September doesn’t seem so far away now and many parents have twitchy fingers over the amazon prime button. Should a whole stack of work be planned for the end of Year 4 summer break? Of course not. If your child is booked into our Year 5 clubs, below is all you need to get started:
- This is our favourite speedy tables app. Dump Sqeebles now and all the slower online games. Go straight to the 3×3 grid in the test section and try to beat 9 seconds. Any other speed-based mental calculation game would help too.
- Sign up to this excellent website and set up a daily reading programme, where your child has chosen his or her own book from their year-group-based list (or from recommended books at school). Ideally they should have one reading book and you should have another that you read aloud to them about 3 times a week. Choose some of the great evacuee stories as they encourage discussion about the characters’ behaviour. We have read aloud to our own children: Stig of the Dump, Carrie’s War, Treasure Island, Swallows and Amazons and Goodnight Mr Tom – in addition to the full set of David Walliams stories with all the silly voices…
- For a little vocabulary work, buy this one book and spend 5 minutes on a page or so a few times a week.
It is an absolute waste of time buying Bond books for NVR or CGP comprehension exercises. All you need in the post Year 4 summer holiday are the recommendations above. You will never have this time back again with your child, and the Year 5 summer break does need to be a more structured affair. So please enjoy the good weather and trust us when we say anything else is unnecessary. We do follow our advice with our own children too!