• The conversations you share about the books your children read and the world around them are absolutely vital to happy and healthy development. Encourage your child to express his/her ideas, formulate opinions and ask questions.
• Writing comments in your child’s reading record book is very helpful for the class teacher.
• Use the ‘Walk and Talk’ suggestions displayed outside Ladybirds class to prompt conversations with your child about classroom learning.
• Completing the ‘Something you should know’ slips is also a great way of keeping the class teacher up to date with new things your child may show they know when they’re at home.

Daily if you can: Sharing a book or story, including practising reading aloud.

At least 3 x per week: Number bonds and times table passports.

Also spelling practise.

• Please read with your child every day if you can. It doesn’t have to be for a long period; it’s the regularity that helps children develop fluency. Talk to your child about the story or text and encourage them to develop their opinions and ideas about characters and plot. Take turns reading aloud so they have a good example to follow in terms of using punctuation and expression. This also makes reading aloud a little less daunting for those lacking confidence.
• Fluent knowledge of number bonds and times tables is the bedrock of high standards in maths. Much of what follows in later years doesn’t make sense and is much harder work if these two aspects of number are not secure.
• Presentation is important, but so is making the best effort. At this stage we are trying to instil a sense of pride for children in their own work and beginning to develop those learning behaviours that are central to our curriculum: being proactive, inventive, determined and reflective.

Daily if you can: Sharing a book or story, including practising reading aloud.

At least 3 x per week: Times table practise and spelling practise.

• Reading aloud is a different skill from reading to oneself and it is important that children have the opportunity to practise both regularly. It’s valuable if parent/carer and child take turns reading aloud, so that the adult can model using punctuation and expression in their voice. Sharing a book together and talking about the characters, any illustrations, the plot and how it develops are essential in helping children learn a range of comprehension skills. At this age, we also work a lot on considering why specific words have been chosen by the author and what impact they have.
• Times tables practice need not be boring! Tables can be sung as well as spoken and typed as well as written, and a multi-sensory approach helps them to ‘stick’ in the mind. There are lots of times tables cds and apps that can help.
• Good quality presentation is important in the weekly homework tasks. Please avoid biro if possible. The use of correct punctuation and accurate spelling is also important.
• We love seeing how inventive the children can be with the things they make and create for homework and hope that these tasks can be fun to complete together. Time is set aside each week in class for children to share what they have done and their work is displayed on a special Homework Board. Do come in and have a look at it – it’s really quite inspiring!

At least 4 x per week: reading, both independently and to an adult.

At least 3x per week: Spelling and times table practise.

• Reading aloud is a very different skill from reading to oneself and it is important that children have the opportunity to practise both regularly, even when they are confident readers. Please encourage your child to read a range of genres and develop their reading stamina by reading for longer periods of time – eg 15 minutes or more.
• At the end of Year 6, children are tested on a wide range of comprehension skills, including being able to infer and deduce – ie to recognise that there can be a ‘hidden agenda’ or a story behind the one that’s actually written down. They also have to be able to justify their opinions about a text by referring to different sentences, vocabulary or sections within it. Any discussions you have with your child about plot, character, vocabulary etc will really help them with this.
• Good quality presentation is important in the weekly tasks. Please avoid biro. The use of correct punctuation and accurate spelling is essential at this stage of primary school.
• Time is set aside each week for children to share/discuss homework. If your child cannot complete a whole task in time, please bring it in ‘in progress’ for the class teacher to see.