Reading

Please can you encourage children to read for at least 20 minutes per day at home. Once they have read please can you then ensure that this is recorded in their Reading Record books by either an adult your child. If an adult can then confirm by writing 'Home' in the comments section (and add a comment if you wish) so that the children can earn an extra break time reward on Friday afternoon. Reading on 1 or 2 days will receive 5 minutes, 3 or 4 days will receive 10 minutes, 5+ days will receive 15 minutes.

Accelerated Reader

Accelerated Reader (AR) is our current why of tracking and developing readers at KS2. This web-based platform allows children to guide pupils to suitable books, and then will give them a short quiz at the end of each book to test their understanding.  Before children get assigned  a book they undertake a baseline test, which will test their word power and text comprehension.  From this they are assigned a ’level’– usually from 2 to 14.  So, if your child comes home saying they are ‘3.2’ this the level of books they should choose from in the library. Each book also has a points value, and the children accumulate points as they go

Once the book is read (and we recommend it being read twice), the children will take a quiz.  80% is a pass, and they can then choose another book.  Each successful quiz means an increase in points, and it could mean that the systems algorithms also tell them to move on to a different level of book.  It’s easy to se ewhy a second read is good!  We might also ask younger children / lower levels are asked to read a book 3 times. Moving to twice as confidence, skills and ability are proven in tests as well as thickness of book (once confidence establishes).

The class teacher will get details of the number of successful quizzes, number taken and all sorts of other data to help with your child’s reading.  Your job, as always, is to help them by encouraging reading at home.

AR have graded thousands of books and take into account vocabulary, length, content, themes and maturity when grading the books.  This might mean a quite think book is 5, but a thinner book is 6.2.  Don’t judge on thickness!  We try to tell the children to steer away from massively-chunky texts, as by the time they have finished a book, Chapter 1 could have been 6 weeks in the past, the quiz suddenly becomes that-much harder. A second read is also a bit of a bind!

Accelerated Reader can be accessed from home, using the login details that are on the inside of your child’s reading record, or on the ‘Important Information’ page of your child’s class pages.

I hope that this gives a bit more detail, and helps with the overall understanding of how reading, changing books and the whole process works.

General instructions:

Your child has been provided with log in details to access their Accelerated Reader account, these details can be located in the front of their Reading Record. 

1. Click on the following link: Renaissance Learning Login
2. Input log in details
3. Click onto the Practice icon 
4. Input the name of the book or the reference code, which can be found on the front cover of the reading book (not the Reading Record)
5. Click on the 'Take Quiz' icon for the appropriate book title
6. If given the option of 'literacy skills' or 'vocabulary skills,' please click 'literacy skills'
7. Take the test

Children should aim to be achieving either 4/5 or 8/10 at a minimum - this shows a good level of understanding.

Maths

Please can you encourage children to practise their times tables for 5-10 minutes per day at home. We will have regular practise and times tables tests at school but strongly encourage additional practise at home. Any children achieving 500+ / 1000+ correct answers per week on TT Rockstars (link below) will receive an extra 5 / 10 minutes break time reward on Friday afternoon. Login details are in children's Reading Record books.

Spellings

This year each class will be taking part in a 'spelling Bee'. This consists of 42 words that are tested at the start of the term and then again at the end of the term. Children will be given 7 spellings per week to learn for their Friday spelling test.  Children who score 42 at the end of the term will receive a special award during 'Star of the Week'. Spelling sheets will usually be handed out on Friday but if for any reason the sheet does not arrive at home, all spellings for each term can be found below. Homework does not need to be brought back on the sheet provided - any sheet of paper will suffice.

Term 1

Group 1 Spellings

Group 2 Spellings

Term 2

Group 1 Spellings

Group 2 Spellings

Term 3

Group 1 Spellings

Group 2 Spellings

Term 4

Group 1 Spellings

Group 2 Spellings

Term 5

Group 1 Spellings

Group 2 Spellings

Term 6

Group 1 Spellings

Group 2 Spellings