welcome to ant class (Year 5)

• Mastery Approach – Our maths curriculum is centred around a ‘Mastery Approach’. The aim is to ensure pupils have mastered and understood key concepts before moving on: using more difficult/higher numbers does not mean a child has a better understanding; rather, it is best that the child is able to access the learning in a wider range of contexts, the child can give detailed explanations and approach problem solving tasks.
• White Rose – We follow the White Rose scheme to sequence maths lessons. This ensures that there is a progression of skills within the academic year, but also across all years. On the curriculum overviews, which are shared with home at the start of each module, the maths skills we are focusing on can be seen. On the White Rose website, there are home learning videos which show you clearly how to help your child complete the activity. If we have been learning short division, for example, you will be able to find an equivalent video to support further at home.

Click here to view the year 5 home learning videos

• Maths Champions – This scheme has been designed by High Halstow staff. The scheme maps out individual targets which the children can work on at home. Children are set their targets by their teacher and are assessed on the target by the teacher to move on to the next target.

click here for more information

• The children’s individual targets can be found on the Google Classroom: Classwork > Home Learning > Maths Champions Target.

• Maths Masters – This is an additional 10-15 minute focus on maths which happens outside of the main daily maths lesson every day. The focus is on arithmetic and recall of basic skills. Children are given an arithmetic test paper, the teacher decides what to teach based on the pupils’ results in order to develop key skills and then pupils are given the same arithmetic paper again at the end of the two week cycle. The aim is for the pupils to see an improvement in their scores. Children are told their scores each time so they will be able to share these with you.
• TTRS – TTRS is a fun and challenging programme which is designed to help the children master their times tables. There are different game plays: Jamming, time-free game, Gig, allows for assessment, Garage, teacher set times tables and more! Logins are at the back of your child’s reading record book so that this can be worked on at home.

click here to go to the ttrs website

• Multiplication -Times tables should be learnt in the order: 10, 2, 5, 3, 4, 8, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12. Children should have learnt their 10, 2 and 5 times tables in year 2. They then need to know their 3, 4 and 8 by the end of year 3. By the end of Year 4 children should be secure with all of their times tables up to 12. Children should be able to automatically recall these facts including division facts. For example: 3 x 4 = 12 and 24 ÷ 4 = 6. Children should also be taught strategies such as using doubles (3 x 4, 3 x 2 = 6, 6 + 6 = 12), finding a more familiar times table (9 x 3,10 x 3 = 30, 30 – 3 = 27), etc. so that they have strategies to answer questions even if they do not know the answers.
• Multiplication Check – Last year, your child would have taken part in the ‘multiplication check’. This is done towards the end of  year 4, where all children nationally take part. They are tested on all of their times tables.

Click here for more information

• Targets – In the front of each child’s English book, they have an individual target. Pupils should be aware of their target and so should know what they need to work on. This is updated when enough evidence of success is seen in their books to move on to a new target.
• Core texts – Click here to view our core texts.
• Reading – It is important for children to read daily however this does not need to be for a lengthy amount of time or a strenuous task. Conversation around the text is just as important as word reading in order to help support comprehension.

click here for suggestions of the types of questions to ask your children

• Buster’s Book Club – an initiative that encourages the children to read at home. The class works collaboratively to be the class who has read the most minutes in the school. It encourages the reading of any reading material, not just the children’s banded reading book.
• Spellings – In school, we follow the Jane Considine scheme. It teaches spelling by helping children to make connections rather than rote learning. The scheme works on a two week cycle. At the start of the cycle, pupils are introduced to fifteen new words. Over the two weeks, children find words which also have the focus phonemes for each word. For example, descend, the focus phoneme is sc, so words such as scent would be a sound association word. Daily lessons with different spelling focuses are taught and then at the end of the two weeks, the children participate in a Go Grapheme Grafter lesson. They have twenty seconds to spell each of the fifteen words (the main focus is on spelling the focus phoneme correctly), then one minute to work collaboratively to list sound association words.
• EdShed – This site/app is not related to Jane Considine however children can use it at home to support with spelling practise.

click here to go to the edshed website

Check at least weekly for updates on the Google Classwork for suggestions of work to do at home to support your child.