Our homework this year has three parts to it:
1. Reading. We ask that pupils read for 20 minutes, 5 times a week and record this thoroughly in their reading log. Pupils have been shown a reading log WAGOLL (what a good one looks like). If a child is reading a banded book as part of our reading scheme, reading this book should be a priority. All pupils have access to free read books. All pupils, but especially those who struggle with reading, will benefit from sharing their free read book with someone at home, rather than reading it alone. Home reading supports the significant work we do on reading in school, which includes: daily sharing of class novels, twice weekly whole class guided reading comprehension and regular 1:1 reading as well as phonics for struggling readers.
2. CGP One workout a week from this book is set to support the development grammar and spelling knowledge and skills. The CGP workouts re-visit grammar and spelling knowledge and skills taught in previous years as well as new bits for year 5 and 6. Where a grammar term is new, pupils will find it in the glossary at the back of the book. You are very welcome to support your child in completing this homework. It should take 10 minutes. We are happy for your child to stop after 10 minutes even if the workout is not complete. Please email if you feel your child is struggling with the CGP book. If you want further explanation of the grammar terminology, BBC bitesize is a good place to look:
Y5 - https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zv48q6f/year/zhgppg8
Y6 - https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zv48q6f/year/zncsscw
This will support our grammar and spelling lessons in school. Grammar is taught in every English lesson but also has a fortnightly discreet focus. Likewise, spelling is taught in every English lesson but also has a weekly discreet focus.
3. Spelling Shed At the end of year 6, one of the standards children have to meet to achieve the expected standard in writing relates to spelling. The standard states that MOST words from the national curriculum year 3 and 4 word list must be spelt accurately, as well as MOST words from the national curriculum year 5 and 6 word list. In school, our spelling lessons mainly focus on words which follow patterns, whilst the year 3,4,5 and 6 word lists tend to be words which don't follow patterns. We do address the word lists throughout our curriculum but pupils who re-visit these words weekly through playing spelling shed games do progress to a higher level with the accuracy of these spellings. Therefore, we ask that for their third homework each week pupils play a minimum of 3 games (Y5) or 5 games (Y6) on Spelling Shed. All pupils have a login for this website - it is in their home link book. If getting online at home is challenging, a paper-based alternative for this homework is available and pupils should request it.
