What can I do to help my child in maths and make it fun?
There are plenty of opportunities for maths practice at home, from counting objects to simple games, such as dominoes and Snakes & Ladders.

You can also begin to explore using money and clocks both in play at home and when out and about. Encouraging your child to help with the purchasing of small items at the newsagent, or measuring themselves and others, is a great way to start exploring number relationships.

Take the fun into the kitchen – how heavy is an apple or banana?  Measure how much milk fills their glass.

Times tables, doubling/halving, fractions (half a cake etc.) are all very useful reinforcements when carried out at home.

Do I still need to read to my child?
Yes. Reading aloud at home continues to be vitally important at this age. You may even get your child to read their own writing aloud, attempting to add expression appropriate to the sentence.

I'd like to support my child with Science at home, what can I do?
There are always plenty of ways in which you can support your child at home with science. There may be a park or gardens near you which you can visit over the year and see how the flora changes with the seasons. You may also be able to visit a farm or nature park which provides plenty of opportunity for discussing the wide variety of the animal kingdom.

Growing your own plants or flowers at home can be an exciting – if slow –process for children to take part in. Why not try some quick growing seeds such as cress or mustard, as well as something more substantial planted in the garden, and watch how the processes of growth are similar for all plants?

At certain times of year you may also be lucky enough to witness some of the growth cycle in animals, such as tadpoles in a pond, or lambing season at the local farm

How often should my child be changing his/her reading book?
This will depend, to a certain degree, on the level your child has reached. If they are reading chapter books, they may read one or two books a week but if they are reading Oxford Reading Tree stages 3, 4 or 5, they may read 4 or 5 books a week.

What happens when my child has finished his/her book?
If your child has read their book confidently and is able to recognise all or most of the words without help, they are ready to change their book. They need to write their name on the small whiteboard at school and they will then be given the opportunity to complete a quiz and/or change their book. Please help them to prepare for a quiz by asking them questions about their book. It is important that they take some responsibility and write their names on the board as this will ensure they move more quickly through the books in the reading scheme.