Read the Week, Then Practise P5 Math Together

Two little circles sit on a soft lavender page, an "M" and an "N", joined by a dotted line. "Your child's maths week, on one page. Then sit down and practise it together."

In the video, Marcus reads the weekly summary for his daughter Nadia, a Primary 5 pupil: "A good week", when she last practised, and what is going well. He scrolls down to her week and her milestones. Then he taps once to switch to Nadia's account, so the two of them can sit down together. One quick check, and no password needed.

That is Read the week, then practise it together, one of our Primary 5 Topic Explainers. It is 30 seconds long and made for parents. Watch it first, then read on for the part the video leaves to you: what to actually do once you are sitting side by side.

Read the week. Practise it together.

The method

The video shows a two-step routine. It takes about twenty minutes a week.

Step 1: Read the week (five minutes, on your own)

Once a week, read the summary of your child's week. Look for three things only:

Did practice happen? Roughly how often, and when they last practised.
What is going well? Pick one thing you can mention honestly.
What could do with a second look? Pick one topic, not a list.

Then put your phone down. You now know enough to sit with your child for one useful session. Our guide to the weekly parent digest explains that page in more detail.

Step 2: Practise it together (fifteen minutes, side by side)

Sit next to your child, not across the table. Open their practice on their own account, so the questions are the ones meant for them. Then follow a simple pattern for each question:

They read it aloud. Hearing the question in their own voice slows things down.
You ask one question. "What do you know?" or "What is it asking?"
You wait. Count to ten silently. Most children start talking before you get there.
They do the working. The pencil stays in their hand.
You ask them to check. "How could we know that is right?"

Your job is to be curious, not to teach. The thinking stays with your child.

Worked examples

Here are two Primary 5 questions of the kind you might meet in a session together, with the working and the questions a parent could ask along the way.

Example 1: Rate

A tap fills 12 ℓ of water in 3 minutes. At the same rate, how much water does it fill in 8 minutes?

What you might ask: "What do you know about one minute?"

Step 1: Find the rate for 1 minute. 12 ÷ 3 = 4. The tap fills 4 ℓ every minute.

Step 2: Scale up to 8 minutes. 4 × 8 = 32.

The tap fills 32 ℓ in 8 minutes.

What you might ask to check: "8 minutes is a bit less than 3 times 3 minutes. Is 32 a bit less than 3 times 12?" It is: 3 × 12 = 36, and 32 is a little less. The answer makes sense.

The key move in a rate question is to find one unit first (here, one minute), then build to the amount you need. That is the same unitary idea your child will use for many Primary 5 and Primary 6 questions.

Example 2: Fractions

Each bag of rice weighs 2 1/4 kg. How heavy are 4 bags?

What you might ask: "Can you split 2 1/4 into easier pieces?"

Step 1: Split the mixed number. 2 1/4 kg is 2 kg and 1/4 kg.

Step 2: Multiply each piece by 4. 2 × 4 = 8, and 1/4 × 4 = 1.

Step 3: Add them. 8 + 1 = 9.

The 4 bags weigh 9 kg.

What you might ask to check: "Is 9 kg more than 4 bags of 2 kg?" Yes, 4 × 2 = 8, and the extra quarters add up to 1 more. Another way to check is to change 2 1/4 into 9/4, and 9/4 × 4 = 9.

Notice that in both examples, the parent's lines are questions. Neither one tells the child what to do.

Common mistakes

These are common slips when parents and children sit down together, and they are all easy to fix.

On the parent's side

Taking the pencil. It is very tempting to "just show" a step. Once you hold the pencil, the thinking moves to you. Keep your hands in your lap.
Explaining too soon. If you explain before your child has had a go, they learn to wait for you. Ask first, then wait.
Turning it into a test. "Why don't you know this?" ends the session. "Let's work it out together" keeps it going.
Bringing up the whole report. Mention one good thing and one topic to look at. A long list feels like a telling-off.

On the math side

Rate: multiplying before finding one unit. 12 × 8 = 96 skips the step. Ask, "How much in one minute?"
Mixed numbers: forgetting the fraction part. Writing 2 × 4 = 8 kg and stopping. Ask, "What happened to the quarter?"

Parent tips

Pick the same slot each week. A Saturday morning or a Sunday afternoon. Children relax when they know what is coming.
Start with the good news. Open with the honest thing you found in "What's going well". It sets the tone for the whole session.
Let your child choose the first question. A little control makes a big difference to how willingly they start.
Stop on a good note. Fifteen minutes is enough. End after a question that went well, not a hard one.
Keep the rest of the week theirs. The weekly session is your time together. On other days, let your child practise on their own and trust the summary to tell you how it went.

If your child is working through other Primary 5 topics, our guide to Primary 5 sample questions explained walks through more examples, and our post on helping your child with Singapore math at home has more ideas for practising together.

How Singapore Math Drills supports the routine

The video shows the two parts of the app built for this routine:

Weekly family digest: one page summarising the week for each child, delivered as a single weekly notification instead of a stream of pings.
Practice Together: switch between your account and your child's account on the same device, with a confirmation step and no password juggling. You sit down on their account, so the practice is theirs.