Our weekly spellings have just become spelltacular!
As well as having a weekly spelling session with their class teacher, children will be tested on both cold (Day 1 of new spelling words) and hot (after a week of learning spellings). They can learn their weekly spellings by using our exciting new platform – Spelling Shed where your children can play spelling games based on weekly spellings. Children can earn honey pots and create their own characters! Children will also be provided with a hard copy of spellings in their homework diaries.
At RPA, we value reading as a lifelong learning skill and we do lots of reading in school whether it is hearing your children read 1-1, reading our class text and our regular book talk sessions.
So, ideally we would like them to read every night but we do ask that parents read a minimum of at least 3 times per week. This could be their reading book from our school library, an age appropriate magazine, their own book or a library book. Reading a range of texts is important and helps them practice their skills. And it’s not just the actual reading which is important, its vital to discuss new words in a text and asking your children questions.
Types of questions you could ask:
Retrieval questions, these start with: where, what, when, who, which…
Inference questions, they start with: Explain why, how do you know, what do you think, what might happen if, why does the author use the word…
Parents/Carers should record the book, the date and comments in children’s home work diaries.
Maths homework will be set on my maths where children can also revise maths skills learned in lesson by accessing tasks on My Maths. Your child’s class teacher will set a new piece maths task which will be based on the skills they have been learning. There are also a range of games for your children to have a go at!
A firm Rowley Park Academy favourite is TT Rockstars, a times table platform which has proven to rapidly improve children’s rapid recall when it comes to times tables. What makes TTR so fun is that it is accessible at home where you can battle against your friends and even teachers on times table problems! What do you get for all your hard work? You receive coins which again like Spelling Shed, you can create your own Times Table rock star!