02 March 2015
Below (in orange) are some more sentences for your child to write at home. It’s helpful to follow this process…
- Read the sentence to your child.
- Ask them to repeat the sentence several times. They could whisper it, shout it or say it in a silly voice.
- Count the words.
- Say the sentence word by word for your child to write.
- Remind them to use a capital letter, a full stop and finger spaces.
- Ask your child to read the sentence back to check they have written every word.
- Write the sentence together, modelling how to read back.
- I can see a pair of boots on the mat.
- The farmer gets up at six in the morning.
- Jill has fair hair but Jack has dark hair.
- Jim has seven silver coins.
XXVII February MMXV
The homeworks this week are Creative and Practice Makes Perfect.
The Creative homework is to invent something which will make your life easier.
This could be something very simple or complex. Either way, you have to creatively show what your product is, how it is made and how it works. This could be done in a poster, a video presentation, an annotated diagram, a series of diagrams. It’s up to you!
The second homework is Practice Makes Perfect. This homework will be a Mathletics homework around our next unit of maths: multiplication and division.
27 February 2015
This week’s homework is creative. Please make sure it is handed in by Wednesday 04 March.
What would be your perfect house?
What would it look like? Where would it be? What would be inside?
Don’t forget there is a drop in session on Wednesday 04 March at 2.45 pm. This is an opportunity for you to see how we review homework and give feedback.
Times Tables
From now on, Year 2 will be given a times table to focus on each week. By the end of the year, children are expected to know the 2, 5, and 10 times table with quick recall. This week we will be focussing on the 5 times table – here are the type of questions your child can expect.
- 1 x 5 is 5
- 2 lots of 5 are 10
- 3 groups of 5 are 15
- 4 times 5 is 20
- 5 multiplied by 5 is 25
- 6 groups of 5 are 30
- 7 lots of 5 are 35
- 8 x 5 is 40
- 9 multiplied by 5 is 45
- 10 times 5 is 50
- 11 lots of 5 are 55
- 12 groups of 5 are 60
They will also be expected to then know the related division facts. For example, if 6 times 5 is 30… 30 divided by 5 is 6. There will be a couple of questions relating to division facts each week.
Help at home by counting in fives as you go up the stairs or walk down the street. Ask quick fire questions while driving in the car and make it a competition to see who can write the whole table the fastest – you or your child?
27 February 2015
This week’s homework is Creative and is due on Wednesday 04 March.
I can present my favourite book.
Whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, lots of us have a favourite book or at least a book we have enjoyed recently. Discuss what books your child has enjoyed recently and think about how they can present this to the rest of the class.
Here are a few suggestions…
- Prepare a speech.
- Write a book review.
- Create a poster.
- Interview the characters.
- Make a story board to retell from.
- Create a fact flap page.
Of course, this homework is creative so any of their own ideas would be great too!
Taken from our Homework Policy:
Creative homework
This involves a creative piece of open-ended work based around an ‘I can…’ statement eg ‘I can use research skills to find out about a country.’ ‘I know how instructions are used’ Only one rule: don’t use more than one page of A4 (unless your teacher says otherwise!). Content will be a balanced mix of subjects.
Top Tips: Be as creative as you like! Chat about ideas with your child: Could the homework be in the form of a poster, a letter, a comic strip, some writing, a PowerPoint…? Could it use photos, drawings, foldout ‘extras’ on the page…?
Supporting your child’s maths at home
This article is a thought-provoking read, and might inspire you to support your child in different ways; in it, Professor Jo Boaler sets out this list of top tips for parents who want to support their child in Maths:
- Encourage children to play maths puzzles and games at home. Anything with a dice will help them enjoy maths and develop numeracy and logic skills.
- Never tell children they are wrong when they are working on maths problems. There is always some logic to what they are doing. So if your child multiplies three by four and gets seven, try: “Oh I see what you are thinking, you are using what you know about addition to add three and four. When we multiply we have four groups of three…”
- Maths is not about speed. In younger years, forcing kids to work fast on maths is the best way to start maths anxiety, especially among girls.
- Don’t tell your children you were bad at maths at school. Or that you disliked it. This is especially important if you are a mother.
- Encourage number sense*. What separates high and low achievers in primary school is number sense.
- Encourage a “growth mindset” – the idea that ability changes as you work more and learn more.
- For younger children, the ‘five-ness’ of five and then the ‘ten-ness’ of ten is really important: five fingers, five toes, five displayed on a dice, five split into 4 and one more, five split into three and two…
- For older children, if they are asked to add up 27 and 16, when they have number sense they can break the numbers apart and use them flexibly – take three from the 16 and add it to 27 to make 30, then add on the remaining 13 to make 43.
Number sense is not something you can get from simply being given an extra worksheet for homework – it develops from play, discussion and observation of number in the world around them.
More homework? No – more encouragement
We had a record number of parents / carers who attended parents’ evenings this week – thank you to all who showed up.
A small number of parents asked for more homework. Please bear in mind we asked your views about homework in the Annual Survey last year, and the findings were quite mixed: some thought there was too much whilst about the same proportion thought there was not enough. The majority agreed with us: the amount of homework we set is about right.
Taken from our Homework Policy, this is our rationale for giving homework:
Educational experience that a school by itself provides is limited; children benefit from wider, complementary experiences out of school. However, some prompts and guidance from school can direct these experiences and develop greater learning. We see homework as an important example of cooperation between teachers and parents / carers. An aim of our teaching is to promote independent learners; homework is one of the ways in which children can acquire the skill of independent learning.
We recognise the importance of quality family time; this policy should help to promote opportunities to be creative rather than labour over frequent worksheets or carry out activities that pupils and / or parents / carers may not understand.
Whilst homework develops children’s learning and independence, quality family time, play and free time are also important. Homework should not prevent children from taking part in wider activities such as those offered by out-of-school clubs and other organisations. Children develop their interests and skills to the full only when parents/carers encourage them to make maximum use of the opportunities available outside school.
Also in our Homework Policy is this statement:
We believe the frequency of homework set out here provides the right balance for pupils and meets the expectations of most parents (whose opinions we sought in the Annual Survey, 2014). Staff may occasionally provide additional homework; this will amount to two or three extra pieces across the year. As an alternative, staff will be happy to suggest to parents other ways they can support their child’s learning at home.
Please do not expect extra homework for you child to be set as a matter of routine. Governors want to protect teachers work / life balance, but – importantly – we believe extra homework would not be helpful for most pupils.
09 February 2015
Here are some sentences for your child to write at home.
- Read the sentence to your child.
- Ask them to repeat the sentence several times. They could whisper it, shout it or say it in a silly voice.
- Count the words.
- Say the sentence word by word for your child to write.
- Remind them to use a capital letter, a full stop and finger spaces.
- Ask your child to read the sentence back to check they have written every word.
- Write the sentence together, modelling how to read back.
- Lots of shops sell chicken as well as fish and chips.
- I will soon visit a farm.
- We can all run to the park.
06 February 2015
The Practice Makes Perfect homework this week is two Mathletics addition activities involving large numbers. Children must ensure that they don’t try to solve these problems in their heads. They should use a pencil and paper and not rush!
06 February 2015
For all children in Year 1 – Year 6, the homework this week is talk time and is due in on Wednesday 11 February.
I can prepare a speech (School Council elections).
or
I know the importance of voting.
It’s time for children to consider if they would like to stand for election for our new school council. With two representatives from each class, chosen democratically by their peers, all children at Moortown Primary are encouraged to take an active part in pupil voice.
Elections for our new school council will take place next Thursday 12 February with our polling station and ballot boxes at the ready. Candidates will have the opportunity to give their election speech to their class on Wednesday 11 February.
What makes a good school councillor has been considered by our current school council.
- ‘Communicating with others – pupils and adults.’
- ‘Having good listening skills to know what to contribute in meetings.’
- ‘Thinking of realistic ideas to suggest in meetings.’
Hints for your speech include:
- What skills and abilities would a good school councillor have?
- What are you particularly good at that would help you to be a great school councillor?
- What do you think would make the school better? What could you do that people would really like?
- Think of things that are realistic, maybe that you could do yourself, rather than having to ask other people to do?
Thank you to our current school councillors for all their ideas and contributions over the last year. We hope you have enjoyed this role and responsibility and you are welcome to stand again for election.
Good luck to all children who decide to stand in the elections. Results will be announced in our assembly on Thursday 12 February.
If you choose not to stand in the election then you should consider the importance of voting.