Welcome to Herons!

It is wonderful to have the pleasure of teaching Herons again this year and I am excited to get to know the whole class even better. Below is some information which we hope you will find useful.

Reading

Please ensure your child reads their school, Accelerated Reader book at least three times a week. This may include reading silently to themselves, out loud to an adult or even an adult reading to them. To help promote thinking and check understanding, children should quiz on Accelerated Reader when they finish a book.

Accelerated Reader Website

https://login.renaissance.com/12d2c6eb-d460-4141-b418-f6a20b7681a5?state=14538918-cefd-4532-b301-7bfa1f51155b

In Key Stage 2, it is every child’s responsibility to take their reading book home each day and bring it back to class the following day. Adults will remind children to do this at the end of every day.

If you wanted to help develop comprehension, the following questions are good start points for conversations about your child’s reading:

• Can you find a few words/phrases/sentences that tell you about… (character, setting, atmosphere).
• What do you think about the character?
• Why do you think they reacted in the way they did?
• What does (one particular word) mean? How do you know?
• Can you put the events in order?
• What did you enjoy/find surprising/dislike in this chapter?
• Non – fiction: can you tell me about key features of the text and give me some examples?

Spellings

Alongside regular reading, please ask your child to practise spellings at home in their purple handwriting book. The expectation is that they also write the word in a sentence to help reinforce understanding. The spellings are taken initially from the first 300 high frequency words and the year 3/4 curriculum spelling list.

Your child will be tested on their spellings every Monday and a new list of spellings will be given out on the following Tuesday.

A copy of the full spelling lists can be found on the Herons class page.

Maths

Being able to quickly recall times table facts is a vital part of the Key Stage 2 curriculum.

Your child will have their own Tackling Tables login (https://www.tacklingtables.co.uk/)  which progresses the children through their times table knowledge and eventually moves onto application of these tables. Laminated usernames and passwords will be sent home with your child so they can access Tackling Tables at home. Below is the order the children should work through the certificates.

Blue (2x, 5x, 10x) - multiplication, division, mixed

Green (3x, 4x, 8x) - multiplication, division, mixed

Red (6x, 7x, 9x, 11x, 12x) - multiplication, division, mixed

If your child is finding a particular times table more challenging, we recommend the website https://www.timestables.co.uk as a useful resource to practise individual times tables, but playing lots of games, listening to songs and chanting times tables also proves effective in improving recall of these facts.

Please support your child with practice as frequently as possible.

Lexia and Mathseeds

Your child might have an account for either or both of these. If so, they can log in at home and work through the levels to consolidate and develop their English (Lexia) and maths (Mathseeds) understanding and skills.

https://www.lexiacore5.com/?SiteID=3941-4067-1168-4899

https://mathseeds.co.uk/

Thank you for your support and we look forward to having an enjoyable and productive year.

Mrs Swales & Mrs Potter