Reading and Book Bags

At Kingsmead we value reading and encourage children and parents and carers to read every day. We all know that if children read at home, they will be successful learners at school.

Nursery 

Nursery children bring home story books to share with an adult at home. Through conversations around a book, the children will have the opportunity to develop an enjoyment of books and reading and build knowledge and experiences of stories. Bookbags should be brought to school every day and books are changed twice a week.

Reception to Year 2

In Reception to Year 2, children will bring home a phonically decodable book matched to the phonics they have been learning in school. They will also bring home a story book matched to their reading assessment level. Bookbags should be brought to school every day and books are changed twice a week.

Year 3 to Year 6

Pupils in Year 3 to Year 6 (and sometimes from Year 2) will bring an Accelerated Reader levelled book home to read. When they return the book to school, children will have an opportunity to quiz themselves on an ipad. They will learn how many books and words they have read over time and how well they have understood the book. Bookbags should be brought to school every day. Children will have an opportunity to change books twice a week.

 

      

Spellings

Children are taught spellings at school and bring home a list weekly to learn. All the spellings are uploaded onto this page of the school website so you can support your child at home. Please see PDFs below.

Maths

At Kingsmead we know how vital maths is to our educational success and to our daily lives and we encourage children to practice some form of maths at home every day. From Nursery, this can take the form of counting different objects, steps or claps, both forwards and backwards. Children in Reception need to start recognising numbers, for example on buses and doors and continue counting both forwards and backwards and practise connecting the number of certain objects to the written number.

Children from year 1 to Year 6 have individual Mathletics logins that allow them to access Mathletics from home (see more about Mathletics on the Maths page in our Teaching & Learning section). Children can practise their fluency skills with Mathletics live and deepen their understanding through completing the activities, playing the games and watching videos  related to specific areas of maths that are all available on Mathletics. Teachers in KS2 (years 3 - 6) set work for children to do on Mathletics every two weeks. Children are encouraged to use Mathletics for a minimum of 20 mins, 5 times a week.

Maths Fluency

Children's fluency in number facts if vital to their overall confidence and achievement in maths and any practice carried out at home will improve this. Fluency in the addition and subtraction of small numbers, times tables facts and their related divisions should be practised, either verbally or in writing, on a daily basis. Teachers provide weekly fluency practice for children from Years 1 to 6.