Elm

Welcome to Elm class. Our class teacher is Miss Kelley. We are lucky to have Mrs Burnham (Tuesday through to Friday) and Mrs Kelley (Thursday afternoon) as our HLTAs and Miss King as our teaching assistant (Mondays).

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Homework Expectations

Children in Year 5 should be spending 30 minutes a night on homework.

Please support your child to become more organised with handing homework in on time. This is to develop their organisational skills so they are used to routines ready for their transition to high school. Their homework will be stuck into books to make this easier. Homework books therefore need to be in school every Friday to mark past and receive new homework.

It is essential that by year 5 your child knows their times tables off by heart. This is something that can be practised regularly at home on Times Tables Rockstars. Knowing times tables off by heart underpins many areas of maths, allowing pupils to focus on more complex concepts like fractions, division, and problem-solving without getting stuck on basic calculations.

Reading – Reading should be done at least 3 times a week. Reading is an essential skill that supports success across all areas of life. Becoming a fluent reader reduces cognitive load, meaning the brain can focus more on understanding what’s being read rather than just decoding words. This fluency not only helps with reading comprehension but also improves writing and spelling, as readers are regularly exposed to correct grammar, structure, and vocabulary. Strong reading skills are crucial for solving word-based maths problems and understanding non-fiction texts like bills, forms, and official documents, which become increasingly important in adulthood. By building fluency early, readers are better prepared for academic challenges and everyday responsibilities.

Reading VIPERS at Ashfield

Thank you for all your hard work and support with helping your child to read at home. Whilst reading with your child, please use the question prompts below to practice the comprehension style questions your child is expected to answer in Year 5 and 6. Here is a copy of the VIPERS prompts we use in school to help us to plan our reading lessons. If you have any questions please ask as I am more than happy to help. Happy reading!

Vocabulary	What do the words ...... and …… suggest about the character, setting and mood? Which keyword tells you about the character/setting/mood? Find one word in the text which means…… Find and highlight the word that is closest in meaning to……. Find a word or phrase which shows/suggests that…….
Inference	Find and copy a group of words which show that… How do these words make the reader feel? How does this paragraph suggest this? How do the descriptions of …… show that they are …….. How can you tell that…… What impression of …… do you get from these paragraphs? What voice might these characters use? What was …. thinking when…..
Predict	From the cover what do you think this text is going to be about? What is happening now? What happened before this? What will happen after? What does this paragraph suggest will happen next? What makes you think this? Do you think… will happen? Yes, no or maybe? Explain your answer using evidence from the text.
Explain	Why is the text arranged in this way? What structures has the author used? What is the purpose of this text feature? The mood of the character changes throughout the text. Find and copy the phrases which show this. What is the author’s point of view? How does the author engage the reader here? Which section was the most interesting/exciting part?
Retrieve	How would you describe this story/text? What genre is it? How do you know? How did…? How often…? Who had…? Who is…? Who did….? What happened to…? How ….. is ……..? The story is told from whose perspective?
Summarise	Can you number these events 1-5 in the order that they happened? What happened after …….? What was the first thing that happened in the story? Can you summarise in a sentence the opening/middle/end of the story? In what order do these chapter headings come in the story?

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