Parents are not expected to be experienced with computers. Your role is not to be the expert or to teach students what they need to know.

Work that is set for students to do at home should be at a level they are able to manage independently. If students get stuck or need support, it is important that you have some strategies to suggest, rather than giving the answer or doing the work for them.

• Encourage children to take responsibility for completing their learning at home
• Stay informed about how well your child has completed their learning set by their teacher
• Use email, online parents’ forum or telephone/visit your child’s teacher to discuss any concerns you may have, to ask for advice or celebrate positive learning experiences
• Encourage your child’s independent learning efforts at home by giving positive feedback on the way they created or shared their learning online
• Give your child the chance to answer your questions and showcase their learning, rather than just checking their work for completion or correctness
• Make sure you know what it means to be cybersmart and encourage children to be cybersmart too
• Try to find 10 minutes, 2 to 3 times a week to have a brief learning conversation (more details below)
• Model the importance of reading and learning

Refining searches

• Use specific search terms. For example, ‘caterpillar + insect’ is more specific than just ‘caterpillar’.
• Remove all grammatical words and punctuation such as ‘a’, ‘the’ ‘what’.
• Plus (+). Includes this term in your search
• Minus (-). Deletes this term from your search
• Quotation marks (“ “). Your search only returns that exact phrase.
• Or (or). Use an ‘or’ to return results with one keyword or another.
• For information that only relates to New Zealand, use www.google.co.nz