16 March 2012
The homework this week is creative and is due in on Wednesday 21 March.
I can show what I have learnt in our Animal Kingdom topic.
As we are coming to the end of this term’s Big Topic, we thought it would be nice to celebrate what the children have learnt. Children should show creatively something or some things they have learnt during the topic.
Some ideas:
- a poster
- a storyboard
- a poem
- a leaflet
- a report
- an observational drawing
09 March 2012
The homework this week is talk time and also a little bit creative and should be completed by Wednesday 14 March:
I can prepare a one minute presentation on an animal.
This week, we were visited by some very special animals, some that we may never touch or see again. They included a slithery corn snake, the adorable sugar glider (which we saw eat some live bait!) and also a tarantula (sedated thankfully). These were fascinating creatures and we learnt a little bit about each of them. Your objective is to find out as much as you can about these creatures and prepare a one minute oral (that means speaking) presentation on your chosen animal.
There need be nothing in your homework book. All that is required is that you are able to speak for a minute on your chosen animal. Please come and speak to me if you have any questions. Good luck!
02 March 2012
The homework this week is Talk Time and is due in on Wednesday 07 March.
I can help someone with a worry
In keeping with our SEAL theme this week, the homework is to discuss how your child could help someone with a worry.
You could talk about:
- what they could do
- what they could say
- who else could help
Remember, with Talk Time homeworks, there is no need to write anything in the books; a few notes might be helpful but aren’t essential.
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
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
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.
20 January 2012
This week’s homework is Creative and is due in on Wednesday 25 January.
I can find and draw a minibeast.
Following on from our minibeast hunt in the week, we want your child to locate a minibeast in their own garden and draw a picture of it.
See if your child can categorise it based on what they’ve learnt this week.
13 January 2012
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 the NSPCC and the WWF. A previous School Council selected these because they wanted to help animals and people, and wanted to help nationally and internationally. 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.
You might want to discuss whether we support a local charity like St Gemma’s, or a children’s charity like Unicef, or a charity that have helped our learning, like the Dogs’ Trust, or even whether we should support charities in school at all.
