For now, we would like children to focus on reading and spellings for their homework.

Reading

It is crucial for your child to read at home at least 3 times per week as part of homework.  Please ensure that when you read with your child you date and sign the diary each time. A short comment how your child read would also be great.

Your child can move their faces on our reading charts once we have seen your date and signature. If they achieve reading 3 times or more, they will earn 1 house point at the end of each week. Please note they do not need to read 3 books; they need to just read with an adult on 3 separate occasions to get this house point. A few pages per day is enough.

In KS1 we recommend reading books 2 times to gain a proper understanding. Often children read a book without having any understanding of what they have read but can read the book confidently and with ease.

Therefore, the first time you read allow the child to focus on using phonetical knowledge to decode the words. The second time they read it, use questioning to ensure they have gained a good understanding. You could ask them what some of the vocabulary means, ask about character feelings, make predictions throughout and what happens after the book, explain their understanding of what has happened, summarise key events or ask them to give their own review of the book.

What can I do at home?

Should you wish to complete any additional work at home I have outlined some ideas below which would support learning taking place in our classroom. Please not this is additional, there are no expectations of this work to be complete.  I have added some tasks in your Busy Things favourites which link to our current topics.

Spring 2

• Keep a diary. 
• Explore mass at home. Cooking and baking is a great way to do this. Follow and recipe which requires weighing ingredients using scales. 
• Similarly, investigate capacity and volume. You could follow recipes which require liquid being measured or play with different containers and explore how liquid fills them. Does 100ml of water look different depending on the container it is in?
• Fractions- BBC Bitesize  
• See if you can find examples of fractions in your home. This could be with an object, or you could gather a selection of objects and then find 1/2, 1/3 and 1/4 of them.
• Explore objects around your home. Think about the material it is made from and its properties. Why was this material chosen? Why not another material? For example, why would a glass cricket bat be a bad idea? Why are our clothes not made of metal? You will find a similar activity to this in your favourites on Busy Things. 
• While exploring your household items think about why some things are solid shapes and why some can be shaped. 
• Investigate what materials are absorbent. 
• Investigate water/ice and how its properties can change when frozen, melted and boiled. 
• Explore what materials dissolve in water. Ideas (cornflour, sand, salt, baking soda, rice, cereal, sweets).
• Research the creation of Velcro. 
• Research the Great Fire of London. Present your findings in an interesting way such as a poster.

Next term we will be learning to tell the time, you may wish to get a head start on this as it is a tricky concept. 

Spring 1

• Write a character description about a character in the book that you are currently reading.
• Write a book review about a book that you have read.
• Create a mixed media self portrait
• (Safely) try different rolls at home including forward rolls and teddy bear rolls.
• Jesus chose 12 disciples, if you could choose 12 people to change the world, who would you choose, why?
• Research Shanghai and Brancaster, compare how they are similar/different. Things to consider: fishing, harbours, farming, tourism, human and physical features.
• Research Mary Kingsley, Matthew Henson and Edmund Hillary. Present your findings in an interesting way.
• Find different combinations of coins that equal the same amounts of money.
• Solve simple problems in a practical context involving addition and subtraction of money of the same unit, including giving change.
• Count in steps of 2, 3, and 5 from 0, and in tens from any number, forward and backward.
• recall and use multiplication and division facts for the 2, 5 and 10 multiplication tables, including recognising odd and even numbers
• Calculate mathematical statements for multiplication and division within the multiplication tables and write them using the multiplication (×), division (÷) and equals (=) signs.
• Show that multiplication of two numbers can be done in any order (commutative) and division of one number by another cannot.
• Solve problems involving multiplication and division, using materials, arrays, repeated addition, mental methods, and multiplication and division facts.

Autumn 2

• Add/subtract a 1 digit number to a 2 digit number below 100. This can be done by counting on, a number line, drawing base 10, place value charts, using a 100 square etc. 
• Add/subtract a 2 digit number to a 2 digit number below 100. 
• Add/subtract a multiple of 10 from any number below 100. 
• Find 10 more and 10 less of numbers to 100.
• Solve addition and subtract word problems. 
• Research what life was like in Victorian Britain, how does this compare to now? 
• Create a poster outlining ways in which we can keep our bodies healthy. 
• Research a famous exploring and present your findings in an interesting way. 
• Research how London has changed over time. 
• Research different genres of dance. 
• Talk to your family about what special celebrations/traditions you share together. 
• Explore lines of symmetry. 
• Recognise 2D and 3D shapes. 
• Count sides/vertices on 2D shapes.
• Count faces/edges/vertices on 3D shapes. 
• Make patterns with shapes. 

Autumn 1

• Count forwards and backwards from any number below 100. 
• 2x 5x and 10x table.
• Partition the same number in different ways i.e. 44=40+4, 30+14, 20+24 etc
• Write a letter using the correct format. 
• Checking back your work and making improvements such as adding interesting adjectives. 
• Extending sentences using and, or, but and because. 
• Research your local area, what was it like in the past? How has it changed?
• Research Thurnby Court and its impact on our village. 
• Go on a habitat hunt, can you find any microhabitats?
• Research a continent, what is it like to live there? How is it different to where we live?
• Continue to improve ball skills, rolling, receiving, throwing overarm and under arm, catching and stopping a ball.