Homework due Wednesday 3rd May

Maths

In Year 4 you will need to be able to recall ALL the times tables to help you be successful on the Government given 'Times table check up', so NOW is the time to start practising (if you haven't already done so).

Even more importantly, times tables are a very handy tool to have when tackling an awful lot of maths both at school and out there in the real world!

Part of your homework is to learn the times table you have been given. You need to be able to recall it quickly (in under 5 seconds a question) and out of order. Whilst counting in twos, or whichever table you are working on, is a good skill it is not efficient enough to allow you to recall facts at speed.

The second part of your homework is to log on to TT Rockstars and complete at least 10 minutes worth of challenges per day when you can. This is really good practise for the Government check-up and may also help your class to win in the Battle of the Bands. Who will be the winners this week? 

Reading

Great learners read!

A book can take you to places and on adventures that you can't experience in real life! So, the next part of your homework is to find a good book and  read EVERY day for at least 10 minutes where possible. We also need you to be able to talk to us in class about what you have read. 

You can read to someone or to yourself, it can be an actual book, a magazine, an online book (Bug Club) or on a kindle or other electronic device. It can be a book from school, the library or from your own shelf. You can even have someone else read to you! Just make sure that whatever you read you write it in your journal with your own thoughts or comments. 

Writing Homework

In English this week we have been thinking about poetry and have begun to think about creating our own poems based upon two very similar poems. Below is one example of the type of poem we have been thinking about.

In the City of Silences

In the city of surprises,

the alleys are alive with electric eels.

In the city of suffering,

a poor man became the author of statistics.

In the city of serendipity,

a lost key stumbled across a frozen lock.

In the city of sarcasm,

stern words sliced chasms of pain.

In the ship of shadows,

silhouettes smothered the sea’s surface.

In the waterfall of whispers,

silence stumbled over sunlit stepping-stones.

In the door of decisions,

I turned Eastwards to the sun’s source.

In the city of sunsets,

a song stood still as darkness solidified.

© Mel and Pie Corbett 2016

For homework this week we would like you to create a poem of your own, your poem needs to follow a similar pattern to the one above and needs to full of surprising but not silly combinations - put things together that you wouldn't expect. 

To do this you will need to work through the following list of activities, we have already used this process in class to create a whole class poem so you should be good at it. 

1) The first thing you need to do is to make a list of places(locations or containers) e.g. a mountain, a box, a locker, a shell. BE IMAGINATIVE.

2) Create a list of abstract nouns (feelings or ideas e.g. love, courage, hope, sorrow) or magic nouns (e.g. stars, mermaids, unicorns) . Again be imaginative. 

3) Create a list of prepositions (words that give a position or time) e.g. under, inside, below, beside. Remember to use you imagination. (The poem above only used 'IN' which is a little repetitive) 

4) Create a final list of verbs (actions) e.g. noticed, found, saw, listened to, watched, uncovered, captured, trapped.

Then choose one item from each list and create a sentence, you will need to use the first two lists twice once at the start of the sentence and again using different items at the end e.g. Under the mountain of courage I discovered a locker of stars. REMEMBER TO CREATE SURPRISING NOT SILLY!

Create at least 5 sentences of your own, you will then have an abstract poem. I wonder who will write the most surprising poem.