Friday 20 April 2018
This week our homework is TalkTime: Should we spend so much money on exploring space?
This links to our current mini-topic: space. Children should discuss this (including pros and cons) in preparation for a class discussion as part of our homework review.
23 March 2018
Our homework this week is Creative: I can recognise my talents.
All of the children in Year 5 are blessed with an array of talents. This week, we’ll celebrate this as part of our Living and Learning lessons! I’d like children to respond creatively and be ready to show off their talents to their peers. They could do this in a range of ways:
- create a short performance to show to to the class
- film themselves showing off their talent
- make a collage of their many talents
- produce a piece of art to show off their talents
There are, of course, many other ways that children could respond. We’ll review our homework on Thursday 29 March 2018.
16 March 2018
This week, our homework is Talk Time: Is it OK to be proud?
Children should discuss this question with someone at home. It’d be great if you could focus on the difference between feeling proud and being boastful. We’ll discuss this as a class as part of our homework review.
23 February 2018
This week’s homework is Talk Time and will be discussed on Friday 02 March.
Animal experimentation – vivisection – is it right?
Have a chat in the car, over dinner or while walking to the shops about animal experimentation and whether is it ok or not. Try researching scenarios which might suggest that it’s a good thing to happen or examples of it being a bad thing to happen and make some notes in your homework book.
We’ll discuss the statement together in class, most likely sparking up a debate, something we love!
02 February 2018
This week’s homework is Creative and is due on Thursday 06 February.
How does the human body work?
Our topic learning next week will be all about the human body so we’re challenging the children either to tell us something they know already or find out something new to teach us.
This homework will be used to create a class information book which we’ll keep in our reading area. Because of this, it must be completed on the page of the homework book (not on extra sheets or on the computer). This could be an information text, a diagram, a story which tells the journey of food through the body, a lift the flap information page, a leaflet – anything really!
There are all sorts of things you could inform us about:
- different organs (Did you know… your skin is an organ?)
- the digestive system
- the circulatory system
- our teeth
- how the brain works
- the skeletal system
- the nervous system
- how we change as we grow older
26 January 2018
This week, our homework is Talk Time: I can make safe choices.
Please discuss scenarios and situations when making a safe choice is vitally important. You may also want to discuss safety in general – making sure you discuss internet safety would be perfect!
12 January 2018
This week, our homework is Talk Time:
True or false? Drugs are bad for you.
This, on the surface, may seem like a simple question with a simple answer. However, when you discuss this with your child, you may realise that this question is a great catalyst for a discussion on the merits of some drugs (medicines etc) and also the dangers associated with these drugs, and others.
We’ll talk about this during our homework review and our ‘Living and Learning’ sessions next week.
05 January 2018
Our homework this week is Creative:
I can show how materials are used in the world around me.
As we are currently completing our mini-topic (What’s the Matter?), I would like children to think about how different materials are used and, most importantly, why they are used in the world around us.
There are many ways children could respond – here are just a few:
- take pictures of materials in action and explain why that material is used
- find unusual examples of materials used in everyday life
- create a video diary entry of all the different materials they have come across in that day
Homework should be completed, and returned to school, by Thursday 11 January 2018.
08 December 2017
The homework this week is creative and should be returned to class by Thursday 14 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 will 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 which next year will be in February
There are lots of other festivals and celebrations which you and your child together might want to reflect on. You can research more festivals.
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.
01 December 2017
Y5’s homework this week is Talk Time: I know what to do in the event of a fire.
This week, we were visited by the Fire Service (see our class news section) who taught us all about fire safety. During the visit, they strongly advised everyone to have a Fire Action Plan – a plan for what to do in the event of a fire. Children should discuss this with others at home and be ready to share their plan with the class during our weekly homework review. This homework should be completed by Thursday 07 December 2017.