The Grade 5 Performance Task works differently from a normal test. Your child is given a scenario and two sources. These could be an article, an interview, a table, a chart or a letter, and everything they write must come out of them. Knowing the content is only half of it. The marks go to the child who can read a table properly, tell which source answers a question, pull out a detail that actually supports the point, and answer every part of the task they were set.

Those are learned skills, and they are the ones we teach. Each lesson takes a single skill and builds it the way a good teacher would. Something to notice first, then something to try, then the names for what they have been doing, then practice on material they have not seen, and finally a short check. Because the sources are printed in the booklet, nothing depends on memory. A child who can work a source can handle whatever scenario the task puts in front of them.

What's inside

• Reading the sources. Tables, concept maps, pie charts, bar graphs, line graphs and picture graphs, each with its own lesson.
• Working with sources. Deciding which source answers a question, which one supports a conclusion, and how to draw out a detail that earns the mark.
• Extended writing. Reading the task box, planning a paragraph for each thing it asks, and checking nothing has been left out.
• Topic Bank. The content of the course, organised by unit.
• Ministry of Education Past paper questions. The real papers, with worked answers.
• A note for parents and teachers. What the task is, how it is marked, and how to help at home.

Tuition US$20 a month