P4/5M Homework Pack

Homework Guide for P4/5M

Dear Parent,

Today, you will have received a pack of work for your child. I have sent home booklets that I had already photocopied for over the next few weeks. I’ve also sent home all of their books. Please let the children use these books as much as they want. I would suggest that you do what suits you best under these very strange circumstances that we find ourselves in. Please don’t panic or allow your child to stress over this work. Our children are just as concerned and scared as we are. Our children are hearing everything that is going on around us and will therefore be anxious too. Although the idea of being off school for weeks sounds fantastic, they are probably picturing a fun time, not the reality of being trapped at home and not seeing their friends. What our children need right now is to feel comforted and loved. Don’t worry about our children regressing in school. Every single child is in the same boat. When we are back in the classroom, we will meet the needs of the children in our class. P4/5M have worked incredibly hard this year and I am very proud of them. The children are a credit to you as parents. Please keep yourself and your wee family safe and I look forward to seeing you all in the very near future when this dreadful virus has been defeated.

Love and Best wishes, from Mrs McLaughlin, Mrs Conly, Tanya and Gillian.

I’ve enclosed a typical timetable for P4/5M

9.00 – 10.30 – Numeracy. (See Yellow Folder) Every day we start off with mental maths. This included a mental task, for example, counting on in 3’s, counting back in 10’s, saying our multiplication facts etc. There are some good games that can be found online for mental maths. One game I recommend is ‘hit the button’. We also play other games daily, like bingo, the bean bag game or the dice game. Your child should be able to explain to you how we play them. After we have done or mental task, we then complete our New Waves Mental Maths. This has been photocopied for you so I recommend that you do one section per day and continue to work your way through the booklet 5 mornings a week. Their big white mental maths book has also been sent home. We normally did this on a Friday, but feel free to use it as much as you want.

Once mental maths is completed we start on to numeracy. At the minute we are covering our multiplication facts. By Easter, I had planned to have covered 2 times tables, 3 times tables, 4 times tables, 5 times tables and 10 times tables. We have been doing some very basic division using the concept of sharing and drawing out sets. To allow your child to continue with our multiplication facts I am sending home some booklets on this. In your pack you will find, Heinemann 3 - workbook 2, My Times Tables Book 1 and Times Tables Practice 1. These 3 booklets focus on the tables we have been covering in class.

In the yellow folder, you will find other numeracy workbooks. For Topic maths, we are working on data-handling. I had already made up a booklet on data-handling so this is in your pack too. We have also started some work on time so I’ve enclosed a Time booklet too. During term 1 we did some work on 2d and 3d shapes. I suggest that you revise the names of these shapes with your children too.

11.00 – 12.30 – Literacy (see blue folder)

On a Monday, we start off with looking at our spellings for the week and then we complete our next pages on the Jolly Grammar Booklet, relating to the spellings being covered that week. Your child will need a dictionary for this task. I am also sending home a workbook on using dictionaries. I would suggest that you do this on a Monday when you are using the dictionaries for the Jolly Grammar. Your child has a copy of their spellings for the year in their homework folder. Monday is also our day for doing our class comprehension. Again, I have a set of class comprehensions in your pack.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – (we complete Grammar/punctuation activities), I’ve sent home New Waves English, Reading for meaning, booklets for writing sentences and handwriting. I would try to do some of these tasks every day along with some time for reading. Please let your child read a book of their choice. It is really important that your child continues to read.

Friday – spelling test and creative writing. On a Friday, allow your child to be creative with their writing.

Being Creative

• Write about Spring or write a poem about spring
• Write fun character sketches
• Write interesting sentences
• Use your first draft book or stories and poems book to write a diary everyday
• Write fun stories into your first draft book or stories and poems books and draw pictures to go along with your writing
• Have Fun with your writing and read your stories to your family.

In the afternoon we would cover TWAU, Art, Music, P.E. etc. Try to keep your afternoons free for doing more light hearted work. Encourage them to :

• Draw, paint, cut and stick – use any art activity your child would find fun.
• Continue to play the recorder for music
• Our next topics for TWAU are – ‘A walk in the park’ and the Egyptians. Allow your child to research the Egyptians and to do their own project. For ‘A walk in the Park’, introduce your child to nature – take them into your garden and identify the trees, flowers, birds etc. Encourage your child to help you with the gardening – but keep if fun!
• For PE, get your child out into the garden for fresh air. Use some of the online activities for keeping fit. Most importantly, stay safe and keep healthy.  
• Ps, if you need to contact me my school email address is kmclaughlin844@c2kni.net
• Mrs McLaughlin xxx