Year 3 Homework

28 March 2014

The homework this week is talk time and is due in on Wednesday 02 April.

I can talk about my talents.

The SEAL theme at the moment is Good to be me. Everyone has different talents and things that they are good at. Talk to your child about the different talents that you have in your family. Do you share any of the same talents? Are they totally different?

21 March 2014

This week’s homework is creative and is due Thursday 27 March:

I can show what I have learnt about Animal Kingdom.

This week has been the last of our Big Topic: Animal Kingdom. Throughout the topic we’ve had visits from a range of animals, a trip to Dogs Trust as well as hatching our own chickens! On top of all this, we also wrote kenning poems and reports about animals and researched climates of habitats and life expectancy of animals. Therefore, children are to show their learning of this topic in a creative way. Ideas could be:

• a quiz
• an annotated diagram of an animal
• drawing a webpage with links to key learning
• a model of an animal habitat
• a recorded documentary about an animal

14 March 2014

The homework this week is practice makes perfect and is due in on Wednesday 19 March.

I can find fractions.

We’ve been learning about fractions this week so this homework is an extension of that learning. All children have a worksheet in their books which they have to complete and hand in. Ask your children what methods they have been using to find the answers to similar problems this week.

Please come and see me if you have any questions.

07 March 2014

For all children in Year 1 – Year 6, the homework this week is creative and is due in on Wednesday 12 March.

 I can respond to my reading.

This homework follows the wonderful costumes and learning inspired by World Book Day.

As always, some ways that your children can respond are listed below:

• Write a letter to a character or author.
• Interview a character or author.
• Annotate a page of a novel with words/phrases/sentences/ descriptions that you like and why (top tip: get a photocopy of the page, don’t annotate your actual book!)
• Create a book review.
• Create a comic strip which summarises the story.

28 February 2014

This week’s homework is talk time and is due on Wednesday 05 March:

How can we prevent animals from becoming endangered?

Whilst discussing this with you child, you could consider what ‘endangered’ means, which animals are endangered and what measures we can put in place to limit the number of animals from becoming endangered.

Below is the guidance from the homework policy about Talk Time homework:

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.

It’s half-term…

It’s the half-term, so in line with our current homework policy, there are no homework tasks or spellings to learn.

However, please make sure you’re reading lots with your child – we’re finding children are reading less than they need to if they are to gain fluency and understanding.  You could take your child to a local library, hunt down an old favourite to re-visit, plan a story book for each bedtime over the holiday, read more about a favourite subject on the internet, buy a comic or magazine… And, so they have good role models, make sure your child sees you read, too!

Our current homework policy will be reviewed soon.  A small number of you have told us you’re not entirely happy with it – it would be really helpful if you tell us more about what you’d like.  Send us an email or speak with Mrs Weekes or me about this.  Thank you.

07 February 2014

This week’s homework is Talk Time and is due in on Wednesday 12 February:

What is your opinion on animals being kept in captivity?

The Talk Time homework requires you to talk to your child about the moral issues surrounding animals being kept in zoos and whether they think it is the right thing to do or not. Make sure your child is able to provide a reason for their answer and justify their opinion.

Below is the guidance from the homework policy about Talk Time homework:

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.

31 January 2014

For all children in Year 1 – Year 6, the homework this week is creative and is due in on Wednesday 05 February.

I know what makes a good school councillor.

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 Friday 07 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 05 February or Thursday 06 February.

What makes a good school councillor has been considered by our current school council and in each class this week.  Suggestions have included:

• ‘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.’

We invite children to respond to the sentence above in a creative way – they might choose to use this time to prepare an election speech or otherwise consider this statement and present it as a character description, pictures, an interview with a current school councillor or other ideas of your own.  For either option you should include the importance of voting.

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 Friday 07 February.

24 January 2014

The homework this week is practice makes perfect and is due in on Wednesday 29 January.

I can research and present a report about an animal.

This could be one of the animals we met on Monday or any other animal which your child would like to find out about. Children can present what they have found in any way they like. This could be a leaflet, poster, written report, video, PowerPoint type presentation, etc.

The one rule is that children are not allowed to cut and paste text directly from a website or copy out a section of text from an information source. Instead, they should pick out key pieces of information which they want to use in their reports.

If you would like to submit this (or any other) homework digitally, children can send it to the following email address. Please note, this is a class email address and should only be used to send homework or other school work. It should not be used to send any messages to me or any other adults in school.

y3@moortown.leeds.sch.uk

If you have any questions about this week’s homework, please come in and see me!

17 January 2013

For all children in Year 1 to Year 6, the homework this week is Talk Time:

Which two charities should we support at school and why?

It’s time for children to think about our school charities. Currently, we support Dogs Trust and Water Aid. A previous School Council selected these because they wanted to help animals and people, and wanted to help nationally and internationally.  These charities were chosen because pupils passed on to School Councillors very clear and strong arguments to choose them eg Dogs Trust help us by visiting, so we have the chance to re-pay this, and everyone has a basic human right to water.

We’ve helped these charities for two years now, so it’s time for a change. We need you to have a discussion at home about which charities would be best for us to support. Each class will then discuss this and then the councillors will bring the views and ideas together to decide on the charities.

Once your child has decided on a charity, make sure they have clear, powerful reasons to support their views.

You might want to discuss whether we support…

• a local charity
• a children’s charity
• a charity which helps a vulnerable group in our community – this would link back to vulnerable groups we thought about in last summer’s Community Week