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We know that homework can be a real drag. It’s time-consuming, and can be difficult to complete all on your own. So, what can you do if you’re struggling?

You might try looking online or in the app store! If you’ve already looked around you probably know that there are tons of homework sites for students and homework apps out there that all say they can help you improve your grades and pass your classes. But, can you trust them? And what are the best apps for homework help?

Below, we answer these questions and more about homework help apps–free and paid . We’ll go over: 

• The basics of homework help apps
• The cost of homework help apps
• The five best apps for homework help
• The pros and cons of using apps that help you with homework 
• The line between “learning” and “cheating” when using apps that help you with homework
• Tips for getting the most out of homework sites for students 

So let’s jump in!

The Basics About Apps that Help You With Homework–Free and Paid

The bottom line is, homework sites and homework apps are intended to help you complete your take-home assignments successfully. They provide assistance that ranges from answering questions you submit through a portal all the way to one-on-one tutoring, depending on the help you need! 

The big plus for both homework help apps and websites is that they usually offer help on-demand. So if you can’t make it to after school tutoring, or if you're studying late into the night (it happens!), you can still access the help you need! 

If you’re specifically looking for an answer to the question: “what is the best homework help website ?,” you can check out our article on those here! [LINK COMING SOON]

What’s the Difference Between a Homework Help Website and an App?

So if they’re both designed to give you a little boost with your take-home assignments, what makes homework apps and websites different from one another? First off, homework help websites are optimized to be used on a desktop, while apps are designed to be run natively on mobile devices. So depending on which devices you have access to, you may decide to use a website instead of an app…or vice versa! 

The other big difference between homework help apps and websites is that they sometimes offer different features. For instance, with the Photomath app, you’ll be able to submit photos of math problems instead of having to type everything out, which is easier to do by using an app on your phone. 

If you’re trying to decide whether to go with a website or app, the good news is that you may not have to. Some homework help websites also have companion apps, so you can have the best of both worlds!

What Makes a Homework Help App Worth Using

Apps that help you with homework should ideally help you actually learn the material you’re struggling with, and/or help you turn in your work on time. Most of the best apps for homework help allow you to ask questions and provide answers and explanations almost immediately. And like we mentioned earlier, many of these apps let you send a picture of a question or problem instead of writing it all out.

But homework help apps offer more than just quick answers and explanations for your assignment questions. They also offer things like educational videos, lectures, tutorials, practice tests and quizzes, math solving tools, proofreading services, and even Q&A with experts.

And the best part is, most offer these services 24/7! 

What You Should Look Out For

When it comes to homework help, there are lots–and we mean lots –of apps willing to prey on desperate students. Before you download any apps (and especially before you pay to sign up for any services), read reviews of the app to ensure you’re working with a legitimate company. 

Keep in mind: the more a company advertises help that seems like cheating, the more likely it is to be a scam. Actual subject matter experts aren’t likely to work with those companies. Remember, the best apps for homework help are going to help you learn the concepts needed to successfully complete your homework on your own. 

If you’re not sure if an app is legitimate, you can also check to see if the app has an honor code about using their services ethically , like this one from Brainly. (We’ll go over the difference between “homework help” and “cheating” in more detail a little later!) 

How Expensive Are Apps That Help You With Homework?

A word to the wise: just because a homework help app costs money doesn’t mean it’s a good service. And, just because a homework help app is free doesn’t mean the help isn’t high quality. To find the best apps, you have to take a close look at the quality and types of information they provide! 

Most of the apps out there allow you to download them for free, and provide at least some free services–such as a couple of free questions and answers. Additional services or subscriptions are then charged as in-app purchases. When it comes to in-app purchases and subscriptions for homework help, the prices vary depending on the amount of services you want to subscribe to. Subscriptions can cost anywhere from $2 to around $60 dollars per month, with the most expensive app subscriptions including some tutoring (which is usually only available through homework help websites.)

The 5 Best Apps for Homework Help

Okay, now that you’re up to speed on what these apps are and how they can help you, we’ll run you through the best five apps you can use. 

Keep in mind that even though we recommend all of these apps, they tend to excel at different things. We’ve broken these apps into categories so that you can pick the best one for your needs! 

Best Free Homework Help App: Khan Academy

• Price: Free!
• Best for: Practicing tough material 

While there are lots of free homework help apps out there, this is our favorite because it actually supports learning, rather than just providing answers. The Khan Academy app works like the website, and offers the same services. It’s full of information and can be personalized to suit your educational needs. 

After you download the app, you choose which courses you need to study, and Khan Academy sets up a personal dashboard of instructional videos, practice exercises, and quizzes –with both correct and incorrect answer explanations–so you can learn at your own pace. 

As an added bonus, it covers more course topics than many other homework help apps, including several AP classes.

Best Paid Homework Help App: Brainly

• Price: $18 for a 6 month subscription, $24 for a year 
• Best for: 24/7 homework assistance 

Brainly is free to download and allows you to type in questions (or snap a pic) and get answers and explanations from both fellow students and teachers. Plus, subject matter experts and moderators verify answers daily, so you know you’re getting quality solutions! The downside is that you’re limited to two free answers per question and have to watch ads for more if you don’t pay for a subscription. 

That said, their subscription fees average around only $2 per month, making this a particularly affordable option if you’re looking for homework help on a budget. Brainly subscriptions not only cover unlimited answers and explanations on a wide variety of school subjects (including Art and World Languages which aren’t always included in other apps), they also provide tutoring in Math and Physics!

Best App for Math Homework Help: Photomath

• Price: Free (or up to $59.99 per year for premium services) 
• Best for: Explaining solutions to math problems

This app allows you to take a picture of a math problem, and instantly pulls up a step-by-step solution, as well as a detailed explanation of the concept. Photomath subscription services also include animated videos that break down mathematical concepts–all the way up to advanced Calculus!--to help you better understand and remember them. 

The basic textbook solution service is free, but for an additional fee you can get extra study tools, access to one-on-one tutoring, and additional strategies for solving common math problems.

Best App for STEM and English Homework Help: Studypool

• Price: Varies; you’ll pay for each question you submit
• Best for: Science and English homework help in one app

When it comes to apps for science and English homework help, there aren’t lots of great resources out there, much less out there all in one place. While Grammarly is a good service for proofreading, SparkNotes has some decent summaries, and Khan Academy covers science, the best of the bunch if you need help with both subjects Studypool. Instead of using lots of different apps for STEM and English help, they’re combined together here! But while Studypool has great reviews, there are some downsides as well. 

The Studypool Q&A model is a little different than other homework help apps. After you create a free account, you ask questions, and tutors submit bids to answer them. You’ll be able to select the tutor–and price point–that works for you, then you’ll pay to have your homework question answered. You can also pay a small fee to access thousands of notes, lectures, and other documents that top tutors have uploaded.  

The downside to Studypool is that the pricing is not transparent . There’s no way to plan for how much your homework help will cost, especially if you have lots of questions! It’s also not clear how they choose their tutors, so you’ll need to be careful when you decide who you’d like to answer your homework questions. That said, if you only need a few questions answered per month, this could be cheaper than other monthly subscription services.

Best Homework Scheduling App: MyStudyLife

• Best for: Keeping track of your schedule and deadlines

If the reason you’re looking for homework help is less about finding answers to questions and more about needing assistance with organization and time-management , MyStudyLife is a great option. This is a cross-platform planner that allows you to store your class schedule, upcoming tests, and homework assignments in the cloud so you can access it all wherever you are, and on any device. 

One of the unique things about it is that it easily works for daily or weekly rotating class schedules that can get confusing, helping you keep track of when you need to finish your homework based on your changing schedule. You can get reminders for upcoming classes and assignments as well as past-due homework and any revisions you may need to do. It can even let you know when you need to start studying for a big test!

Best of all, you can actually schedule assignments and study sessions for multiple nights, and specify how much of the task you got done each night. That way you’ll know how much additional time you’ll need to spend! 

While homework apps might seem like magic, it's important to weigh the pros and cons before you commit to one. 

What Are the Pros and Cons of Using Homework Help Apps?

Homework help apps can be useful tools if you’re struggling in any of your classes. But there are a few problems you might run into if you don’t use them ethically and responsibly. 

Below we’ll cover some of the good and the not-so-good parts of using homework help apps to complete your take-home assignments.

3 Pros of Using Homework Help Apps

Let’s start with the pros of using apps for homework help.

Pro 1: All-Around Better Grades

This is undeniably the main pro and the reason apps that help you with homework are so popular with students. Not only can you potentially get better grades on individual assignments, because they help you learn tricky concepts, you can also earn better grades overall .

Just keep in mind that if you want better grades you have to actually learn the material you’re studying, not just find easy answers. So be sure to use apps that provide good explanations . That way you’ll have the mental tools you need to succeed on your class exams and on standardized tests for college. 

Pro 2: Flexibility

It’s hard to beat homework help that you can access anywhere you are from your mobile device. You can also get assistance whenever you need it since the best apps offer their services 24/7. This is especially useful for students who need to study during hours when their free school resources aren’t available because of extracurriculars, jobs, or family obligations. 

If you need convenient and flexible homework help or tutoring services to fit your schedule, apps can be your go-to resource. 

Pro 3: Individualized Learning

Sometimes the kind of learner you are doesn’t match your teacher’s style of teaching. Or maybe the pace of a class is a little too fast or too slow for your tastes. Homework apps can help by allowing you to learn at your own speed and in ways that support your own learning style. 

You can use their features, such as educational videos, 24/7 conversations with experts and peers, and tutorials to review concepts you may have forgotten. These apps can also let you dive deeper into topics or subjects you enjoy! With homework help apps, you get to choose what you need to learn and how you learn it.

3 Cons of Using Homework Help Apps

Next, let’s look at the cons of homework help apps. 

Con 1: Questionable Info 

Unfortunately there are lots of less-than-reliable homework help apps out there. They might not hire actual experts in their fields to provide answers and create study tools, or they rely on user-submitted answers that they don’t verify. In those cases, you might not be getting the accurate, thorough, and up-to-date answers you need to really learn.

In addition to the possibility of running into plain-old wrong answers, even the best apps sometimes just won’t have a specific answer you need. This could be because you’re enrolled in an advanced class the app doesn’t really cover or because of the algorithm or chatbot a particular app uses. 

If that’s the case , your best bet will likely be to talk to your teacher or a free tutor (if your school provides them) to get help answering your question.

Con 2: Information Overload

While having tons of information at your fingertips can be helpful, the sheer amount and variety of videos, tutorials, expert answers, and resources a homework app provides can be overwhelming . It’s also easy to get sucked into a research rabbit-hole where you learn new things but don’t actually get your work done. This is especially true for students who tend to be easily distracted.

Additionally, you may be learning to do things differently than you’ve learned them in class , which could cause problems. For example, if your math teacher asks you to solve a problem one way, but you learned to do it differently through an app, you could get confused come test time! 

Con 3: Cutting Corners

There are a lot of apps out there that bill themselves as “the best app for cheating.” They allow users to type in a question or take a picture, then instantly provide an answer without any explanation of the material. Many of these are scams or provide unreliable answers, but not all. Some apps are legitimate and provide quick and easy answers that could allow you to do your whole homework assignment in minutes. 

The problem is that even though taking shortcuts on homework to save time is tempting, it can keep you from really learning. The point of practicing concepts and skills is so you develop them and can access them whenever you need to. This is especially true if skills build on one another, like in a math or English class. 

Sometimes s truggling with an assignment or question, trying, failing, then trying again until you succeed can help you learn difficult material. If you don’t let yourself really try, and instead take too many shortcuts, you may end up behind.

When Does “Help” Become “Cheating”?

When it comes to using homework help apps, sometimes the difference between “help” and “cheating” is really clear. For example, if you’re using an app to get answers while you’re taking a test, that’s definitely cheating . But what if you’re struggling with a math problem and need to know the correct answer so you can work backwards to learn the process? Is that “cheating” or is it “help?” 

The truth is, not everyone agrees on when “help” crosses the line into “cheating .” If you’re not sure, you can always check with your teacher to see what they think about a particular type of help you want to get. That said, a general rule of thumb to keep in mind is to make sure that the assignment you turn in for credit is authentically yours . It needs to demonstrate your own thoughts and your own current abilities. Remember: the point of every homework assignment is to 1) help you learn something, and 2) show what you’ve learned. 

So if you’re relying on an app to do all of the work for you, there’s a good chance using it might constitute cheating. 

Think of it this way: say you’re studying for an upcoming math test, and are stumped by a few of the questions on the study guide. Even though you’ve tried and tried, you can’t seem to get the right answer because you can’t remember the steps to take. Using an app to explain the steps as you’re studying is “help.” Using the app to get answers so you can make a good homework grade is “cheating.” 

The same is true for other subjects: brainstorming essay ideas with others or looking online for inspiration is “help” as long as you write the essay yourself. Having someone read it and give you feedback about what you need to change is also “help,” provided you’re the one that makes the changes later. 

But copying all or part of an essay you find online or having someone write (or rewrite) the whole thing for you would be “cheating.” Ultimately, if you’re not generating your own work or learning to produce your own answers, it’s probably cheating. 

5 Tips for Finding the Best Homework Help App for You

If you’re serious about using a homework help app, our expert tips can help you pick one that’s right for you and your budget!

#1: Decide What Tools You Need to Succeed 

While most apps offer Q&A services, the best apps provide study tools to help you learn the material you need to learn . 

For instance, if you’re a visual learner, you might need an app that provides lots of videos. If you learn best by reading, an app that provides lots of in-depth written resources might be better for you. Or, if you learn best by actually doing things, look for an app that provides practice tests and quizzes, along with explanations for correct and incorrect answers.

Before committing to an app, take a quick survey of the tools they offer users to make sure they meet your unique learning needs. 

#2: Decide Which Subjects You Need to Study

Not all homework apps are created equal. One might provide tutoring in math and science, but no proofreading services to help you with writing. Another might be perfect for American History, but what you really need help with is your Spanish class. So, before you can decide which app is best for you, make sure to create a list of the subjects you need the most help in.

#3: Do Your Research

As we’ve said before, there are tons of homework apps in the app store to choose from, and the most important thing you can do is research what they offer students. Services, prices for those services, and subjects that the apps cover all vary, so it’s important that you look into your options. We’ve compiled our all-around favorite (and reliable) apps here, but it’s still a good idea to do your own research to find out what might meet your individual needs best.

#4: Learn Why People Like and Dislike the App

Maybe you’ve heard the phrase “buyer beware?” It means that the person buying something should check for quality before actually handing over their money. This applies to both free and paid homework apps, but especially those that actually cost money.

Before you download anything, be sure to read the user reviews . While all apps will have both positive and negative reviews, you want to look for one that has more positive than negative. And if you’re considering paying for a service, be sure that users think it’s worth the price overall!

#5: Budget Yourself

If you find a paid app that provides the learning tools you need, covers the subjects you need to study, and that has good reviews overall, set a budget to pay for it before you hit that “install” button. The costs for paid homework apps vary, and especially if you’re using one that requires you to pay for individual questions or services, the prices can add up quickly. So make sure there’s money for it in your budget before you commit!

What’s Next?

If you’re not quite sure why you’re struggling with homework, or want to know how you can do your homework as quickly as possible , check out this list of 15 expert homework tips and tricks to make your life a little bit easier!

Effective studying requires the right balance of concentration, understanding, retention and rest. So if you need help striking that balance, read these 16 tips for better study habits in both the short and long-term.

Getting good grades is about more than just answering questions correctly on your assignments. It also requires planning ahead and participation. In this article we cover the academic survival strategies that can help you throughout high school .

Ashley Sufflé Robinson has a Ph.D. in 19th Century English Literature. As a content writer for PrepScholar, Ashley is passionate about giving college-bound students the in-depth information they need to get into the school of their dreams.

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Encourage the development of early reading and writing skills in this bumper Help With Homework activity workbook. Aimed at age 5+, each page is packed with fun activities and challenges designed to provide children with a strong foundation in letters and word formation. Practise all of your Key Stage 1 skills and earn reward stickers as you go!

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• Helps children develop core skills.
• Colourful design and reward stickers incentivise learning.
• Developed by the trusted Help With Homework brand.

Product description

From the back cover, product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Autumn (21 Jan. 2019)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 48 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1789051193
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1789051193
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 3 - 6 years
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 22.5 x 0.4 x 29.1 cm
• 353 in Children's Books on Handwriting
• 419 in Children's Books on Vocabulary & Spelling
• 926 in Home Schooling

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EDUCATION.govt.nz For parents and whānau Practical information about education for parents and carers

Primary school 5–12 years old

Ideas to help with reading, writing and maths.

You can help your child's learning every day, by supporting and encouraging them and being excited by their learning. Here are some ideas to keep them developing their reading, writing and maths skills at home. Have a look at the year group for your child and have fun.

Reading at home

Make reading fun.

Reading at home should be fun and easy. It should be something you both look forward to and a time for laughter and talk.  

• Share the reading, take turns, or see whether your child wants to read or be read to today.  
• All children like to be read to, so keep reading to them. You can read in your first language.  
• Visit the library together and help them choose books to share.  
• Read messages from family or whānau aloud.  
• Play games together and discuss any unfamiliar words that come up during them.  

Here's a tip: talk a lot to your child while you are doing things together. Use the language that works best for you and your child. Praise their effort.  

Talk about reading 

• Talk about pictures in books.  
• Sing waiata and songs, read poems, say nursery rhymes, and make up rhymes together (the funnier the better).  
• Be a role model. Let your child see you enjoying reading and talk about what you are reading.  
• Talk about content that you both might read or watch or that your child reads and watches, ask about characters personalities, storylines, and events.  
• Point out words on signs, shops, and labels.  
• Play word games like "I spy" and "Simon says".  

Make it a special time together 

Reading is a great chance for you and your child to spend special time together. Make reading:  

• quiet and relaxing.  
• a time to sit close to your child.  
• interruption-free for 10 to 15 minutes.  
• an enjoyable, interesting, and special time.  
• a time to praise your child for making an effort.  

Here’s a tip: if your child is stuck on a word, wait a few seconds then ask them to sound out the word. Get them to break the word up into each sound e.g. c-a-t then blend the word together. Ask them if that word then makes sense in the sentence. If they miss a sound, get them to try again and get all the sounds in the word. If they don’t know what the word means talk to them about the meaning.   

Help your child to link stories to their own life. Remind them about what they have done when a similar thing happens in the story.  

Writing at home 

Make writing fun .

• Help your child write an alphabet letter, then go letter hunting in your house or in a book to find that letter.  
• Let your child see you writing – you can use your first language.  
• Encourage them to write shopping lists or make birthday cards.  
• Water and a paintbrush on a dry path or a stick in the sand are fun ways to write letters and words.  
• Support the learning of letters and sounds using appropriate apps.   

Here's a tip: it is important that they have fun when writing at home and that they keep trying.  If they get letters or words backwards or misspelt, praise them for trying and encourage them to have another look at it.  If letters are backwards, you can write the correct letter somewhere for them to copy.

Give them reasons to write 

• Write to each other. Write notes to your child and leave them in interesting places, like their lunch box. Ask them to write a reply.  
• Help them message family, whānau or friends.
• Work with them to put labels on special things – like the door to their room or their toy box.  

Here's a tip: display their work. Put it on the fridge. Be proud of it. Share it with others.  

Talk about their writing 

• Talk about the letters in your child’s name and where the name comes from.  
• Help them create a scrapbook with pictures. Encourage them to write stories under the pictures and talk to you about them.  
• Ask them to write about pictures they draw on paper or on a device. Or get them to tell you the story and you write or type it under the picture.  

Here's a tip: talk to your child about what they write. Be interested. If you don’t understand what your child’s picture or story is about, ask them to tell you about it.  

Encourage writing 

• Have felt pens, pencils, crayons, paper, or a device available.  
• Use milk bottle tops with letters on them to create words.  
• Put magnetic letters on the fridge and ask what words they can make with the letters.  

Maths at home  

Talk together and have fun with numbers, shapes, games, and patterns .

Help your child to:  

• find numbers and shapes around your home and neighbourhood, (clocks, letterboxes, signs etc.)  
• count forwards and backwards starting with different numbers, for example, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, then back again  (use clocks, fingers and toes, letterboxes, action rhymes)  
• copy, continue and make patterns when counting "clap 1, stamp 2, clap 3, stamp 4, clap 5 …"  
• do sums using objects such as stones or marbles eg 6 + 2, 4 + 4, 5 + 3  
• make up number stories, for example, "You have 2 brothers and 2 sisters. There are 4 of them".  
• compare objects side by side (shorter/longer, shorter/taller, lighter/heavier, or holds less/more)  
• connect days of the week to activities on those days  
• connect time of the day to activities at that time (we go to school at 8 am, we go to bed at 8 pm)  
• build with blocks and talk about the features  
• sort objects by feature (find all the yellow socks)  
• make predictions about what might happen in a story or a game.  

Here's a tip: maths is an important part of everyday life and there are lots of ways you can make it fun for your child.  

Use easy, everyday activities 

Involve your child in:  

• preparing and sharing out food, for example, "We have eight carrots". Ask, "How can we share them between us?"  
• talking about time, for example, "lunchtime", "storytime", "bedtime"  
• using words in everyday play, such as "under", "over", "between", "around", "behind", "up", "down", "heavy", "light", "round", "circle", "yesterday", "tomorrow", “left”, and “right”. You can get books, games, movies or find online content with these words and ideas in them too  
• asking questions such as "How many apples do we need for lunches? What do you think the weather is going to be like today/tomorrow? What are we going to do next?"  
• organising books or toys on a shelf from tallest to shortest.  

Here's a tip: use lots of maths words as your child is playing to develop their understanding of early maths (for example, "over", "under", "first, second, third", "round", "through", "before", "after"). Use the language that works best for you and your child.  

For wet afternoons/school holidays/weekends 

Get together with your child and:  

• play with water using different shaped containers and measuring cups in the sink or bath  
• bake and talk to your child about the recipe/ingredients using words like "how many?" "how much?" "more". Count how many teaspoons of baking soda are needed, how many cups of flour, how many muffin cases  
• play dress-ups and getting dressed, use words like "short", "long", and ask questions like "what goes on first?", "what goes on next?", "does it fit?"  
• create a ‘sorting box’ with all sorts of ‘treasure’, for example, bottle tops, shells, stones, poi, toys, acorns, pounamu (greenstone), cardboard shapes, leaves. Ask questions like "how many?", "which is the biggest group?", "which is the smallest?", "how many for each of us?", “what shape are those?”  
• do jigsaw puzzles, play cards or board games and build with blocks.  

Here’s a tip: be positive about maths and show your child where you use maths. This will help them build confidence in maths. Praise their effort.    

Year 2 

Reading at home , make reading fun .

Reading at home needs to be fun and easy. It should be something you both look forward to, a time for laughter and talk.  

• Find a comfortable, quiet place for the 2 of you to cosy up and read for 10–15 minutes.  
• If you or your child start to feel stressed, take a break and read the rest of the story aloud yourself – keep it fun.  
• Make some puppets (from old socks or cardboard tubes or use cut-outs on sticks etc.) that you and your child can use to act out the story you have read. Or dress up and make it into a play.  
• Play card games (you can make the cards yourself).  
• Read songs, waiata, poems and rhymes and sing them together, too.  

Here's a tip: when they are reading, your child will still be coming across words they don’t know. When this happens, you could remind them to think about what they already know to do when they get stuck. Break the word up into individual sounds and then blend the word together e.g. m-i-d-n-igh-t then blended to midnight. If they don’t know what the word means talk to them about the meaning.   

Take your child to the library  

• Help them choose books to share.  
• Find other books by the same author or on the same topic (or look for more information online – you might have to be the reader for this one).  

Here's a tip: help your child to link stories to their own life. Remind them about what they have done when a similar thing happens in the story.  

• Talk about the story and the pictures, other stories you have read, and experiences you have both had that are like those in the story.  
• Sometimes you can be the listener, sometimes the reader and sometimes you can take turns. They might like to read to the cat, their teddy or other whānau members.  
• Keep reading to them no matter how old they are – they can understand more challenging books than they can read themselves.  
• Encourage your child to read all sorts of things, for example, online menus for streaming platforms, street signs and food labels. Simple recipes are great, and you get to eat what you’ve read about, too!  

Here's a tip: talk with your child all the time and give them time to talk with you. You can use your first language.  

Make writing fun  

• Encourage your child to write whether it is on paper or on a device. It is OK for you to help and share the writing. Praise the effort they are putting into their writing.   
• Once they have finished writing, encourage them to go back and check what they have written.  
• Make a physical or digital photo book and get your child to write captions.  
• Scrapbooks paper and digital scrapbooks are fun, too. Get your child to write captions or stories for photos or pictures found online about a favourite subject, dogs, your family, motorbikes or the latest toy craze.  
• Play with words. Finding and discussing interesting new words can help increase the words your child uses when they write. Look up words in an online dictionary or talk to family and whānau to find out more about the meaning and the whakapapa (origins) of the words.  

Here's a tip: talk a lot to your child while you are doing things together. Use the language that works best for you and your child.  

• Write lists: ‘Things I need from the shop’, ‘Games that I enjoy’, ‘Things I want to do in the holidays’. The last one can be cut up and go into a box or bag for a lucky dip when the holidays finally arrive.  
• Write out recipes or instructions for other people to follow (especially fun if the instructions are for an adult) .
• Keep a diary, especially if you are doing something different and exciting. Your child can draw the pictures or find photos for the diary. Their diary could be done online too.  
• Write letters, cards, and messages to friends, family and whānau (you might write replies sometimes, too).  
• Write secret messages for others to find in their lunch box or under their pillow.  

Here's a tip: display your child’s work. Be proud of it. Put it on the fridge or share it with others.  

Talk about their writing

• Make up a different ending for a favourite story together and get them to write it down.  
• Ask them to write about pictures they draw. Get them to tell you the story.  
• Keep writing fun and use any excuse you can think of to encourage your child to write about anything, any time.  

Here's a tip:  it is important that they have fun when writing at home and that they keep trying. If they get letters or words backwards or misspelt, praise them for trying and encourage them to have another look at it.  If letters are backwards, you can write the correct letter somewhere for them to copy.  

Maths at home 

Talk together and have fun with numbers, shapes, games, and patterns  .

• find and connect numbers around your home and neighbourhood, for example, find 15, 17, and 19 on letterboxes, which ones are even and which are odd?  
• count forwards and backwards in 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s starting with different numbers, for example, 58, 60, 62, 64, 66 then back again (count in 5’s and 10’s on a clock)  
• add and subtract numbers, for example, 53 + 21, 29 + 9, 55 -32  
• find out the ages of family or whānau members  
• give step-by-step instructions on how to do something  
• use language like certain, likely, unlikely and impossible when they are making a prediction.  

Here's a tip: be positive about maths and show your child where you use maths. This will help them build confidence in maths. Praise their effort.  

Use easy, everyday activities

• making lunch or a meal for a party or a hui. Make sandwiches in different shapes: Can they cut their sandwich in half? Can they cut the other sandwich in half a different way? Find out what sandwiches people like to eat: How many people like cheese, how may like chicken?  
• sorting (washing, odd socks, toys, cans) while tidying up  
• remembering and repeating phone numbers they might need  
• telling the time using language like o’clock, half past and quarter past  
• a shape and number search together wherever you are, like numbers of shoes, shapes of doors and windows  
• comparing how long it takes to do different things, for example the amount of time it takes to drive to koro’s house versus walking to koro’s house  
• helping at the supermarket. Ask your child to get specific items (2 litres of milk, 250g of mince).  
• use maths words during play (treasure hunts, obstacle courses, building huts). For example, "under', "over", 'between", 'around", "behind", "up", "down', "heavy", "light', 'round", "your turn next", "before", "after", "left" and "right", "square", "triangle". You can use your first language  
• play with big cardboard boxes using words like "inside", "outside"  
• play games and do puzzles or jigsaws, "I spy something that is longer, bigger, smaller than ..."  
• do water play using different shaped containers and measuring cups  
• bake – talk to your child about the recipe/ingredients and how many pieces you need to feed everyone  
• dance to music and sing/clap to favourite songs   
• make and play stick games with tī rākau or newspaper rolls   
• play with a pack of cards or dice  
• fold and cut paper dolls and other repeating shapes  
• make up addition and subtraction problems using numbers to 100  
• look at a calendar and ask, for example, "how many days/weeks until an event?", "how many days in the month?", "how many weekends?"  
• trace over repeated patterns (for example, kōwhaiwhai patterns)  
• encourage your child to look for patterns.  
• make a play shop with priced items, and take turns paying with pretend money  
• take turns to make a simple structure with Lego or blocks, and the other person has to replicate it.  

Here's a tip: the way your child is learning to solve maths problems may be different from when you were at school. Get them to show you how they do it and support them in their learning.

Year 3 

Reading at home  , make reading fun  .

• Have fun singing along to songs or YouTube videos together.
• Read to your child every day. You can use your first language.
• Have a pile of reading materials available. For example, library books (non-fiction and fiction), online recipes, simple timetables, magazines, and any other reading that supports your child’s current interest.  
• Encourage your child to retell favourite stories or parts of stories in their own words.   
• Play card games (you can make the cards yourself) and video games together.  

Here are some tips: when they are reading, your child will be working at solving unfamiliar words by themselves. If they need help you could ask them to look at groups of letters they know make a sound or sounds to break the word up and then blend it together. If you or your child starts to feel stressed by what they’re reading, take a break and read the rest of the story aloud yourself. Keep it fun.  

Make it real 

• Reading makes more sense if your child can relate it to their own life. Help them to make connections between what they are reading and their own lives and experiences. For example, "That’s a funny story about a grandad. What does your grandad do that makes you laugh?", "We saw a big mountain in that book, what is our mountain called, and where did the name come from?"  
• Look for opportunities for your child to read wherever you are, for example, signs, advertising billboards, junk mail, recipes and online content.  
• Show your child that reading is fun and important to you by letting them see you reading.  

Find out together  

• Visit the library often and help your child to choose books that interest them.
• Talk with older people or kaumātua in your family about interesting stories and people from your child’s past that you could find out more about together.   
• Ask your child questions (and support them to find the answers) to widen their reading experiences. For example, "What’s the quickest biscuit recipe?", "What time is the next bus to town?"  
• Help your child with any words that they don’t understand. Look them up together in an online dictionary if you need to.  

Writing for fun  

• Talk about interesting words with your child, especially ones that are fun to say, like "hippopotamus" or "ringaringa". Short and simple games could involve finding how many little words can be found using the letters in the word ‘elephant’.  
• Play word games together online or in local newspapers.  
• Make up a story or think of a pakiwaitara (legend) or traditional tale and act it out with costumes and music, write down the names of the characters or tīpuna (ancestors).  
• Make up a play with your child. You could help your child to write the play down. Use puppets they design and make themselves to give a performance to the family.  

Here's a tip: keep writing fun and use any excuse to encourage your child to write about anything, any time.  

Writing for a reason  

• Writing for a real purpose can help your child want to write. For example, messaging an invitation to whānau, or writing thank you notes.  
• Personalising notes by cutting, decorating, sticking, or stamping are great skills for coordinating fingers and being creative. You can create digital cards with your child too, by helping them find GIFs, filters, and other fun effects.   
• Encourage your child to write what they need to pack for a holiday, dictate your shopping list to them, or get them to write a list of jobs that need doing.  

Here's a tip: talk about what your child writes. Be interested. If you don’t understand what your child’s picture or story is about, ask them to explain.  

Supporting your child's writing  

• Talk to your child about what you are writing. Let them see you making lists, typing messages, filling in forms.  
• When you need to complete a form, ask for or print an extra form so that your child can do their own ‘grown up’ writing.  
• Display your child’s writing where others can admire and read it.  
• Play with words. Find and discuss interesting new words (this can help increase the words your child uses when they write). Look words up in an online dictionary or online or talk to family and whānau members to learn the whakapapa (origins) of the words.  

Here's a tip: be a great role model. Show your child that you write for all sorts of reasons. Let them see you enjoying writing. You can use your first language – this helps your child’s learning, too.  

• find and connect numbers around your home and neighbourhood – phone numbers, clocks, letterboxes, road signs, sign showing distance  
• name the number that is 10 more or 10 less than before or after a number up to 1000  
• make patterns forwards and backwards in 1s, 2s, 5s, 10s and 100s starting with different numbers (for example 13, 23, 33, 43…, …43, 33, 23, 13)  
• make different types of patterns by drumming, clapping, stamping, dancing or drawing patterns that repeat and describe this pattern for someone else to follow  
• find out the ages and birth dates of family or whānau members  
• do addition and subtraction problems using two- and three-digit numbers, for example, 231 + 245, 154 - 23  
• use groups of 10 that add to 1000 eg 500 + 500, 300 + 700  
• use and talk about simple fractions (halves to eighths) of groups or shapes, i.e. cutting up a cake into eight pieces for an eighth, or folding napkins into quarters.   

Here’s a tip: be positive about maths and show your child where you use maths. This will help them build confidence in maths. Praise their effort.  

• telling the time using words like half past, quarter past and quarter to.
• learning their 2, 5 and 10 times tables.
• reading and sharing a book. Ask them questions about numbers in the story and use the number of pages as a way to practise number facts, too.
• doing a shape and number search when you are reading a book or looking at art (such as carvings and sculpture) .
• Using a calendar to work out how many days until an important event.  
• using kitchen scales to weigh ingredients for cooking or baking.  
• play games, for example, board games, games with dice, card games, jigsaw puzzles  
• make your own advertising pamphlet. Cut out and sort images to go on it, make pretend money to spend  
• make a play shop and take turns ‘buying’ things, and giving change for simple amounts of money  
• grow seeds or sprouts and measure the growth each week
• create a repeating pattern   
• go on a treasure hunt. Make a map with clues and see who can get to the treasure first  
• dance to music and sing/clap to favourite songs, make up a dance sequence each – can you copy each other?  
• both take turns closing your eyes and describing how to get from the front gate to the kitchen, from the kitchen to their bedroom, from home to school  
• do timed activities. You hold the watch, and they count how many times they can bounce a ball in a minute  
• play guess-and-check games using different shaped jars. How many beans, buttons, pegs in the container?  
• help your child weigh or measure ingredients as you cook together.

Here's a tip: the way your child is learning to solve maths problems may be different to when you were at school. Get them to show you how they do it and support them in their learning.  

Year 4  

Read and talk together .

• Get your child to tell you about what they are reading. Who is their favourite character and why? Is there anyone like that in your family? What do they think is going to happen? What have they learnt from their reading? Does it remind them of any of their own experiences?  
• Help your child with any words they don’t understand – look them up together in an online dictionary if you need to.  
• Read recipes, instructions, maps, diagrams, signs and text messages. It will help your child to understand that words can be organised in different ways on a page, depending on what it’s for.  
• Read junk mail or look at online ads – your child could compare costs, make their own ‘advertisements’ by cutting up junk mail or come up with clever sentences for a product they like.  

Here's a tip: talk a lot with your child while you are doing things together. Use the language that works best for you and your child.  

Read with others 

• If your child has chosen something to read that is too hard at the moment, take turns and read it together.  
• Reading to younger brothers or sisters, whānau or grandparents will give your child an opportunity to practise reading out loud.  
• Encourage other family and whānau members (Aunty, Grandma, Koro) to read to and with your child.   
• Playing board games and video games is important, too.  
• Choose games that everyone wants to play. Make them challenging, not too easy.  

Here are some tips: keep the magic of listening to a good story alive by reading either made-up, retold or read-aloud stories to your child – with lots of excitement through the use of your voice!  

When they are reading, the most common difficulty your child is likely to have is working out the meaning of new words, phrases and expressions. To do this your child will use their knowledge of words and word patterns (eg prefixes, suffixes and root words) to help build meaning. You may need to remind your child to read back and forward for clues to help their understanding of what they are reading. Talk with your child about the meaning of new words.  

Take your child to the library 

• Help your child to choose a variety of books they want to read.  
• Help them look for books about topics they’re learning about at school.  
• Get your child to choose a book that you can read to them (listening to you read helps them with their reading).  
• Encourage your child to retell favourite stories or parts of stories in their own words.  

Here's a tip: help your child link stories to their own life. Remind them about what they have done when a similar thing happens in the story.  

Write for fun 

• Writing about their heroes, sports events, tīpuna (ancestors), hobbies and interests helps your child to stay interested in what they are writing about.  
• Help your child to leave messages in sand on the beach, send a message in a bottle, do code crackers, word puzzles, crosswords, word finds online – these are all fun to do together.  
• Make up a story or think of a pakiwaitara (legend) and act it out with costumes and music. Write down the names of the characters or tīpuna (ancestors).  
• Using a digital device, encourage your child to write, email, message and publish or print for pleasure (emails, birthday cards, poems, jokes, letters, pictures with captions).   

Here's a tip: keep writing fun and use any excuse you can think of to encourage your child to write about anything, any time.  

Talk about your child's writing  

• Get your child to talk about their writing and share it  
• Either physically or digitally cut out words and letters to make stories, codes, poems, puzzles and more…  
• Play with words. Thinking of interesting words and discussing new ones can help increase the words your child uses when they write – look words up in an online dictionary or talk with family and whānau to find out more about where the words come from.  

Here's a tip: talk about what your child writes. Be interested. If you don’t understand what their story is about, ask them to tell you more about it. Use questions they will want to answer.  

Write for a reason 

• Get your child to help write the shopping list, invitation lists for family events, menus for special dinners, thank-you cards when someone does something nice.  
• Postcards are a good size for a sentence or two and they are cheap to post, too.   
• Have a special place to keep your child’s writing at home (notice board, fridge, folder). You might frame a piece of writing and hang it up, too.  

Here's a tip: be a great role model. Show your child that you write for all sorts of reasons. Let them see you enjoying writing. Write to them sometimes, too. You can use your first language – this helps your child’s learning, too.  

• find and read large numbers in your environment eg nine thousand, three hundred and twenty three   
• count forwards and backwards (starting with numbers like 1098, 1099,1100,1101 then back again)  
• make patterns when counting – forwards and backwards, starting with different numbers (73, 83, 93, 103… or 118, 108, 98, 88…)  
• find families of facts when multiplying and dividing with 3 and 4, for example, if your child knows 3 × 4 = 12, then they will also know that 4 × 3 = 12, 12 ÷ 4 = 3 and 12 ÷ 3 = 4  
• estimate the size of objects using tools they have available, like the width of their hand or the length of their foot  
• work out patterns – make codes from numbers  
• notice the right angles and lines around you  
• making and organising lunch or a meal for a party or a hui, including equal sharing of fruit/biscuits/sandwiches/drinks  
• helping at the supermarket – choose items to weigh – how many apples/bananas weigh a kilo? Look for the best buy between different makes of the same items (eg blocks of cheese) – check on the amount of sugar or salt per serving  
• telling the time to the nearest 5 minutes  
• deciding how much money to pay the parking meter and what time you will need to be back before the meter expires  
• thinking about how many phone numbers they can remember – talk about what they do to help them remember the series of numbers  
• reading together – help them look for numbers, shapes, measurements, graphs and other maths ideas  
• using a map or app to plan a route to a new location   
• Looking at a weather forecast and talking about the chance of rain, sun etc.   
• Wrapping up presents, or packaging items to be posted  
• play card and board games that use guessing and checking  
• look at junk mail or online shops – which is the best value? Ask your child what they would buy if they had $10/$100/$1,000 to spend  
• do complicated jigsaw puzzles  
• cook or bake – get them to select the appropriate measuring cups, spoons (½ and ¼ teaspoon) and scales to use  
• collect boxes – undo and see if you can make them up again or make it into something else  
• make paper darts and change the weight so that they fly differently, work out which is the best design  
• create a repeating pattern (eg kōwhaiwhai patterns) to fill up a page or decorate a card  
• play maths "I Spy" – something that is ½ a km away, something that has 5 parts hide something from each other and draw a map or hide several clues – can you follow the map or the clues and find it?  
• do skipping ropes/elastics – how long will it take to jump 20 times?  
• look at paper or online maps to find important locations, i.e. where were you born, where does Nana live?   

Here's a tip - the way your child is learning to solve maths problems may be different to when you were at school. Get them to show you how they do it and support them in their learning.  

Year 5 

Talk about their reading  .

• Ask your child what they are reading and talk about their ideas: What is the ‘picture’ they have of particular characters? Are there people like that in your family or whānau? What do they want to find out from the book? What are the important messages? What do they think is going to happen next? What else do they need to know to understand the story or topic?  
• Talk about books on similar topics. This helps your child to pull together ideas from different places.  
• Talk about different types of stories that are read or spoken. Articles or stories online, whakataukī (proverbs), comics, stories, songs, waiata, non-fiction books or novels will each have different points you can talk about together.   
• Help your child to share their thinking. Get them to share opinions and talk about why they think that. Listen, even when you don’t agree with their ideas.  

Here's a tip: give your child space and time to read. Reading longer books they have chosen needs plenty of time and encouragement.  

Read together 

• Find out information together from different places. For example, online dictionaries, magazines, family trees, whakapapa  
• Play games that involve reading in a fun way.  
• Encourage your child to read to others. Younger brothers and sisters, whānau or grandparents are great audiences for practising smooth and interesting reading out loud.  
• Visit the library regularly. Help your child choose books they’re interested in (about hobbies, interests or who they are and where they come from) or encourage them to get books out that are about what they are studying at school. They may need you to help by reading to them, as well.  
• Find books of movies or TV programmes. It can help your child to learn different ways to tell the same story if they read the ‘stories’ they have watched.  

Be a reader yourself 

• Talk about what you are reading and why you are enjoying it or what is challenging about it. Read a book to your child that they might find difficult but want to read and talk about it as you read. Use your first language whenever you can – it can help your child’s learning.  
• Read the same book, magazine, or online content as your child. You can then share your ideas about what you have read. You could talk about why the authors made the choices they did in their writing.  

Here's a tip: keep the magic of listening to a good story alive by reading either made up, retold or read-aloud stories to your child – with lots of excitement through the use of your voice.  

• Help your child write about their heroes, sports events, tīpuna (ancestors), hobbies and interests. This helps them stay interested in what they are writing about.  
• Play word games and do puzzles together to help your child learn more about words and spelling.  
• Have interesting paper and pens available to help them make a special book to write in or create a digital book together of special events.   
• Write to your child, or share jokes, cartoons, or short articles they might like to read.   
• Play with words. Thinking of interesting words and discussing new ones can help increase the words your child uses when they write – look words up in an online dictionary or talk to family and whānau members to learn more about the background and the whakapapa (origins) of the words.  

Here's a tip: be a great role model. Show your child that you write for all sorts of reasons. Let them see you enjoy writing. You can use your first language – this helps your child’s learning, too.  

Talk about your child's writing 

• Talk about ideas and information they are going to write about. Talk about experiences, diagrams, graphs, pictures, photos and material that your child is planning to use for school. Discussing the information and main ideas can help their planning for writing and their understanding, too.  
• Share enjoyment of their writing. Read and talk about the writing that your child does. Give praise for things they have put effort into to support their learning.  
• Play with words. Thinking of interesting words and discussing new ones can help increase the words your child uses when they write.  
• Share your own writing with your child – lists, planning for family events or an email. You can help them to see that you too use writing for different purposes.  

Here's a tip: keep writing fun and use any excuse you can think of to encourage your child to write about anything, anytime.  

Write for a reason  

• Encourage your child to write messages, invitations, thank you letters, poems, stories or postcards to friends, family and whānau – make it fun.  
• Ask your child who they would like to write to. It is helpful if what they write is given or sent to others.  
• Ask them to write a story to read to a whānau member.  
• A diary or journal – on paper or online – can help your child to write about their experiences and their own feelings about things that have happened at school, at home, in the world, on the marae, at sports events and on TV.  

Here's a tip: talk about what your child writes. Be interested. If you don’t understand something they are writing about, ask them to explain.  

• count forwards and backwards (starting with numbers like these fractions: ¼ , ½ , ¾ , 1, 1¼ , 1½ then back again)  
• talk about large numbers in your environment e.g., gaming scores, distances  
• find families of facts when multiplying and dividing with 6, 8 and 9, for example, if your child knows 6 × 8 = 48, then they will also know that 8 × 6 = 48, 48 ÷ 6 = 8 and 48 ÷ 8 = 6  
• estimate the cost of a weekly shop to the nearest dollar  
• read car number plates, look at the car’s odometer to see how far you’ve gone  
• talk about graphs and tables that are in your local newspapers or online  
• use an app or a map to find North, and discuss the compass points, and familiar locations at each point
• notice angles around you that are smaller than, equal to or larger than a right angle. 
• making dinner at home, at camp or on a marae – look at how many and how much is needed for the people eating (potatoes, bok choy, carrots, sausages). Talk about fractions (half, quarter, fourth) to calculate how much to cook and cooking times  
• helping at the supermarket – choose items to weigh. Look for the best buy between different brands of the same items (breakfast cereal, spreads like jam or honey)  
• practising times tables – check with your child or their teacher which times tables you could help your child with  
• finding out how long an event is when the start and finish times are known, or working out ‘how long until..’, i.e. how many minutes until the movie/until we have to leave the park.  

For wet afternoon/school holidays/weekends  

• do paper folding (origami) by following written instructions or a video  
• look through junk mail or online shops – find the most expensive and cheapest item advertised   
• use junk mail or other strips of paper to make a woven mat  
• make a roster for jobs around the house  
• plan for a special event on a budget; eg afternoon tea for a grandparent, teacher or family friend  
• play outside games – cricket, basketball, mini-golf and soccer  
• bake – follow a simple recipe (scones, pikelets)  
• use blocks that fit together to make a model. Draw what it looks like from each side and above. Then draw what they think it looks like from underneath. Once finished, check the underneath of the real object against the drawing  
• make water balloons and see how far you could throw them (outside!) and how far the water splatters  
• collect and put in order the birthdays of family and whānau– make a reminder calendar for the year.  

Year 6 

• Have discussions together about books – read the books your child is reading.  
• Encourage online research about topics of interest – notice what they are keen on.  
• Make your home a reader-friendly home with plenty of books and magazines that everyone can read – look for books and magazines at fairs and second-hand shops. Ask your family or whānau if they have any they no longer want.  
• Share what you think and how you feel about the characters, the story or the opinions in online articles, magazines, and newspapers you are reading. It is important that your child sees you as a reader and you talk about what you are reading.  

Here's a tip: encourage your child to read every day. Make reading fun and praise your child’s efforts, all the time.  

• Reading to your child is one of the most important things you can do, no matter how old they are. You can use your first language.  
• When you are reading to your child, you can talk about words or ideas that your child might not have come across before.  
• Children are often interested in new words and what they mean – encourage them to look them up in an online dictionary or ask family/whānau about the meaning and origin.  

Here's a tip: keep the magic of listening to a good story alive by reading either made up, retold or read-aloud stories to your child – with lots of excitement through the use of your voice!  

Keep them interested 

• Help your child identify an author, character or series of books they particularly like and find more in the series or by the author.  
• Talk about the lyrics of songs or waiata, or the words of poems your child is learning, and see if there are any links to who they are, and where they come from.  
• Subscribe to websites that have content that builds your child’s special interest, eg animals, their iwi, kapa haka or disc golf.  
• Go to your local library to choose books together. These might be books your child can read easily by themselves. They might be books your child wants to read but are a bit hard - you can help by reading a page to them, then helping them read the next one.  
• Play video and board games together – the more challenging the better.  

Here's a tip: be a great role model. Let your child see you enjoying reading – whether it’s on a device or a novel. Read in the language that works best for you.  

• Encourage your child to write about their heroes, tīpuna (ancestors), sports events, hobbies and interests to help keep them interested in what they are writing about.  
• Play word games and do puzzles together. Games and puzzles such as crosswords, tongue twisters and word puzzles help build your child’s knowledge of words, spelling, thinking and planning skills.  
• Start a blog or build a website using a free website builder about a family interest. Find a topic you’re both interested in.  

Here's a tip: be a great role model. Show your child that you write for all sorts of reasons. Let them see you enjoying writing. Use your first language – this helps your child’s learning, too.  

Encourage your child to write:  

• Suggest your child is responsible for the weekly shopping list, equipment list for weekends away and holidays, task lists for the week.  
• Encourage your child to write to others - emails, texts, messages on apps with parental controls turned on. It will help if some of what your child writes about is for others.  
• Short stories or a blog – this can help them to write about their experiences and their own feelings about things that have happened at school, in their family, on the marae, in the world, at sports events and on TV.  
• Report on a new baby or pet addition to the family. This might be a slide show, digital scrapbook or message to wider whānau members.  
• Make an argument in writing for a special request – trip, event, present etc.  
• Draw up written contracts for agreed jobs; e.g. Every day I will… (make my bed, do one lot of dishes, and when I complete the contract I can choose…).  
• Talk about ideas and information they are going to write about. Talk about experiences, diagrams, graphs, photos, treasures and taonga, waiata, pictures, whakapapa and material that your child is planning to use for school. Discussing the information and main ideas can help their planning for writing and their understanding, too.  
• Share enjoyment of their writing. Read and talk about the writing that your child does. Give praise for things they have done well and say what you liked and why – this all supports their learning.  
• Play with words. Thinking of interesting words and discussing new ones can help increase the words your child uses when they write – look words up in an online dictionary to find out more about what they mean. Talk to family and whānau members to learn more about the background and the whakapapa (origins) of the words.  
• Share your own writing with your child – lists, planning for family events, song lyrics or letters and messages. You can help them to see that you too use writing for different purposes.  

Here's a tip: talk about what your child writes. Be interested. Use it as a way of starting conversations. Listen to their opinion, even if you don’t agree with it.  

Talk together and have fun with numbers and patterns 

Help your child:  

• multiply 2 and 3-digit numbers, like 29 × 36  
• use rounding and estimating to check the answer to their calculations   
• find percentages in shops or online sales – talk about how much they would have to pay if an item is 50% off or half price.   
• talk about the phases of the moon and link these to the best times for fishing/planting  
• talk about the patterns in the night sky – summer and winter. What changes and why?  
• talk about where the data in a graph might have come from.  
• helping at the supermarket – look for the best buy between different brands of the same item and different sizes of the same item (e.g., toilet paper, cans of spaghetti, bottles of milk)  
• working out how many servings we could get from a bottle of juice, packet of pasta etc  
• looking at the nutrition table on food labels – how much fat, sugar, salt - and deciding on the healthiest choice  
• reading other tables, i.e TV schedule, events or activities schedules.  
• practising times tables – check with your child or their teacher which tables you could help them with.  
• on a journey -estimating how far away, and how long it might take to get to your destination.  
• play card and board games using guessing and checking  
• play games with dice and talk about how likely it is to roll a certain number  
• cook – make a pizza, working out who likes what toppings, making and cooking it, and making sure the pizza is shared fairly – make a paper or cardboard container to hold a piece of pizza to take for lunch  
• mix a drink for the family – measuring cordial, fruit and water  
• make kites or manu aute using a variety of shapes and materials. How high can it go, how long can it fly for?  
• make a family/whānau tree or whakapapa – number of cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents and their relationships to you  
• plan out the holidays. Look at each day’s fun time, kai time, TV time, helping time, family time and bedtime  
• plan to make bead necklaces and friendship bracelets – calculate the cost of the materials, the length of stringing material  
• play outdoor games – frisbee, touch rugby, kilikiti, cricket, soccer, bowls  
• explain to a family or whānau member how to do paper folding (origami)  
• go on scavenger hunts – make a map with clues and see who can get there first.  

Here is a tip: maths is an important part of everyday life and there are lots of ways you can make it fun for your child. The way your child is learning to solve maths problems may be different to when you were at school. Get them to show you how they do it and support them in their learning.  

Year 7 

• 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; e.g. to compare products advertised online, to be informed on current issues, to relax etc.  
• 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?  

Here are some tips: encourage your child to read every day. Make reading fun and praise your child’s efforts, all the time.  

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?   

Here's a tip: keep the magic of just listening to a good story alive by reading either made up, retold or read-aloud stories – with lots of excitement through the use of your voice.  

• 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.  

Here's a tip: be positive whenever your child is reading, no matter what they are reading. Respect your child’s opinion as it shows they are thinking about what they read.  

• 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. Mes sa ging 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.  
• Play video and board games and complete difficult 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.  

Here's a tip: make writing fun and use any excuse you can think of to encourage your child to write about anything, any time.  

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; e.g. school camp, noho marae, church, doctor, sports training, family/whānau reunion. Your child could write a list of what to pack.  

Here's a tip: talk about what your child writes. Be interested. Use it as a way of starting conversations. Listen to your child’s opinion, even if you don’t agree with it.  

• 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 (external link) .  
• 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; eg 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.  

Here's a tip: be a great role model. Show your child that you write for lots of reasons, eg replying to an email, writing a shopping list, invitation or letter, writing for your work or your own study. Use your first language – this helps your child’s learning, too.  

• 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 them which bank account will give them the best return for their money  
• talk about current prices for items that interest your child and investigate which store offers the best price
• notice angles, parallel and perpendicular lines around you.

Encourage your child to find out more about maths at the library and on the Internet.  

• 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 maths 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.   
• cooking – explore recipes and amounts of food and costs within a budget when catering for larger numbers eg 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 eg 10 cents off a litre.  

Year 8 

Support their learning .

• Help your child to find suitable material to read online for a topic of interest at school.    
• Talk to your child about what they have been reading online. What have they learnt? What questions do they still have? How do they know the information is reliable?  
• Talk to your child’s teacher about available books and resources that relate to your child’s interests.  
• Read through your child’s homework tasks and questions together and talk about what they are planning to do to finish the homework.  
• Play video games and board games as a family. Increase the challenge – it really helps children’s learning.  

Here's a tip: be a great role model. Let your child see you enjoying reading, including reading in your first language.  

• Read your child a children’s novel that they are interested in – try one or two chapters each day.  
• Get your child to listen to younger siblings doing their reading homework (this is a good chance for them to practise some of their own reading skills).  
• You can remind them about pausing while the younger child thinks about a word they don’t know, giving them help to sound out the word, checking it makes sense, and giving them praise for their reading.  
• Have books, magazines, comics, online articles and other information available for everyone in your family to read on topics that interest your child – eg skateboarding, surfing, fashion.  
• Listen together to audiobooks of your child’s favourite stories, books and songs.  

Hunt out things to read 

• Take a trip to the library and help your child to find books, audiobooks and magazines that they will enjoy reading – eg books about their favourite musician, movie star, sports celebrity or other role model.  
• Find books, magazines, websites or videos that tell stories about who your child is and where they have come from.  
• Read and talk about advertising signs you see – talk about how the company decided on the words and the design, and who they are trying to appeal to with the advertising.  
• Use a map to find directions for a trip you are going on, or follow the journeys of people on travel and adventure programmes.  
• Get some instruction books from the library on how to plan for and make food, gifts, or toys, for family birthdays, Matariki or other culturally significant events. Work through the instructions with your child.  
• Find some recipes together that your child might like to cook for a family treat. Be there to help your child as they read through the recipe, get all the ingredients and create the final result.  

Writing at home  

• Write a letter or an email to their teacher or principal, local council or their favourite influencer, sharing your child’s opinion on a topic of interest.   
• Start a blog and get your child to record thoughts about their day to share with their friends and family.  
• Write a proverb, family motto or pepeha and illustrate it with online images or photos.  
• Develop a spreadsheet to record the progress of your child’s sports team or kapa haka group (or one they follow), including games played, performances given, penalties, scores, player/performer of the day.  
• Start a writing journal to record trips and weekend activities.  
• Take some photos and write a picture book for a younger child using the photos.  
• Write a comic using drawings, or pictures to present an idea or story.  
• Make some birthday cards, thank you notes or letters to friends and family.  

Here's a tip: be a great role model. Show your child that you write for lots of reasons, eg replying to an email, writing a shopping list, invitation or letter, writing a story about your early life for your child to read.  

Get together with your child to:  

• Play strategy games and do word puzzles like word search puzzles and crosswords – you can find these online.  
• Make the weekly shopping list using supermarket flyers or supermarket website and find all the bargains and savings to fit the budget.  
• Write some descriptions for items you may wish to sell online.  
• Find out about some of your family history (whakapapa) and/or family stories (pakiwaitara) and record these stories to share with other family/whānau members.  

Here's a tip: make writing fun and use any excuse you can think of to encourage your child to write about anything, anytime.  

• Ask them about a piece of writing they are doing at school and/or for their homework.  
• Tell them about some writing you are currently doing – a letter, a poem, a list for the holidays, a scrapbook, something you are doing for work or study.  
• Help them to use an online dictionaries and thesaurus.   

Here's a tip: talk about what your child writes. Be interested. Use it as a way of starting conversations. Listen to your child's opinion, even if you don’t agree with it.  

• find and connect numbers around your home and on family outings, eg read the odometer on the car to see how many kilometres the car can go on a tank of petrol.  Get them to note how much it costs to refill, then work out how much it costs per kilometre  
• talk about sales in town – 15% off, 33% off, 20% off, half price. Look for the best value. What would the price of the item be after the discount? Is it better to buy two items and get one free or get 25% off the price of the items?  
• budget pocket money and/or plan ahead to open a savings account or reach a savings target. Talk about earning interest. Calculate what interest would be earned using different savings schemes  
• work out the amount of fabric needed to make a piece of clothing – how many square metres is needed?  
• talk about goals and plan ahead to budget for items for themselves or for others  
• do complicated number puzzles.  

Here’s a tip: the way your child is learning to solve maths problems may be different to when you were at school. Get them to show you how they do it and support them in their learning.  

• planning to help make a dish or a full meal for the family or even a community event at the hall or marae – working out the cost of making it at home versus buying it already made, planning the preparation and cooking time – and focus on the ingredients and the amounts of fat and sugar, too.  
• planning what proportion of their own, or their brother’s and sister’s, time should be spent on tasks (like homework, sleep, TV, sport, kapa haka) to make sure there’s time left for fun and family  
• watching documentaries or videos online, which are full of facts and information using maths  
• reading online articles or advertisements featuring graphs or tables  

Here's a tip: talk with your child’s teacher to understand what they are learning in maths and what the learning is in the homework they’re doing.  

• play games: find online games, card games or board games that use strategy  
• calculate the chance of their favourite team winning a tournament. Investigate how many points they need and work out what their competitors need as well  
• play outdoor games – skateboarding, frisbee, touch rugby, kilikiti, cricket, soccer, pétanque, netball  
• plan and perform a rap, dance or waiata a ringa and draw up the outline of the dance steps on graph paper  
• make a present or gift for someone using a scrapbook, kōwhaiwhai, quilting, doing tivaevae, collage, painting, carving, knitting, sewing or carpentry  
• plan for when you have saved $10/$20/$30. What would be the best use of that money for a day out?  
• draw a Lego structure from front, side, back and top views, break it up, and then a partner uses the drawings to recreate the structure.    

Here’s a tip: be positive about maths and show your child where you use maths. This will help them build confidence in maths. Praise their effort.

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Last reviewed: 29 February 2024 Has this been useful? Tell us what you think.

Help With Homework: 5+ Reading & Writing

Packed with fun, expert-reviewed activities in line with the national curriculum, these workbooks are the perfect link between school and home learning.

• Publish Date - 2019-01-21
• ISBN - 9781789051193
• Categories - Children , 
• Ages - Preschool (2-4)

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Back To School Boxset: Help With Homework: Reading And Writing Learning Pack

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• ISBN 9781789050820
• Categories BX , BXOS , C ACT , Children's Books , D7 , D7C , RM 20 - RM 39.99 , TOP , Workbooks
• Author(s) Autumn Publishing
• Publisher Autumn Publishing
• Format Paperback
• Dimensions 29.8cm x 4.9cm x 30.1cm
• Weight 0.45 kg

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Help With Homework: Spelling is full of practice questions and engaging pictures to help little learners gain confidencein spelling.

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A1 – Elementary

Practice Grammar Tests for A1 with Answer

A2 – Pre-intermediate

Practice Grammar Tests for A2 with Answer

B1 – Intermediate

Practice Grammar Tests for B1 with Answer

B2 – Upper-intermediate

Practice Grammar Tests for B2 with Answer

C1 – Advanced

Practice Grammar Tests for C1 with Answer

Pre-A1 – STARTERS

Practice Listening Tests for STARTERS with Answer & Audioscript

Practice Listening Tests for A1 with Answer & Audioscript

Practice Listening Tests for B1 with Answer & Audioscript

Practice Listening Tests for B2 with Answer & Audioscript

Practice Reading Tests for STARTERS with Answer

Practice Reading Tests for A1 with Answer

Practice Reading Tests for A2 with Answer

Practice Reading Tests for B1 with Answer

Practice Reading Tests for B2 with Answer

Use of English Tests for A1 with Answer

Use of English Tests for A2 with Answer

Use of English Tests for B1 with Answer

Use of English Tests for B2 with Answer

Practice Writing Tests for STARTERS with Answer

Practice Writing Tests for A1 with Answer

Practice Writing Tests for A2 with Answer

Practice Writing Tests for B1 with Answer

Practice Writing Tests for B2 with Answer

Key (KET) Listening Tests

Key (ket) reading & writing tests.

Practice KET Reading and Wrting Tests with Answer

Preliminary (PET) Listening Tests

Practice PET Listening Tests with Answer & Audioscript

First (FCE) Listening Tests

Practice FCE Listening Tests with Answer & Audioscript

CAE Listening Tests

Practice CAE Listening Tests with Answer & Audioscript

Practice Vocabulary Tests for A1 with Answer

Practice Vocabulary Tests for A2 with Answer

Practice Vocabulary Tests for B1 with Answer

Practice Vocabulary Tests for B2 with Answer

Practice KET (A2) Reading and Writing Test 02 with Answers

• KET (A2) Reading and Writing Tests

Reading and Writing Part 1

Questions 1-6.

For each question, choose the correct answer.

From 1 October, please do not enter the pool before you have used the shower.

A   The pool is closed on October 1st.

B   You need to wash before you swim.

C   There will be a new shower at the pool.

From:         Amanda

To:              Gran

Subject:     Help with a school project

Do you have any old photos showing you in your uniform when you were at school? If you do, can you send me one for school?

Thanks, Amanda

Amanda wants her grandmother to

A   let her have a picture.

B   lend her some clothes.

C   describe her old uniform.

Memory full

Please delete files or click here to buy more memory.

Where might you see this text?

A   in a computer shop

B   on the screen of a computer

C   on the wall in the computer classroom

TOMORROW’S TRIP

Time coach leaves school: 8:50.

Please arrive no later than 8:40.

The school gates will open at about 8:30.

What time do pupils need to get to school tomorrow?

A   about 8:30

B   by 8:40

C   at 8:50

PLEASE NOTE EVERYBODY

There’s a lift if you need it. BUT use the stairs if you can.

It’s a great way to stay fit.

A   Get the lift if you are in a hurry.

B   Use the stairs if the lift is broken.

C   Walking up and down stairs is better for you.

Hounslow Cinema: Special Offer

Buy tickets to four films and you don’t need to pay for the next one!

Every day until 5:30 p.m.

A   You can watch up to four films for free.

B   The fifth film you see during the daytime is free.

C   Cheap tickets are available for groups of four in the evenings.

1 B   2 A   3 B   4 B   5 C   6 B

Reading and Writing Part 2

Questions 7-13.

Advice on doing homework

I don’t mind doing homework, especially when I play some jazz (and not pop) on my phone. When I do, I’m able to think more carefully about what I’m doing. Sometimes I really enjoy doing my homework, especially when it’s maths and I understand it well. Or when one of my classmates comes to my place and we study together. I find it’s best if I let my parents and sister know I’m busy so they don’t come into my room and spend all evening talking to me!

When I started doing my homework in my room every morning, it wasn’t a great success. I always found something more interesting to do! But these days, I don’t have the same problem. I just go to my room in the evening, switch on the light, sit down at my desk and do it. I do love music, but if I put my MP3 player on, I start to think about the song and not the homework! So I don’t listen while I work. It’s the same problem if my mum or dad put music on in the next room. I turn my mobile off or put it away before I start. That helps too.

Jackson, 14

I usually do most of my homework before I go to bed. And then I do a bit more as soon as I wake up. I’ve always found it easy to do that. I’ll maybe look at my German vocabulary for five minutes before breakfast. I tell my friends at school: ‘If you want to do your homework well, make sure your room is nice and bright. Otherwise, you’ll fall asleep!’

7 B   8 A   9 A   10 C   11 A   12 C   13 B

Reading and Writing Part 3

Questions 14-18.

Starting photography

By Mrs Howeels, Class 3D teacher

Have you ever wanted to take better pictures of your family, of your dinner or of your cat? Well, I can help you. In fact, that’s what makes photography such a fantastic hobby. It doesn’t matter if you have a nice new camera or just use your phone. We photographers are always trying to improve. We want today’s to be more interesting than yesterday’s.

In my photography classes, I’ll show you how to find your own style, not just take the same photos as all your friends. But you’ll need to be out of bed early and take pictures in the best light, before it gets too bright. We’ll talk more about light in Week 1.

Actually, I’ve never read a book about photography, and I get bored watching videos on the net. I started to understand more about photography by looking at my own photos. I thought about what was wrong with them and decided how to do better next time. And in Week 2, I’ll ask you to do the same with photos you have taken.

Do you want to know what I think? I don’t think there’s anyone who can’t take amazing photos. Not everyone wants to, and that’s cool. But if you do, come along to Room 4D on Wednesdays after lunch from 1:30 to 2:00.

14    Why does Mrs Howells enjoy photography?

        A   She loves using her new camera.

        B   She likes taking photos of her family.

        C   She enjoys trying to take better pictures.

15    What advice does Mrs Howells give?

        A   Take pictures with your friends.

        B   Don’t take photos if it is dark.

        C   Take photos early in the morning.

16    How did Mrs Howells learn about photography?

        A   from books

        B   from her mistakes

        C   from videos on the web

17    Mrs Howells believes that

        A   everybody should learn photography.

        B   photography is a great hobby for everyone.

        C   everybody can take good photos if they want to.

18   Why has Mrs Howells written this text?

        A   to ask pupils what they like photographing

        B   to sell pupils about a photography course

        C   to answer pupils’ questions about photography

14 C   15 C   16 B   17 C   18 B

Reading and Writing Part 4

Questions 19-24.

The oldest university in the world

Some people say University of Al Quaraouiyine in Morocco is the world’s oldest university because there has been a school in the same place ( 19 ) ……………… the year 859 AD. In other words, there has been one there ( 20 ) ……………… almost 1,100 years. The University has had many famous international students ( 21 ) ……………… the years including the great traveller, Ibn Khadun. The University was started by a woman, Fatima al-Fihri and ( 22 ) ……………… a long history of teaching women and activities for women’s education. Lecturer Hisham Mahmoud believes this helps female students concentrate during their studies. Before joining Al Quaraouiyine, Dr Mahmoud was a scientist, but he decided to ( 23 ) ……………… his career and work in education. The University’s students all do well. After finishing at the University, many students will continue their ( 24 ) ……………… at universities in America and Europe.

19 A   20 C   21 B   22 A   23 B   24 B

Reading and Writing Part 5

Questions 25-30.

For each question, write the correct answer. Write ONE word for each gap.

Example:   0      WENT

A school trip to the theatre

Last week, everyone in my class ( 0 ) ……………… on a trip to the theatre. We travelled there ( 25 ) ……………… coach. The theatre is about 10 kilometres away from school, so it was much ( 26 ) ……………… far to walk. The play was Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. In fact, it’s probably the ( 27 ) ……………… famous of all the plays that Shakespeare wrote. We’ve studied it at school, so I knew ( 28 ) ……………… it’s about. It’s a love story, but it’s also the saddest play I ( 29 ) ……………… ever seen. At the end, several ( 30 ) ……………… the people in my class were crying. But I loved it!

25 by   26 too   27 most   28 what   29 have   30 of

Reading and Writing Part 6

Question 31.

Read this email from your English friend Sam.

From:         Sam

To:              Help! I’m bored!

I want to ask you something. I’m really bored. Can I borrow something to read from you? What do you think I will enjoy? And when would you like it back? I hope that’s OK. Cheers! Sam

Write an email to Sam and answer his questions.

Write 25 words or more.

Write the email on your answer sheet.

Sample Answer

Sure, no problem. I’ve got a magazine with me about pop music. There’s an interview with Adele and I know you like her. I read it this morning and it’s really interesting. You can give it back to me at school next week.

See you late. Cheers, Jim

Reading and Writing Part 7

Look at the three pictures. Write the story shown in the pictures. Write 35 words or more.

Write the story on your answer sheet.

It was Sarah’s school sports day and she was really nervous. ‘Don’t worry, it’ll be OK!’ said her mum to her. At the start of her race, Sarah and the other girls said ‘Good luck’ to each other. ‘I’ll need it,’ thought Sarah to herself, because the other girls were all really fast.

But when the race started, Sarah found that she was the fastest. She finished the 100 metres as the winner. She couldn’t believe it. ‘Well done, Sarah!’ said the other girls. ‘You did well to win.’

Related Posts

• Practice KET (A2) Reading and Writing Test 14 with Answers
• Practice KET (A2) Reading and Writing Test 13 with Answers
• Practice KET (A2) Reading and Writing Test 12 with Answers
• Practice KET (A2) Reading and Writing Test 11 with Answers
• Practice KET (A2) Reading and Writing Test 10 with Answers
• Practice KET (A2) Reading and Writing Test 09 with Answers

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Why writing by hand beats typing for thinking and learning

Jonathan Lambert

If you're like many digitally savvy Americans, it has likely been a while since you've spent much time writing by hand.

The laborious process of tracing out our thoughts, letter by letter, on the page is becoming a relic of the past in our screen-dominated world, where text messages and thumb-typed grocery lists have replaced handwritten letters and sticky notes. Electronic keyboards offer obvious efficiency benefits that have undoubtedly boosted our productivity — imagine having to write all your emails longhand.

To keep up, many schools are introducing computers as early as preschool, meaning some kids may learn the basics of typing before writing by hand.

But giving up this slower, more tactile way of expressing ourselves may come at a significant cost, according to a growing body of research that's uncovering the surprising cognitive benefits of taking pen to paper, or even stylus to iPad — for both children and adults.

Is this some kind of joke? A school facing shortages starts teaching standup comedy

In kids, studies show that tracing out ABCs, as opposed to typing them, leads to better and longer-lasting recognition and understanding of letters. Writing by hand also improves memory and recall of words, laying down the foundations of literacy and learning. In adults, taking notes by hand during a lecture, instead of typing, can lead to better conceptual understanding of material.

"There's actually some very important things going on during the embodied experience of writing by hand," says Ramesh Balasubramaniam , a neuroscientist at the University of California, Merced. "It has important cognitive benefits."

While those benefits have long been recognized by some (for instance, many authors, including Jennifer Egan and Neil Gaiman , draft their stories by hand to stoke creativity), scientists have only recently started investigating why writing by hand has these effects.

A slew of recent brain imaging research suggests handwriting's power stems from the relative complexity of the process and how it forces different brain systems to work together to reproduce the shapes of letters in our heads onto the page.

Your brain on handwriting

Both handwriting and typing involve moving our hands and fingers to create words on a page. But handwriting, it turns out, requires a lot more fine-tuned coordination between the motor and visual systems. This seems to more deeply engage the brain in ways that support learning.

Shots - Health News

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"Handwriting is probably among the most complex motor skills that the brain is capable of," says Marieke Longcamp , a cognitive neuroscientist at Aix-Marseille Université.

Gripping a pen nimbly enough to write is a complicated task, as it requires your brain to continuously monitor the pressure that each finger exerts on the pen. Then, your motor system has to delicately modify that pressure to re-create each letter of the words in your head on the page.

"Your fingers have to each do something different to produce a recognizable letter," says Sophia Vinci-Booher , an educational neuroscientist at Vanderbilt University. Adding to the complexity, your visual system must continuously process that letter as it's formed. With each stroke, your brain compares the unfolding script with mental models of the letters and words, making adjustments to fingers in real time to create the letters' shapes, says Vinci-Booher.

That's not true for typing.

To type "tap" your fingers don't have to trace out the form of the letters — they just make three relatively simple and uniform movements. In comparison, it takes a lot more brainpower, as well as cross-talk between brain areas, to write than type.

Recent brain imaging studies bolster this idea. A study published in January found that when students write by hand, brain areas involved in motor and visual information processing " sync up " with areas crucial to memory formation, firing at frequencies associated with learning.

"We don't see that [synchronized activity] in typewriting at all," says Audrey van der Meer , a psychologist and study co-author at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. She suggests that writing by hand is a neurobiologically richer process and that this richness may confer some cognitive benefits.

Other experts agree. "There seems to be something fundamental about engaging your body to produce these shapes," says Robert Wiley , a cognitive psychologist at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. "It lets you make associations between your body and what you're seeing and hearing," he says, which might give the mind more footholds for accessing a given concept or idea.

Those extra footholds are especially important for learning in kids, but they may give adults a leg up too. Wiley and others worry that ditching handwriting for typing could have serious consequences for how we all learn and think.

What might be lost as handwriting wanes

The clearest consequence of screens and keyboards replacing pen and paper might be on kids' ability to learn the building blocks of literacy — letters.

"Letter recognition in early childhood is actually one of the best predictors of later reading and math attainment," says Vinci-Booher. Her work suggests the process of learning to write letters by hand is crucial for learning to read them.

"When kids write letters, they're just messy," she says. As kids practice writing "A," each iteration is different, and that variability helps solidify their conceptual understanding of the letter.

Research suggests kids learn to recognize letters better when seeing variable handwritten examples, compared with uniform typed examples.

This helps develop areas of the brain used during reading in older children and adults, Vinci-Booher found.

"This could be one of the ways that early experiences actually translate to long-term life outcomes," she says. "These visually demanding, fine motor actions bake in neural communication patterns that are really important for learning later on."

Ditching handwriting instruction could mean that those skills don't get developed as well, which could impair kids' ability to learn down the road.

"If young children are not receiving any handwriting training, which is very good brain stimulation, then their brains simply won't reach their full potential," says van der Meer. "It's scary to think of the potential consequences."

Many states are trying to avoid these risks by mandating cursive instruction. This year, California started requiring elementary school students to learn cursive , and similar bills are moving through state legislatures in several states, including Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina and Wisconsin. (So far, evidence suggests that it's the writing by hand that matters, not whether it's print or cursive.)

Slowing down and processing information

For adults, one of the main benefits of writing by hand is that it simply forces us to slow down.

During a meeting or lecture, it's possible to type what you're hearing verbatim. But often, "you're not actually processing that information — you're just typing in the blind," says van der Meer. "If you take notes by hand, you can't write everything down," she says.

The relative slowness of the medium forces you to process the information, writing key words or phrases and using drawing or arrows to work through ideas, she says. "You make the information your own," she says, which helps it stick in the brain.

Such connections and integration are still possible when typing, but they need to be made more intentionally. And sometimes, efficiency wins out. "When you're writing a long essay, it's obviously much more practical to use a keyboard," says van der Meer.

Still, given our long history of using our hands to mark meaning in the world, some scientists worry about the more diffuse consequences of offloading our thinking to computers.

"We're foisting a lot of our knowledge, extending our cognition, to other devices, so it's only natural that we've started using these other agents to do our writing for us," says Balasubramaniam.

It's possible that this might free up our minds to do other kinds of hard thinking, he says. Or we might be sacrificing a fundamental process that's crucial for the kinds of immersive cognitive experiences that enable us to learn and think at our full potential.

Balasubramaniam stresses, however, that we don't have to ditch digital tools to harness the power of handwriting. So far, research suggests that scribbling with a stylus on a screen activates the same brain pathways as etching ink on paper. It's the movement that counts, he says, not its final form.

Jonathan Lambert is a Washington, D.C.-based freelance journalist who covers science, health and policy.

• handwriting

ChatGPT vs. ChatGPT Plus: Is a paid subscription still worth it?

When  GPT-4  was OpenAI's most powerful artificial intelligence large language model (LLM), paying for a subscription to ChatGPT Plus— which costs $20 a month —made sense. But now that OpenAI announced the availability of GPT-4o, I'm not so sure. 

With this latest update, OpenAI revealed an omnimodel that makes GPT-4-level intelligence available for all, so you won't need a Plus subscription to access it. What's more, free users can now access features that were previously reserved for paid subscribers, including GPT Store access to use custom GPT bots; the Memory feature to give their conversations a sense of continuity; uploading photos and documents to discuss them with ChatGPT; browsing the web to give more current context; and advanced data analysis. 

Also: 6 ways OpenAI just supercharged ChatGPT for free users

These changes can make it hard to determine who will find free ChatGPT adequate and who should spring for a Plus subscription. As a ChatGPT Plus subscriber, I'll explain below in exactly which cases you should use one or the other. Once GPT-4o is widely available, I'll test it to see how it performs for free users and ChatGPT Plus subscribers and report if any further differences arise.

You should use ChatGPT Plus if...

1. you use chatgpt a lot more than the average user.

With GPT-4o giving free users many of the same capabilities that were only available behind a Plus subscription, the reasons to sign up for a monthly fee have dwindled but are not completely gone. Free ChatGPT users will be limited in the number of messages they can send with GPT-4o, depending on usage and demand; however, OpenAI doesn't specify that limit. 

Also:  Microsoft Copilot vs. Copilot Pro: Is the subscription fee worth it?

OpenAI says ChatGPT will switch automatically to GPT-3.5 when free users reach their limit. ChatGPT Plus subscribers have five times the capacity of free users. Paid users will be able to ask GPT-4o five times as many questions as free users and will still have access to GPT-4 when they exceed their limit. We expect OpenAI will increase the limits for GPT-4o for both free and paid users. 

2. You can't wait

OpenAI says it is beginning to roll out GPT-4o to ChatGPT Plus, Team, and ChatGPT free users today, with Enterprise users coming soon. During the Spring Update live stream, OpenAI CTO Mira Murati announced that the new GPT-4o model and the rest of the updates will roll out iteratively to customers over the next few weeks. This means that only a fraction of ChatGPT users currently have access to the new features, with this number increasing shortly.

Also:  How to subscribe to ChatGPT Plus (and why you should)

If you don't want to wait until you get the new update in your account to use Plus features as a free subscriber, you can get a Plus subscription now to stave off the excitement. Note that you can cancel the subscription whenever you want.

ChatGPT Plus users still get early access to new features that OpenAI rolls out, including the new ChatGPT desktop app for macOS. This early access will soon include the new Voice Mode, which will roll out over the coming weeks. OpenAI will also launch a Windows version of the app later this year.

3. You want a tool to create charts and tables

ChatGPT is getting an upgraded data analysis feature that enables users to create interactive charts and tables from datasets. The upgrade also lets users upload files directly from Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive, in addition to the option to browse for files on their local device. These new features will be available only in GPT-4o to ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Enterprise users.

Also: ChatGPT will put your data into interactive tables and charts with GPT-4o

With these capabilities, you could upload an entire research study to ChatGPT and ask it to generate a table with certain parameters ( always check that the info ChatGPT enters is correct). Then, you could click on a cell and ask ChatGPT a question about it or prompt it to create a pie chart. The pie chart, which would also be interactive, can be customized and downloaded for use in presentations and documents.   

You should use free ChatGPT if...

1. you don't want to pay a monthly fee.

When GPT-4o is available, ChatGPT users will no longer need a Plus subscription to access most of the features that initially attracted subscribers. OpenAI is making GPT-4o available to all users, whether they are paying or not. 

ChatGPT free users will be able to access the multimodal GPT-4o with GPT-4-level intelligence, get responses from the web, use advanced data analysis, upload files and photos to discuss with the chatbot, access custom GPTs in the GPT Store, and have more helpful experiences with Memory -- all of which used to be ChatGPT Plus benefits.

Also: The ChatGPT desktop app is more helpful than I expected - here's why and how to try it

Although it's unclear whether free users can generate images natively in GPT-4o (OpenAI did not disclose this during the event), free users will have access to GPT bots in the GPT Store. If DALL-E access remains a Plus feature, free users can still access the DALL-E bot in the GPT Store. 

2. You're a casual ChatGPT user

There is no need to upgrade to a ChatGPT Plus membership if you're just a casual user who doesn't reach the usage limits of GPT-4o. The new GPT-4o model is rolling out to ChatGPT free users with usage limits beginning today, but OpenAI hasn't specified this limit. Plus users will have a message limit that is five times greater than that of free users, with Team and Enterprise users getting even higher limits.

Also:  ChatGPT vs. Bing Chat vs. Google Bard: Which is the best AI chatbot?

If you're a free user who doesn't use ChatGPT often and stays within the usage limit, you wouldn't get much benefit from a ChatGPT Plus subscription now. I expect OpenAI will amend the subscription benefits or the price as time passes and GPT-4o becomes widely available.

Artificial Intelligence

How to use chatgpt plus: from gpt-4o to interactive tables, copilot pro vs. chatgpt plus: which is ai chatbot is worth your $20 a month, chatgpt vs. copilot: which ai chatbot is better for you.