Year 5 & 6 Homework

24 January 2020

This week, the whole school has the same Talk Time homework: What is a drug?

This homework, which links to our Living and Learning statement, is a first step in children becoming aware of drugs. There are a few key points you may wish to talk about at home. Children need to be aware that some drugs are helpful, some are harmful, some are legal, some are illegal. Don’t forget to consider that even the legal or helpful ones can be harmful.

Below are some question prompts that could help shape your discussion…

• What is a good definition for a drug?
• What is a drug? What is not a drug?
• Are all drugs bad?
• Why might some people need to take medicines?
• Who can prescribe medicine?
• Who should administer medicine?
• What should you do if you find some medicine?
• Should you take medicine that isn’t yours?

Children should be prepared to discuss what they’ve talked about at home during our homework review next week. This homework should be completed by Thursday 30 January.

17 January 2020

This week, the whole school has the same Creative homework:

I can show different ways to make things better.

This homework, which is due on Thursday 24 January, is an opportunity for children to reflect on our living & learning statement for this week: I can make things better.

Children should think about ways to make things better in a variety of different situations and contexts:

• in class

• in a friendship group
• at playtimes
• at home
• with siblings
• out and about (countryside, park)
• the wider environment (recycling)

You could consider…

• Why should we try and make things better?
• How do we do this?
• When should we apologise?
• What is the effect it has on others around us when we make things better?
• Older children might want to consider the benefits of restorative justice.

Don’t forget to be creative! Produce a report or diary; capture photos of making things better; create rules for better games at play times; make a poster about how to say sorry; or, think of your own creative response.

This homework will be celebrated in our weekly homework review.

10 January 2020

This week, our homework is Practice Makes Perfect: I can use computing vocabulary.  This half-term, we’re becoming computer programmers during our computing topic. In the world of computing, there are many words that sound really complicated but actually are just a fancy way of saying something we already know. This week, for their homework, children should use the vocab sheet they’ve been given to learn the words and their definitions (there’s a short task to complete on the sheet, too). If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to speak to your class teacher.

Children should have completed the task, and more importantly learnt the words, by Thursday 16 January 2020.

This week, our homework is Practice Makes Perfect: I can use computing vocabulary.  This half-term, we’re becoming computer programmers during our computing topic. In the world of computing, there are many words that sound really complicated but actually are just a fancy way of saying something we already know. This week, for their homework, children should use the vocab sheet they’ve been given to learn the words and their definitions (there’s a short task to complete on the sheet, too). If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to speak to your class teacher.

Your child has a paper copy of the vocab and the definitions – this is also below.

An algorithm is a set of instructions written for a computer to achieve a certain goal.
It’s like making a cake. The instructions need to be clear so that you don’t put whole eggs into a bowl – shells taste awful! It’s the same as a computer: if you’re not precise enough, the BeeBot might fall off the table or your game in Scratch might never end and you’d still be playing it when you’re old and wrinkly!

A variable is a feature that keeps track of changes in a program.

It might vary! It could be a health bar, a points system or a timer. In Scratch, for example, it might make the program more difficult but it’s definitely more entertaining!

Decomposition simply means to break down a problem into smaller steps.

Think of decomposition as breaking down a task into smaller steps or tasks. For example, imagine there’s something that you really want someone to buy you. First, you’ve got to plan what you’re going to say and how. Then, you’ve got to practise your puppy dog eyes in the mirror. Finally, you’ve got to prepare for their reasons why you can’t have it so you’re ready with what to say next. That’s just like Kodu – you’ve got to design and create the maze, design and create the main character and program any other features you’d like.

A simulation is a way we can replicate (copy) real-life situations in a computer to see how they’d play out.

Imagine you’re planning a holiday to Mars. Would you just pack your bags and head to the local rocket launch pad? NO! You’d first set up a simulation of how the rocket would be effected in that kind of situation to ensure that we can get there and back safely. At school, we could link our simulation learning to setting up an animation of the water cycle or maybe to show how the moon orbits the Earth.

Sequence and selection is how we tell a computer what to do and when.

Think of it like sequence meaning the order something happens in and selection is the algorithm choosing which path to take. It’s easier to think of the words “If… Then…”. For example:
If I dance in the rain… Then my hair will get wet.
If I dance in the rain and I have an umbrella… Then my hair will stay dry.
If I poke the cat hard… Then it’s going to bite me.
You get the idea.

Your digital footprint is the mark you make on the internet.

You must think carefully about what you post online as it is difficult to remove it once it’s out there. This could potentially have damaging consequences to your future. Do you want to be rejected from a job interview in ten years because you kept posting videos of you singing “I Will Always Love You” to your pet whilst bouncing on your trampoline wearing a shower cap? Didn’t think so. Each to their own, you know, but just be really, really careful about what you post, OK?

Content is anything that exists digitally.

Digital content is anything stored as digital data. This could include information that is broadcast online, anything that is streamed or contained in computer files. Or, for you whippersnappers, it could be classed as memes, ‘How to guides’ or any of your favourite YouTube channels. Digital content is pretty much what it says on the tin – anything contained online or on a computer.

Disinformation is when someone deliberately shares false information to trick other people.

Say a chicken farmer is losing money to their rival who is an avocado grower. They might start false rumours (also known as hoaxes) on the internet that avocados can turn your feet bright green. This is done on purpose to make people think and act in a certain way which in this case would be to stop buying avocados so they can start buying chickens again. This section is a buy one get one free because misinformation is where someone shares false information by accident, like the people who shared articles about mouldy green feet in this story. Sadly, sometimes it’s really difficult to tell which information is FAKE NEWS and which is actually genuine.

Phishing is when someone sends you an email or message pretending to be someone else to find out your personal information (eg. password, address, bank details, etc.)

Think of it like they’re fishing for your information by pretending to be a company you trust. These scammers may send an email or message with a link attached that tricks you into giving up your personal information like passwords, images or bank details. You should never click on anything or respond to anyone you don’t trust. Check the email address, the trustworthiness of the website or contact the company directly. Remember: if something’s too good to be true, it probably is.

Now, cover up the information above and put our computing vocab into the table below (from memory if you can!).

13 December 2019

This week, the whole school has the same Talk Time homework, which should be returned by Thursday 19 December: I can talk about what I was learning about in these photos.

Here are some pictures of the learning which children have been enjoying this week. For this homework, children should discuss the images with someone at home. This conversation could be about anything to do with the learning but here’s a few examples that might help…

• What were you learning here?
• Why were you learning that?
• Did you enjoy the learning? Why?
• Do you still have any questions about the learning?
• Would you like to learn more? Why?

If you are having difficulties accessing the website, please ask us to send home a print out of the images.

Writing a setting description based ‘The Eye of the Storm‘.

Identifying the figurative language in a poem used for an advert by the BBC.

Combing computing and Geography by writing algorithms (a process or set of instructions to be followed – usually by a computer) to find the treasure using positional language (North, Northeast, East, Southeast, South, Southwest, West, Northwest)

Combining orienteering and geography by using the eight points of a compass to find the answers to clues in the playground.

06 December 2019

This week, the whole school has the same Creative homework, which should be returned by Thursday 12 December.

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

Friday 29 November 2019

Friday 22 November 2019

This week, our homework is Practice Makes Perfect: I can name the countries of the British Isles and their capital cities. Linked to our Where in the World geography topic, this homework is all about learning, and remembering, a few important facts. Children should use the table below to learn the countries and their capital cities in preparation for our homework review by Thursday 05 December 2019.  

Times tables

This week, we will focus on the 12x table. Children should be ready for a test on Friday 06 December 2019. Here are a few examples of the kinds of questions children could be asked and the type of questions children could be practising in addition to the times table facts:

Friday 22 November 2019

This week, we will be focussing on words ending in the suffixes –ible or –able. As a general rule, although there are some exceptions which we’ll explore in our spelling sessions, we add –able when you are able to do it eg. breakable means you are able to break it. When there is no clear root word, we add –ible. This week, we’d like children to practise spelling the words below in preparation for a test on Friday 29 November 2019.

Friday 22 November 2019

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 – 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

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 School Council will decide which charity we will support for the next year.

Friday 15 November 2019

Friday 15 November 2019

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 21 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 we can 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.

Friday 08 November 2019

Friday 08 November 2019

This week, our homework is Practice Makes Perfect: I can use expanded noun phrase.

In our recent writing lessons, we’ve been learning loads about expanded noun phrases and how to use them. An expanded noun phrase gives more detail or information about a noun. An expanded noun phrase has a determiner (like ‘his’), an adjective (like ‘green’) and a noun (like ‘eyes) – his green eyes. In the sentence below, the expanded noun phrase is underlined.

The angry, little elf stomped furiously out onto the ice.

For their homework, children should practice using the adjectives below (and their own ideas) to create their own expanded noun phrases.

This homework should be completed and returned by Thursday 14 November.