09 June 2017
This week, children have been given two pieces of homework to complete – both are due on Thursday 15 June 2017.
The first piece is creative: To be able to observe science in real life.
This week, we’ve completed three science investigations. For each investigation, we used our observation skills to make sense of what’s actually going on. Science is everywhere. We often don’t even realise that we are watching science in action. This week, children should spend some time observing science in action. Children don’t necessarily need to understand what is going on but the skill of actually taking time to observe something and think about what might be happening is a crucial aspect of being a scientist. I did this earlier without even realising at the time…
When I entered the supermarket, it was reasonably sunny. However, when I left five minutes later, it was raining extremely heavily – so heavily, in fact, that the rain was actually bouncing off the floor. I was caught up in a monsoon! It made me think: how does it physically bounce off the floor? The rain is made of water so surely it should splatter as it hits the ground? This wasn’t happening. The rain drops seemed to stay intact and bounce like a ball. I presume this has something to do with the amount of force that the rain was falling with. I don’t actually understand the exact scientific reason for this happening but the important thing is that I saw something happen and then questioned why.
We discussed how we could respond to this as a class and the children had the following ideas:
- You could complete a scientific investigation of your own
- You could complete an everyday activity (like diving into a pool) and wonder about the science behind it (why does the water splash?)
- Complete a diary of your scientific thoughts
The second piece this week is Talk Time: I can discuss the general election results.
Children should discuss the results of Thursday’s election with an adult.
09 June 2017
This week’s homework is Practice Makes Perfect and is due on Thursday 15 June.
To be able to create a classification key.
In Science this week, we’ve been exploring classification keys as a way of sorting information. We created our own in class to sort six Liquorice Allsorts and started to discuss how we could create one to sort our whole class.
Have a go at home at creating your own classification key. Don’t forget some end up with a category: you must be a mammal, and some end on a specific item: the blue Liquorice Allsort with jelly in the middle.
Here are some suggestions for what you could sort:
- A different type of sweet
- Animals
- Plants
- Illnesses (according to their symptoms)
- Cities
- Continents
- Oceans
- People
19 May 2017
For all children in Year 1 – Year 6, the homework this week is creative and is due in on Thursday 25 May. In preparation for our whole school themed week next week, Staying Safe, children should consider the following question by showing what they already know.
How can I keep safe?
Children should think about the situations where they need to keep safe and who might help them to stay safe. This could be done in any creative way.
- A story
- A poem
- Instructions
- A comic strip
- An advert
- An interview
- A game
- Scenarios
…or any other creative ideas!
The homework will be reviewed as part of the themed week learning.
19 May 2017
In addition to our whole school ‘staying safe’ homework, we also have a Talk Time piece: Debate: should we pay more for sugary drinks/food?
Children should discuss this with adults and be prepared to debate this important question with their peers as part of our homework review next week.
To get you started, here are a few ‘for and against‘ arguments we’ve discussed as a class:
For
- Tooth decay is rising amongst young children.
- Obesity is rising amongst young children
- Other countries (like Mexico) have done it and it seems to work.
Against
- We should educate people rather than make them pay more.
- The people who make food are responsible not the people who buy it.
- People know what is in their food so they should take responsibility for their own diet.
11 May 2017
This week’s homework is a Talk Time.
I tell the truth and say sorry if I need to.
We have discussed this statement in class and looked at different scenarios.
11 May 2017
This week’s homework is a Talk Time.
I tell the truth and say sorry if I need to.
We have discussed this statement in class and looked at different scenarios.
11 May 2017
This week, children have two pieces of homework. Both are due on Thursday 18 May.
The first is Practice Makes Perfect: I can score 1000 points on Mathletics.
Please note: this does not have to be on ‘Live’ Mathletics.
The second is Creative: I can appreciate art.
We may not all ‘like’ art, we may not all aspire to be artists, but we can all appreciate art to some degree. For this homework, children should respond in a creative manner and show that they can appreciate art in some way. We discussed it as a class and the children decided that some good ideas were:
- create their own piece of art
- visit an art exhibition and document their trip
- imitate their favourite artist’s work
- do an interview with a (fake?) famous artist
- have a conversation (and record this in some way) with someone who does not particularly like art but can appreciate it in some way
- make a collage of all the art they like/own
- draw a picture, and ask someone you know to draw one, too. Then, compare and contrast them
- make a puppet show about why people appreciate art (possibly with an arty background)
There are, of course, many other ideas, too.
11 May 2017
| The homework this week is to plant and look after a tomato seed. You have all the things you need except the soil. Make sure that you talk to your child about giving the plant all the things it needs to survive. Observe carefully how the plant grows. You could take photos, sketches or write a short diary entry to record changes in the plant.
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05 May 2017
This week’s homework is practice makes perfect and is due in on Thursday 11 May:
I can recognise angles as a property of shape.
Children have been given a worksheet to practise what they have been learning in maths lessons. Please note you do not need a protractor to complete the homework. You can use anything that has a right angle.
05 May 2017
This week, children have two pieces of homework. Both should be completed by Thursday 11 May. They should also learn the 11x table and, more importantly by Year 5, the related key facts discussed during parents evening (eg if 5 x 11 = 55 then we know that 55 divided by 11 = 5. We also know that 50 x 11 = 550 because it is 10x bigger).
The first piece is Talk Time: I know when it’s appropriate to apologise and why it’s important to do so.
Children should discuss this with an adult and be ready to share this with the class.
The second piece is Practice Makes Perfect: I can show what I know about 2D shapes.
Children should complete the sheet they have been given which recaps learning from previous years. We will be building on, and consolidating, this learning next week in our maths lessons.