14 December 2018
This week’s homework is Talk Time:
I can reflect on my first term. I can make three targets for the next term.
Children have made a brilliant start to the year in the Autumn term. We’re asking them to reflect on what has gone well, what they could improve or what they’ve liked or disliked. We would also like children to make three targets for themselves for the coming Spring term. These targets should be SMART targets:
- Specific (Don’t be vague.)
- Measurable (Will you be able to say that you have or have not achieved it?)
- Agreed upon (Does your adult/teacher/sibling agree?)
- Realistic (Succeeding is a great feeling. Make sure you can actually achieve your goal.)
- Timed (Say when you want to achieve your target by.)
Children should be ready to discuss their reflections and targets on Thursday 20 December.
07 December 2018
This week, the whole school has the same Creative homework which should be returned by Thursday 13 December.
The children are invited to respond to something from either a cultural or spiritual perspective.
I can show what I know and think about something cultural.
We’d like children to present their responses about a recent book they’ve read, film they’ve watched, piece of art they’ve looked at, piece of music they’ve listened to – anything cultural in fact.
We’re interested to read some sort of description (a summary, for example) and then your child’s opinions. This review might include pictures, an interview (your child could write a fictional script between himself/herself and the artist, for example), a letter (eg to or from a character, or perhaps even the author) – anything which might include your child’s responses!
However, your child might prefer to do the following:
I can show what I know about a festival.
Over the course of this term, some children in school may have celebrated a religious festival of some sort. This might have been
- the Muslim festival of Eid ul Adha
- the Sikh and Hindu festival Diwali
- the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, coming up in December
- the Christian festival (of course, celebrated by many non-Christians) of Christmas
- and the Chinese New Year festival, coming up
There are lots of other festivals and celebrations which you and your child together might want to reflect on.
We invite children to respond to the sentence above – they might include a recount (like a diary entry), pictures, an interview (perhaps in a script). Your child might also choose to research a completely unknown festival, or they might even think about creating a brand new festival, one that everyone will celebrate.
30 November 2018
This week’s homework is Creative and is due in on Thursday 06 November:
I can show what I know about magnetism.
Children have started learning about magnetism within our mini topic, so this is a good opportunity to demonstrate what we’ve learning in school. Children can also help others in our class by showing them things they’ve learnt about magnets at home.
Some ideas include:
- pictures of magnets in the world around us
- a scientific experiment using magnets at home
- an explanation of learning done in class
- a cartoon strip showing understanding of magnets
We’re going to be learning our 7 times tables this week.
23 November 2018
Homework for the whole school this week is Talk Time: Which charity should our school support?
Next week, a charity will be decided for Moortown Primary to support in the year ahead – for example, when we have a performance, we’ll collect money for this particular charity. What charity does your child think we should support?
You could talk about:
- what a charity is
- why charities are important
- what sort of work they do
- charities that have meaning to your family, to school or the community
- national and international charities and their work
16 November 2018
This week, the whole school has the same Creative homework which children should be ready to discuss as part of our homework review on Thursday 22 November.
I know how to STOP bullying.
This homework is a response to our learning this week during anti-bullying week. Throughout the week, each class has had the chance to talk about what bullying is, what the different types of bullying are and how can we STOP it:
- Start
- Telling
- Other
- People
As part of your discussion you may find our school definition of bullying useful, as agreed by our School Councillors:
Bullying is when you hurt someone, physically or emotionally, several times on purpose.
As the homework is Creative, you can do anything you want to respond to the statement. Here are a few ideas to help you:
- Create a cartoon strip of a bullying scenario and how it is solved.
- Create an acrostic poem using the word bullying.
- Write your own ‘kindness statements’ for your class.
- Create a scenarios quiz for your class to decide what they would do.
16 November 2018
This week, the whole school has the same Creative homework which children should be ready to discuss as part of our homework review on Thursday 22 November.
I know how to STOP bullying.
This homework is a response to our learning this week during anti-bullying week. Throughout the week, each class has had the chance to talk about what bullying is, what the different types of bullying are and how can we STOP it:
- Start
- Telling
- Other
- People
As part of your discussion you may find our school definition of bullying useful, as agreed by our School Councillors:
Bullying is when you hurt someone, physically or emotionally, several times on purpose.
As the homework is Creative, you can do anything you want to respond to the statement. Here are a few ideas to help you:
- Create a cartoon strip of a bullying scenario and how it is solved.
- Create an acrostic poem using the word bullying.
- Write your own ‘kindness statements’ for your class.
- Create a scenarios quiz for your class to decide what they would do.
09 November 2018
This week’s homework is Talk Time and is due Thursday 15 November:
Is it ever OK to break a promise?
This homework encourages your child to discuss the morals around breaking a promise. As a class we discussed different situations and if we thought if was right or wrong to break a promise. For example, if somebody was being unkind to our friend would we break a promise to help the friend in need? Be sure to include these types of problems in your conversation.
Make sure to jot down some notes from your conversation in your homework book ready for our class debate.
19 October 2018
This week, the whole school has the same Talk Time homework. In preparation for the upcoming School Council elections, children should complete one of the following tasks:
- I can prepare a speech (School Council elections).
- 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 are encouraged to take an active part in pupil voice.
Elections for our new school council will take place on Thursday 25 October 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 24 October or Thursday 25 October.
What makes a good school councillor has been considered by our current school council.
- ‘use all the 8 Rs for learning’
- ‘be respectful’
- ‘help others’
- ‘be a good speaker and listener (to members of your class and in the meetings)’
- ‘tell the truth’
- ‘be confident with your ideas’
- ‘accept the views of others even if you don’t agree’
- ‘be friendly and approachable’
- ‘make good choices in class and around school’
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. We hope you have enjoyed this role and responsibility. You’re welcome to stand again for election.
Good luck to all children who decide to stand in the elections.
If you choose not to stand in the election, you should consider the importance of voting.
12 October 2018
This week’s homework is Talk Time and is due in on Thursday 18 October:
I can learn five or more new words to use in my writing.
We’ve asked children to learn between five and ten new words well, so that they understand them and can use them in sentences. Children should write at least one sentence in their book for each new words in.
When picking new words, it’s useful to choose ones which children are likely to use and already have the concept of, rather than complicated words that they are very unlikely to need.
A good example: looted means stolen – children will easily be able to swap these words.
A bad example: chloroplast means plant cells which contains chlorophyll and in which photosynthesis takes place – this word won’t be useful until high school, and then only in biology.
Here are some ideas when you are discussing the words:
- What does it mean? (avoid using other complicated words – sometimes a dictionary doesn’t have an easily understood definition)
- What words mean something similar? (synonyms)
- How are these words different?
- Give several examples of how to use the word in sentences.
- Can the word change? How? (eg interject / interjecting / interjected / interjects / etc)
05 October 2018
This week’s homework is Creative and is due in on Thursday 11 October:
I can show what I’ve learnt about the 8Rs.
If you’ve forgotten what they are, we’ve talked about them in class:
- being resilience
- take responsibility
- being responsive
- being ready
- taking safe risks
- remembering
- being resourceful
- reflecting
We’ve been concentrating on these important aspects of learning for weeks now and our class should know plenty about them. Now’s the time to show us! In class we’ve discussed all of them and how we can show each in class.
Children have shared ideas for this homework:
- drawings of animals which represent each of the 8Rs
- descriptions of how you can do them in class
- photos of children showing each R in action
- a comic strip of a story showing these in action
- a poster
