Dear Parents and Children,

The children have been given a Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling  workbook today  from which they will do their English homework. Children will be set this work on a Thursday and their book must be in school by the next Tuesday. The work is based on work we have been doing in class. The answers are in the back of the book and we ask that you mark them with the child. Circle any that they are uncertain of and we will go though these in class. We ask that the children write neatly using a pencil, or black or blue pen.

Although our year 5 children did ‘the times table check’ last summer, some of their knowledge of tables have become ‘a bit rusty’ and they don’t have immediate recall. Fluent recall of these number facts is essential for children to be able to cope with the year 5/6 curriculum in maths.  This week we will be focussing on x 3 and x 6 times tables. Times Table Rock stars and Hit the Button are a great way of practising tables. We will test their tables knowledge on a Friday.

Maths homework will be set using Classroom secrets after half term.

Children also have spellings each week which are tested on a Monday- some of these follow a certain pattern or spelling rule, and others are high frequency words – some with tricky spellings – that the children will need in their writing.

Continuing to read at home is also important in year 5/6. Whilst we appreciate many of our children at this age wish to read alone, it is helpful to discuss the books with the children so you can assess their understanding of the text or dip in and read with them ‘once in a while’. We know some of parents share a bedside story with their children – taking it in turn to read a few pages each. Children who are still on the ‘coloured reading bands’ need to read at home regularly.

Thank you for all your support which is much appreciated.

Jill Benson and Rachael Bernasconi

Some parents and children have asked for practice papers to work on over the Easter  holiday. As teachers, we feel this is a good idea as it keeps their learning fresh in their mind. SATs are only two weeks after the Easter break.

There is a lot of work there so please do not attempt it all in one go. The reading paper could be done in three 20 minute parts spread over the  2 weeks or attempted in one hour to get a sense of the timing constraints.

There are two short grammar papers- maybe try one a week?

There are some  maths reasoning papers which should be completed in 40 minutes. We have also included an arithmetic paper which they love!

Children may want to work through some of these papers with an adult or prefer to attempt them independently. We have asked the children to circle any questions they are struggling with because as they know, it is the ones that they get wrong that interest us because we can focus on these in class or on a one to one. All the papers ae marked and their results are shared with the children.

We appreciate some of you may have busy holidays planned, but it would be great if they could complete some of the papers – particularly those that they struggle with.

We wish you all a happy Easter.

Mrs Benson and Mrs Bernasconi

I am really sorry to have missed you all this week. As you may have gathered Mrs Bernasconi and I both have covid even though we haven’t seen each other, so keep testing if you’re feeling at all poorly. However, we know you’re in great hands with Mrs Wade and Mrs Colin- Stokes and we are all in constant touch with each other.

Year 5/6 Topic homework

I am particularly sorry to have missed continuing with our topic -The Titanic- which I know you are all really excited about. Did you spot I had left lots of books out for you? For part of your homework, I would like you to do some research about 1912 – the year the Titanic sunk.  Your work should be  presented on a piece of A4 paper that can be stuck in your book (don’t write on the back of a sheet as it makes sticking it in your book tricky). Your information may be presented in a fact file or a poster format . You can find out what you like: who was king at the time; fashion; transport; inventions; music etc You can use the computer to create your work. However do not cut and paste written information or write information that you don’t understand; I would like to see it in your own words! If you’re struggling to print, then e-mail it to me as an attachment. Remember I don’t want to know about the Titanic as we’re learning about this in class but background to the period will really help you. I will give you two weeks to complete this homework; it will need to be in  on Wednesday 23rd March.

Year 6 maths 

Well done to the majority of you who had a go at the long division for homework. Remember I asked you to ask on Monday if you were stuck so someone could help you before it needed to be in on Wednesday.

This week you have been given a half arithmetic paper for homework. You should now be able to do everything on the paper but, of course, we all forget things so if if you’re struggling with any of the questions, circle it and we can go over it together. This should take less than 20 minutes as a whole paper should take you 30 minutes. Strive for accuracy!

Year 6 English

You have been given  10 PAG questions which are set out in the style of SATs . Circle any you are unsure of. Don’t lose precious marks by forgetting to put capital letters or full stops or by writing your comma incorrectly!

Year 5

Mrs Bernasconi is setting your  maths and English homework on line.

I am really looking forward to seeing you all next week as long as my lateral flow is negative.

Have a good weekend.

Mrs Benson