What are your tactics to get your grade 1 kids to study their lessons?

My grandson was a first grader a few years ago. Since I watch him after school everyday while his parents are at work, I'm usually the one who helps him with his homework. What I did was establish a set routine, I think that if they know they have a routine after school, that they are more willing to follow it. Our routine was (and is): home from school, wash hands/potty, a snack while I check over the schoolwork he brought home (and the papers he did while in class), and then homework right after snack. He's always been agreeable to this because he knows that when he gets done, it will then be time it's ok to change and play. In other words, he never leaves the kitchen until it's done lol. I think that it's easier that way too because he's still in 'school mode.' Yes, it is hard to keep their mind on their work. What I did with my grandson was tell him if he could ignore everything around him, then I'd give him an extra cookie, or offer to play a game with him. (Nothing wrong with rewarding good behavior!) I mentioned too that if we got didn't keep our minds on our homework and get it done, then it'd be even longer until play time. These tactics all work for me because they're based in structure: structured time with structured rules. Now that he's a 3rd grader, he follows the 'homework after school' that we set up from the beginning. And, he knows that while I'm right there in the kitchen, I will not DO his homework, but that I will explain it to him and go over it with him if he needs it. While I'm in the kitchen with him, I usually take that time to read and not add more distraction. You have a smaller child, so maybe have that one 'learning to color', or tracing alphabets while the older one is doing their homework. My grandson used to have the 'wandering mind' but, not much anymore at all. He's learned to keep his mind on his paperwork and not his surroundings. (And that has helped him ignore other classroom distractions at school too :-)

I think that the best thing to do with children this age is to break up their study time. This allows them to focus for a little time and to then be able to take a short break. Another thing that you can do is let them know that once they are done with their studying they can get a small reward. Perhaps make up little coupons that allow them to pick out a video they would like to see, coupon for ice cream etc.