Homework

24 February 2012

This week’s homework is creative. It’s due in on Wednesday 29 February 2012.

Next week, on Thursday 01 March, it’s World Book Day.  To celebrate, all the classes are having a themed day on the subject of reading.  There will be lots of activities, including an invitation for your child to dress up as a favourite book character.  Linked to this, we’d like all children in school to consider their favourite story and explain why…

I can say why I like a book.

You could create a comic strip, write a book review, draw a story map, write a letter to the author… Anything you like that celebrates reading!

As always, the creative homework should be on one side of the A4 Homework Books, although creative ways to extend this are allowed!

It’s the holidays…

…so there are no spellings or homework activities.

Instead, enjoy a winter walk, the marvellous Muppets movie, some cool culture at a gallery or museum… Enjoy the half-term break.

03 February 2012

This week’s homework is Practice makes Perfect: the children have a text to read and then answer the questions to show their understanding.

It’s due in on Wednesday 08 February 2012.

03 February 2012

Your homework this week is a mixture of creative and talk time combined and is due in on Wednesday 08 February.

I can talk about an animal from either the Arctic or Antarctic.

Next week, we are having a session called ‘Just A Minute’ in class. Children have been asked to prepare a talk that they will give to the rest of the class about an animal who lives in the Arctic or Antarctic. This talk is to last one minute and has been set to develop the children’s skills as confident and creative speakers.  The children will need to research facts about their chosen animal and rehearse their speeches at home to build up their confidence.

Any materials they prepare to help them – maybe a bullet point list as a memory aid – must stick to the homework rules of not going over one page of A4.

03 February 2012

The homework this week is talk time and your child should be ready to discuss the topic by Wednesday 08 February.

Is it acceptable to test on animals for medical research?

Encourage your child to justify their opinions and try to present a balanced argument. It’s likely  that your child will have a strong opinion one way or the other, but helping them to understand an alternative viewpoint will develop their social and emotional skills (such as empathy) as well as their speaking and listening skills.

Encourage your child to use all of the following connectives at least once during the discussion:

• however
• on the other hand
• because
• but

03 February 2012

This week’s homework is Practice Makes Perfect – to complete a worksheet on number patterns.

You’ll find the worksheet in your child’s homework book.

This homework is due on Wednesday 08 February.

Friday 27 January 2012

This week’s homework is creative. It is due in on Wednesday 01 February 2012.

I know what a hero is.

Ideas:

Spider diagram

Poster

Collage

Photographs

Our homework policy

Our Homework Policy was written to support and engage as many learners as we can, and to provide opportunities for others – family, friends – to support in a positive, constructive way.  It’s great to see more and more children are putting more and more effort into their homework.  Recently, a few parents have asked about expectations.  I hope the following will clarify what we can expect and what you can expect:

Talk Time

Teachers have noticed that, in some instances, a lot of time has been taken on the presentation of the Talk Time homework.  Children are welcome to do this although it is not necessary.  The purpose of Talk Time homework is to encourage a conversation around their current learning. Any notes made in their homework book should simply be there to aid them as a prompt when it is discussed in class the following week.  For this reason, teachers tend to give verbal feedback during their talk time session in class.  We want our children to be expert talkers, using a variety of sentences and expressions, and able to back up their points or disagree with others in a polite way – this is more important than written notes for Talk Time.  Simply: it’s hard to be a good writer if you’re not a good speaker, so Talk Times using ambitious words, useful phrases, interesting sentences is the best way to support your child.

Creative

This is where your child’s creative juices can flow!  Creative homework is an opportunity for your child to choose whatever they want to demonstrate some learning.  For example, the Y3 and Y4 homework this week is Creative: I can show what I know about food chains.  Your child could present all their learning in so many different ways, from a diagram with notes to a story or comic strip.  Parents’ and carers’ role is to support, encourage, help but (obviously) never to take over and do the homework!  Teachers always look forward to seeing how creative children can be.  If you notice the work has not been marked, please don’t worry.  Teachers will have looked at and celebrated the homework in another way – the work might have been viewed by the whole class using a visualiser which allows the work to be projected to the whole class and a discussion of ‘stars and steps’ will happen.  Peer assessment is also effective – children are very able to share what’s good and what needs improving!  These sorts of verbal feedback strategies are often more effective than a written comment because it’s more instant and it makes sure the child understands (and their work is praised publicly!).

Practice makes Perfect

This is similar to what you might consider traditional homework: it may be a worksheet or a writing task (such as Y5’s current homework: I can write instructions).  Practice Makes Perfect is useful homework when something has been taught in school but needs consolidation.  The work should be fairly straightforward for the child as there should be no need for new learning, so just some encouragement from you is needed.  However, it would be a great time to get your child to teach you – they should be able to explain the key points or processes!  We use this type of homework less often because usually the best practice is where a teacher can keep feeding back and presenting new challenges when they see it as appropriate.  Teachers mark these activities in line with our marking policy.

As always, please ask if you’ve any questions or concerns.

27 January 2011

This week’s homework is Creative and is due in on Wednesday 01 February.

I can show what I know about food chains.

The children this week have been learning about food chains. This is their chance to explain  the food chain process. They can do this any way they want, but here are a few ideas if you’re struggling:

• a comic strip
• a diagram
• a recorded interview with a food chain expert
• a diary entry written by an animal at the top of the food chain

Obviously this is not an exhaustive list, so feel free to add your own ideas into the mix. A really good resource (which we’ve used this week) to help with your child’s understanding of the food chain, can be found on the BBC Bitesize website.

27 January 2012

Your homework this week is Creative and is due in on Wednesday 01 February.

I can design a brand new animal that would suit living in the Arctic. 

Think of all the work we have done in class about how animals have adapted to living in the polar regions.

Think of the following:

• habitat map
• position in food chain
• shelter/safety
• food the creature eats and how it gets it
• predator or prey?
• camouflage and colour
• teeth
• feet and eyes
• any other special features

You can include writing and labelled drawings to show your learning.