Year 3 & 4 Homework

23 April 2021

Posted on Friday 23 April 2021 by Mr Catherall

This week, the whole school has the same Talk Time homework: Which charity should our school support?

Next week, a charity will be decided for us to support for the year ahead. We’ll focus our fundraising efforts on supporting this 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, your school or your community
  • national / international charities and their work

Next week, each class will vote (because in our school we make democratic decisions) for the charity they would like to support to form a shortlist. Then, our recently elected Junior Leadership Team will decide which charity we will support for the next year.

Adults: before you discuss this with your child, check out this week’s Friday message from Mr Roundtree on the main news section of our website – it contains information about how we support charities and some points we’d like you to discuss with your child.

26 March 2020

Posted on Friday 26 March 2021 by Mr Catherall

This week, the whole school has the same Talk Time homework. In preparation for the upcoming Junior Leadership Team (formerly the School Council) elections, children should complete one of the following tasks:

  • I can prepare a speech (Junior Leadership Team 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 Junior Leadership Team (JLT).  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 01 April 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 31 March ahead of a democratic vote on Thursday 01 April.

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 instead consider the importance of voting.

19 March 2021

Posted on Friday 19 March 2021 by Mr Catherall

19 March 2021

This week our homework is Creative: I can show different ways to stay safe, including how to seek help.

In the first half-term, we promoted resilience as one of our Rs for learning. However, we can’t be resilient in all situations, at all times. It’s important for people to recognise when things seem overwhelming – and ask for help. It’s also important that children know how to stay safe. There are many ways, and many different situations, in which we need to keep safe: at home, at school, in our environment and online.

Children should think about the situations where they need to keep safe and how to seek help if they need it. 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!

Please send any completed homework to your child’s class teacher via email and it will be reviewed as part of our weekly homework review.

12 March 2021

Posted on Friday 12 March 2021 by Mr Wilks

The homework this week is talk time and is due in to discuss on Thursday 18 March.

I know what to do if I need help.

This homework is linked to our Living and Learning statement for this week. Children should think about:

  • when they may need help with something
  • who they should ask
  • why it’s important to ask for help.

We’ll then discuss the homework in class.

11 December 2020

Posted on Friday 11 December 2020 by Mr Catherall

This week, the whole school has the same Creative homework, which should be returned by Thursday 17 December.

The children are invited to respond to something from either a cultural or a spiritual perspective.

I can present a review of a book / TV show / film or something else 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 know what a faith celebration means to me.

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.

Of course, there are many other ways in which children could respond. Children should be ready to celebrate their learning as part of their homework review by Thursday 18 December 2020. 

03 December 2020

Posted on Friday 04 December 2020 by Mr Catherall

This week, the whole school has the same Creative homework: I can illustrate different emotions.

This homework, which links to our living and learning statement, is an opportunity for children to show that they can recognise, and show, different emotions. As humans, we display a huge-range of emotions. Sometimes, it’s obvious how we’re feeling. Sometimes, it’s trickier for us to show, or recognise, an emotion. This statement allows us to spend time thinking about the different emotions we experience and how we can recognise these accurately in ourselves and others.

Children could respond creatively to this in a range of ways:

  • create a piece of art that shows a range of emotions
  • take pictures of themselves (or others) displaying different emotions
  • write a short-story in which a character shows lots of emotions
  • devise a poem, song or rap about emotions
  • create a comic strip to illustrate different emotions

Of course, there are many other ways in which children could respond. Children should be ready to celebrate their learning as part of their homework review by Thursday 10th December 2020. 

27 November 2020

Posted on Friday 27 November 2020 by Mr Catherall

This week, our homework is Practice Makes Perfect: I know the key vocabulary from our history topic.

This half-term, we’ve been historians in our topic lessons and have already learnt lots of Ancient Greece. Part of our topic is learning some key vocabulary. These words help us to learn the knowledge we need and help us to articulate this knowledge better.

For your homework this week, we’d like you to be really confident with what all of these words mean. There’s a few ways you could do this and we’d like you to tackle this homework using a strategy that works for you. If you’re unsure, here’s a few ideas…

  • Practise using them in sentences
  • Create your own definition for each word
  • Create an action or rhyme for each word to help you remember them
  • Play ‘classic’ games like taboo, Pictionary or charades using these words
  • Ask an adult to test you on your way to school or whilst you’re eating
  • Try and use these words in as many sentences as you can over the course of a night, weekend or whole week – you could even turn it into a competition for who can score the most points.

Our email addresses are below:

3,4O – olliecatherall@spherefederation.org

3,4NV – nicolawadsworth@spherefederation.org & vickyrichardson@spherefederation.org

3,4EV – emmamccormick@spherefederation.org & vickyrichardson@spherefederation.org

If your child is in 3,4N or 3,4E please send emails to both teachers.

3,4O: Certificates

Posted on Saturday 21 November 2020 by Mr Catherall

Well done to everyone this week. We even got a special shout out from Miss Hague in our Zoom assembly (along with 3,4E) to praise us for how sensible and mature we have been this week.

Here are this week’s certificate winners.

For great learning…

Isabelle – you always try super hard and you make our classroom a productive, happy and healthy place to be! Also, you smile all day long – this really helps to keep me happy, too!

For living and learning…

Layla – you contributed loads to our learning about Anti-bullying week. You spoke maturely and honestly. You definitely know what bullying is and how we can help to STOP it.

For Times Table Rockstars…

Jayden – this is the first time we’ve given a certificate for Times Table Rockstars and there was no doubt from anyone about who should receive it. For ages, you’ve been smashing it on TTR and all the hard work is really paying off. Your times table recall is amazing. Welcome to the TTR band!

20 November 2020

Posted on Friday 20 November 2020 by Mr Catherall

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 26 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 opurpose.

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.

13 November 2020

Posted on Friday 13 November 2020 by Mr Catherall

This week, our homework is Practice Makes Perfect: I can use Times Tables Rockstars.  

As a school, we sign up to Times Tables Rockstars. Many of our children already use this resource to practise their times tables. However, lots of us don’t. We think this is a great way to practise times tables – those children who play it regularly are definitely quicker at recalling times table facts. This week, we’d like you to spend as much time using the website as possible. Can you play everyday? Can you set a target for coins and smash it? Can you challenge other people in a duel?

If you don’t know your child’s login details, please email your child’s class teacher.

Homework should be completed by Thursday 19 November 2020 and will be reviewed / celebrated in class.

Our email addresses are below:

3,4O – olliecatherall@spherefederation.org

3,4NV – nicolawadsworth@spherefederation.org & vickyrichardson@spherefederation.org

3,4EV – emmamccormick@spherefederation.org & vickyrichardson@spherefederation.org

If your child is in 3,4N or 3,4E please send emails to both teachers.