoughts, ideas or a particular interest. For example, keep a journal of their sports training, kapa haka practice or compile favourite recipes.
• It might be fun to write to a favourite author or kaumātua to ask what helps them to write their stories and compositions.

Maths at home

Talk together and have fun 

Have fun with numbers, shapes, games and patterns. Help your child to:

• talk about sales in town – 25% off, 30%, 10%, half price. Look for the best value and make a game of calculating the savings on items your child is interested in
• identify and describe how 2D shapes have been moved within kōwhaiwhai and tukutuku panels, and how 3D shapes have been moved in carvings
• budget pocket money and/or plan ahead to open a savings account. Talk about earning interest and investigate with your child which bank account will give them the best return for their money
• talk about current prices for items that interest them and investigate which store offers the best price
• notice angles, parallel and perpendicular lines around them.

Keep them interested

• Find books, magazines or online content about your child’s interests. Reading about their favourite sport, player, team or kapa haka group or an issue they are interested in will help them to be an expert on a particular subject.
• Find books that relate to TV shows, movies or videos they know, or the area they come from. Knowing some of the ideas, characters or tīpuna | ancestors before you start reading can make it easier to understand a book.
• Talk about how the book differs from the TV show, movie or video and how it builds on what they already know.
• Join the library and visit regularly to help your child choose books that interest them – you may want to encourage your child to read different types of books including non-fiction stories.

Use easy, everyday activities

Involve your child in:

• cooking – explore recipes and amounts of food and costs within a budget when catering for larger numbers, for example, school camp
• making a shopping list for the week within a budget
• revising times tables – check with your child/their teacher which tables you could help your child practise
• investigating which supermarket offers the best deal on petrol
• reading a timetable to find out how long events are such as a bus or train trip.

For wet afternoons/school holidays/weekends

Get together with your child and:

• play games – find a new board or card game that uses strategy
• plan and budget the family holiday (or a day trip) – look online for the best transport method in terms of time and money, accommodation, and activities to do
• guess how many times you use your cell phone a day/week/month and predict the cost. Work out the best price, pre-paid versus a plan
• play travel games – invent mathematics games to play while walking with friends, travelling in the car, at the park
• plan for a family event, like a dinner. What is the cheapest option – cooking at home or getting takeaways?
• make bead necklaces and friendship bracelets – calculate the cost of the materials needed and the time needed to make them. Is it cheaper to just buy them already made?
• play outdoor and indoor games – frisbee, touch rugby, netball, kilikiti, cricket, soccer, bowls, snooker and darts
• build a fort – plan, design, collect the materials and build it
• design and create a piece of art using patterns, shape and line
• plan and create simple household objects using recycled materials, i.e. placemats, a gift box, birdfeeders, pet toys.

Download the year 7 resources