Online homework

Following the success of the online home schooling, the use of Google Classroom and Education City and also to minimise the number of books going to and from school, we will continue to set all homework in the Spring term on line. The majority will be set via Education City, and occasionally using Google Classroom. The procedure for accessing these remains unchanged: all you need is your child's ' Wonde' password and an Internet enabled device. There is a copy of this in your child's reading record book if you need it. Click on the link below, and follow the instructions to log into Wonde. You will then be able to access your child's Google Classroom as well as the 'My City' homework that has been set for them on Education City by their teacher.

Reading

Reading is THE most important thing you can do with your child at home. The expectation is that your child will read at home every night. If they do not have an opportunity to read to someone at home then they will have an opportunity to read at break time so they do not fall behind with their reading. Please ensure that you record in the reading record book when your child has read at home. Reading books will be changed on a Monday and Thursday. If you finish a book please make it clear that the book has been finished and you require a new book on book change day. If the book is finished before book change day, please still read with your child. This can be the same book again, which is great for fluency and understanding of the text, or alternatively this can be a book that you have at home, or even a book from the Oxford Owls website. The login details for Oxford Owls are:  Username: SquirrelsWSPA Password: WSPA

Just make sure you record the date, the name of the book read and a comment in the reading record book. 

Spellings

Every week, we will set spellings for the children to learn. These will link to the phonics and spelling rules we are learning that week in school. Children will be tested on the spellings on a Thursday morning. Their spellings books should be handed in on a Thursday morning so the new spellings can be stuck into their books. We will monitor each week that children are using the book to practise (as a minimum) to learn their spellings and tables.

TT Rockstars

All children in Squirrels have access to TT Rockstars. I have set this to the 'Automatic Training Mode' (ATM). This means all children will go through our pre-programmed levels when they play in the Garage or Arena. 

How does it work?

Learners play in the Garage or the Arena and begin with our first set of questions (1x10 up to 4x10). When they can answer at a rate of 20 per minute, we'll introduce the next set of questions. As learners progress, ATM brings in commutativity, missing number questions and division facts. So the first 9 levels, look like this:

Level 1 : 1×10 to 4×10
Level 2 : 10×1 to 10×4
Level 3 : A mix of 1 and 2

Level 4 : 10×?=10 to 10×?=40
Level 5 : ?×10=10 to ?×10=40
Level 6 : A mix of 4 and 5

Level 7 : 10÷10 to 40÷10
Level 8 : 10÷1 to 40÷4
Level 9 : A mix of 7 and 8

Then the process repeats for 5×10 to 8×10 and once more for 9×10 to 12×10 before moving onto the next table and starting the process again. 

Once they have a few tables under their belt, ATM combines them for a while, to consolidate recall, and then brings in a fresh table. The process repeats - all the while giving plenty of opportunity to revisit prior learning, by interweaving earlier tables and giving due weight to the facts we know learners struggle with the most - until your learner has become a Rock Star at all the tables!

I have set the children 15 garages to complete each week. There will be certificates and awards for the best performing children during our celebrations on a Friday.