Woodpeckers - Learning at Home

Quicklinks

Google Classroom

Accelerated Reader

Times-table Rockstars

Maths Flex

Spelling Shed

Maths

Maths fluency skills are critical to ensure your child an access all the maths concepts in Y6 and in KS3.

TTRS

Times tables are the foundations for many of our topics.

Making sure that your child regularly engages in TTRS will help boost their fluency in all multiplication facts up to 12 x 12, which by the end of Year 6 children should be able to answer in under 3 seconds. The division facts are equally important and should be worked on too.

See attached information to help you understand how this works.

There is no link for Parents with the TTRS schools account but I can give you individual information if you want it or log into your child's account to see how long and what points they have accrued.

To see progress on TTRS, the parent/ carer can: Login as their child on and go to their Stats.
To see progress on NumBots, the parent/ carer can: Login as their child and go to Story to see how far they've got and Challenge to see their scores on the different learning objectives.

ttrs parent letter.pdf

Power Maths

To further support your child's numeracy at home, I have attached this yearly overview of Power Maths program which we follow in school. Please note that this has been planned with Power Maths being used throughout their time at school and in non-Covid times so will look slightly different currently.

power maths year 6 overview.pdf

Number Fluency

Some further resources that you may find useful

Prodigy
We will be using this to help wider maths skills. The children have completed an initial baseline and then complete challenges as they go along.
Attached letter explaining more. This is free - you do not need to buy the subscription.
https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/parents-guide-to-prodigy/

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

https://www.abcya.com/grades/5

English

Reading with your children - listening to them read and asking them questions, as well as helping them to understand any words they are unsure of - is consistently proven to be the most effective work at home you can do with your children. Therefore, we ask you to read with your children 4-5 days a week for 15-20 minutes.

At this age, it is often more about listening to your children read, and discussing the book with them, rather than helping them to recognise letters and sounds. Often parents ask us what questions they should be asking. This may be intuitive for some, but anything that helps the children to show their understanding of the book is great.

Before you start reading:
- Remind me, what has happened so far?
- What did we read about last time?
- What do you think will happen in this next chapter?
- What do you think this character will do next?

Whilst you are reading, you can check your child's understanding of words - just because they can read them, doesn't mean they understand what they mean.
- What does that word mean?
- Why has the writer used that word or phrase there?
- Why do you think that character did that?
- What do you think they might do next?

This isn't a prescriptive list and you don't want to constantly interrupt your child, but hopefully this helps that what we are trying to support the children in doing is ensuring that they aren't just learning how to read new words, but that they understand and can make meaning from the text.

We track the children's progress in reading using Accelerated Reader.

We often get asked for book recommendations. Here are some websites you may find useful, or do come and find us and ask us in class. The Love4Reading site is particularly good, as although you need to register, you can read the first chapters of many books first, so you can see if they appeal before you head to the library to borrow or a bookshop to buy. It is important children read books they enjoy - we ensure they are reading appropriate books in class, so you have leeway at home to ensure your children are reading for pleasure, building a habit that will last a lifetime.

https://www.thereaderteacher.com/
https://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/

https://www.booksfortopics.com/year-6

If you are finding that your child has read every book in the collection and they are looking to 'branch out' use the link below to find books in the style of popular authors.

https://www.booksfortopics.com/branching-out

Accelerated Reader
(Renaissance is the company that runs this)
Children should continue to choose and read books that are on AR and will complete the quizzes in school - any questions, please let me know.
This helps to track your child's reading progress and levels and to help us see what they need help with next.
They can log on at home and do the quiz or in school. If you need their login please let me know.

statutory spellings year 5 and 6.pdf

ReadTheory

This site helps your child improve their comprehension and will automatically move them to texts to skills they need to practise and more complex texts. There is not a separate parent account but I think you can logon with their details and see how they are doing or I can send you their individual report too.
This is superb at helping them improve their Comprehension without the writing ! It is so important for Secondary school as they have to read so many different texts.

If you have lost the logins they are on Google Classroom or email me.

https://readtheory.org/app/sign-up/create-account/student?classcode=ABF6G4KU&utm_source=email__create_class&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=webapp