Lower School

Summer Home Learning

Summer is a wonderful opportunity for children to continue exploring, practising and building on the learning they have developed throughout the school year. Reading remains one of the most valuable ways to support your child’s growth over the summer, helping them develop vocabulary, strengthen comprehension skills, spark imagination and foster a lifelong love of learning. We encourage all children to read regularly throughout the break and to engage in conversations about the books they are enjoying.

In addition to reading, we highly recommend that children complete the suggested summer maths activities and review key skills from the year group they have just completed. Short, consistent practice sessions can help maintain confidence and fluency, particularly with key number facts and mathematical reasoning skills. For children entering Year 1-4, we have highlighted specific units that would be most beneficial to revisit.

Please note that the file names correspond to the year level your child has just completed (for example, the “Entering Year 4” link will direct you to a review of Year 3). We hope these resources help support a joyful, balanced and enriching summer of learning and discovery.

Entering Reception

Read aloud to your child every day for at least 15-20 minutes.
Visit the library to choose books that interest them.
Review letter sounds when reading (a few times a week).
Practise writing their own name.
Complete a talking task. You can use this activity focused on Aryan’s Summer Holiday.

Entering Year 1

Read aloud to your child every day for at least 15-20 minutes.
Have the children read to you throughout the summer. Visit the library to choose books they would enjoy reading. Visit the Reception Suggested Booklist for inspiration.
Use the Summer Activity Booklet to revisit tricky words and high frequency words.
Revisit your sounds and letter formation using the following tasks. Please ensure you go at your child’s pace and review sounds they have been learning:
Enjoy the following Literacy tasks:
Revisit your phonics learning using the Little Wandle website. A great resource for parents!
Have a go at some of the Summer Learning challenges. Take photos and write a caption about your challenge.
Continue your exploration of the outdoors in the Nature Classroom. Use this activity to explore plants and minibeasts in the summer holidays.
Review your Maths learning using this activity booklet.

Entering Year 2

Children should read both fiction and nonfiction books over the summer break. Visit the library to choose interesting books. Visit the Year 1 Suggested Booklist for inspiration.
Keep a writing journal and write daily. Here are some prompts: July Writing Prompts and August Writing Prompts
Enjoy the following Literacy tasks:
Revisit your phonics learning using the Little Wandle website. A great resource for parents!
Complete the Maths tasks in this folder to review your learning from this year.
Review the Maths units below:

Entering Year 3

Children should read both fiction and nonfiction books over the summer break. Visit the library to choose books from different genres. Visit the for Year 2 Suggested Booklist inspiration.
Keep a writing journal and write daily. Here are some prompts: July Writing Prompts and August Writing Prompts
Enjoy the following Literacy tasks:
Revisit Year 2 SPaG using this activity booklet.
Practise spelling these key words from the Year 2 curriculum.
Review the Maths units below:

Entering Year 4

Children should read books from several different genres, including fiction and non-fiction, over the summer break. Visit the library to choose interesting books. Visit the Year 3 Suggested Booklist for inspiration.
Keep a writing journal and write daily.
Enjoy the following Literacy tasks:
Revisit Year 3 SPaG using this activity booklet.
Revisit Year 3 and Year 4 Statutory Spelling Words.
In Maths, children should continue practicing their multiplication facts to support their fluency and confidence. Here is a multiplication revision booklet to try.
Review your Year 3 Maths learning with this activity booklet.
Review the Maths units below:

Entering Year 5

Children should read books from several different genres, including fiction and non-fiction, over the summer break. Visit the library to choose interesting books. Visit the Year 4 Suggested Booklist for inspiration.
Keep a writing journal and write daily. Here are some prompts:
Enjoy the following Literacy tasks:
Revisit Year 4 SPaG using this activity booklet.
Revisit Year 3 and Year 4 Statutory Spelling Words.
In Maths, children should continue practicing their multiplication facts to support their fluency and confidence. Here is a multiplication revision booklet to try.
Review your Year 4 Maths learning with this activity booklet.
Review the Maths units below:

Parent phonic workshop.pdf

Grow the Code Video.mp4

Phonics in Lower School

If you are hoping to learn more about our approach to teaching Phonics at BIS-NY, please take a look at the slides here.

We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds scheme which aligns with the English National Curriculum. Little Wandle has fantastic resources for parents which you can access using the link below.

As always, if you have any questions about our Phonics approach, please reach out to us and we can support you!

Ms Bishop (PYP Literacy Co-Ordinator) - t.bishop@bis-ny.org

Ms Stewart-Pond (Head of Lower School) - a.stewart-pond@bis.ny.org

Little Wandle Resources for Parents

Foundations in Language

Foundations for Language is not a planning tool or a set of teaching resources, rather it is a framework for thinking about quality talk. By using Foundations for Language at home, children will benefit from high-quality interactions to develop their language.

Children will become confident communicators through learning:

new vocabulary
appropriate grammatical structures
turn-taking in conversations.