Fun Stuff - Cherub Competition

Are you a fan of Charlie Higson's Young Bond? Or Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider? Then try the Robert Muchamore's Cherub series, about a group of teenage spies!

You could have a character in the 12th CHERUB book named after you. Check out the CHERUB website, below, for the details.

www.cherubcampus.com/news0508.html

Year 6 - The Booklovers!

The band The Divine Comedy released a song called 'The Booklovers', where the band list their favourite authors, and make a comment after each author, e.g. after 'Charles Dickens' someone says "London is so beautiful this time of year...". Dickens was famously fond of London and many of his novels are set partly or entirely in London. "The Booklovers" contains references to over seventy different authors.

We're going to create our own, child-friendly version of the Booklovers! We will say the name of an author, and then give a short quote, or make a joke connected to the author, e.g.

J.K. Rowling - Don't say Voldemort!
Roald Dahl - Just take a little sip of this medicine.
C.S. Lewis - I wonder what's at the back of this wardrobe...

Homework: Make a list of your ten favourite authors, and write a job/quote or reference to that author, e.g. Charlie Higson - And now you will die, Master Bond!. Think carefully! We'll select fifty or so of our favourites and add them to music to create 'The Falcons Booklovers' podcast, promoting reading around the school!

This isn't the Booklovers, but it will give you some ideas!

Year 5 Class Reader and Describing a Character's Appearance Homework

Homework:

Visit our 'Montmorency' page on the FSG pupil wiki. Click: http://fsg.wikispaces.com/Year+5+Summer+Class+Reader+Montmorency

1. Read the first four chapters of Montmorency. As you read, I want you to annotate the text. Please highlight or underline the following:

- Any similes
- Any smells
- Any reference to taste
- Any useful adjectives

Bring your annotated draft in on Friday.

2. One element of a short story most of you forgot to include in our Timed Writing ('Cat in a Hat') story last Friday was a character description. Doh! Please (click here to remind yourself of this key skill).

Reread the descriptions of 'Freakshow Frank' on page 19.

Imagine - or sketch - another prisioner in Montmorency's prison. Describe that prisioner, 'zooming in' on details of his appearance. You can write the description on paper, or create it in Microsoft Word and then cut and paste it onto the wiki page. Note: Please don't write directly onto the wiki, because that will stop your classmates copying and pasting up their work!

Feeling clever: See if you can include the bracketing comma in your description, like this:

Crowbar Bob, a safecracker, had a quite hideous face...

P.S. Don't forget it is our 'c' words spelling test tomorrow!
Due: Friday

Year 3 Fiction - 'Shark!'

To revise combining passage of description that 'sets the scene' with dialogue.

Your homework is to write 1/2 side of A4 entitled 'Shark!'. Two children - you and a friend - are at the beach.

* Spend 7-8 lines using the five senses, colours and similes to 'set the scene'

* Then use indented direct speech as your characters discuss the shark swimming towards you, like this:

"What is it?" I asked.
"I don't know," replied Alice. "But it sure is coming this way!"

Feeling clever? Click here to learn about how shown feelings can bring your stories to life.

Year 4 Fiction - Keeping a Dilemma Diary

L.O. To record dilemmas and moral questions that arise in day-to-day life and in reading

Stories need problems; they need conflict. Click here to learn more.

In class we have been studying dilemmas. We come across all sorts of dilemmas in everyday life; the books we read are full of dilemmas.

Your homework is to collect the dilemmas you come across in your day-to-day life, and in your reading, and present them in a 'dilemma diary'.

Here are some examples:

* In H.I.V.E (a book I'm reading), the main character has to decide whether to run away or stay and help his new friend.

* Yesterday, a nasty little voice in my head told me to eat the last chunk of chocolate when nobody was looking.

* On Friday, I couldn't decide whether to go and see a friend, or pretend that I was too busy to go out.

* A vegetarian friend smelt a bacon sandwich and was really tempted to have one herself...

Listen to that 'nasty little voice' that pops up in your head, and jot down what 'he's' telling you to do. You can present your dilemmas work in the best way you can think of - as a diary, a poster, a model (a question mark covered in dilemmas), like this:



Be creative! We'll be writing a story about one of your dilemmas in our next session!

Note: Please don't include any names in your work, or someone may get upset, e.g. 'A nasty little voice told me not to play with Sally, because she'd borrowed my rubber and not given it back' can be written 'A nasty little voice told me not to play with a friend, because they hadn't looked after my things.'

Due: Next Tuesday (6th May)

Year 5 Comprehension - Evaluative Questions

In class we studied evaluative questions - questions like 'Did you enjoy this story?' and 'Do you find the passage amusing?'

Please complete the evaluative question 'Darren Shan and Steve' comprehension. Don't forget to P-E-E when answering the evaluative questions!

Need help? Don't forget to visit the 'How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Comprehension' blog for tips and advice on answering evaluative questions!

Click here to visit the comprehension section of our pupil wiki to download another copy of the comprehension.

Due: Tuesday or Wednesday.

Year 5 Fiction - Planning from a Picture

L.O. To revise planning from a picture
To revise exciting opening lines
To revise the importance of setting the scene at the beginning of a short story

Before you begin, read this, and revise this and this.

For each of the three pictures you need to:
1. Brainstorm
2. Plan
3. Write the first eight lines of the story, i.e. write an exciting opening line and set the scene using our descriptive techniques.

Feeling clever? Make sure you include some bracketing commas as you set the scene.

Due: Monday

Year 5 Word Work - Soft and Hard 'C'

1. Complete the 'soft and hard' c worksheet and learn the spellings for our test next Thursday.

2. Read through the planning tips here. Tomorrow we'll be attempting our first timed writing tasks for this term, so you need to know the fab four golden rules by heart!

Don't forget to bring in your blue 'English' book I gave you for the holiday if you completed your homework on the wiki; we'll be using this book for Timed Writing.

Year Six Magazine Work - P.G. Wodehouse's The Drones Club - 'Setting the Scene'

L.O. To revise techniques used to 'set the scene' in a short story using personfication

We have been studying P.G. Wodehouse's bucolic descriptions, noting how they 'set the scene' for his comedies.

Homework: Write a seven-eight line description of the Drones Club. Use all of our descriptive techniques, but focus on your use of personification.

Feeling clever? Don't forget to include a semi-colon, bracket, dash and a colon in the eight lines!

Click here to learn more about personification

Click here to revise the key descriptive techniques.

Year 3 Creative Writing Homework - Adventure and Mystery Stories - Combining Speech and Description

L.O. To open a story by setting the scene and following it with direct speech.

In the Autumn term we focussed on writing dialogues using direct speech; in the Spring term we studied descriptive techniques.

This term, we are going to write simple adventure stories that combine description and speech.

In class, we wrote we described a cave (using the five senses, colours and similes) and then wrote a conversation to go with it.

Homework: Look at the haunted house picture we studied in class.

Imagine you are stood outside it. In your book, under the heading 'Description of a Haunted House', describe the haunted house in your own words using the five senses, colours and similes. Write 6-7 lines

Then, under the heading 'Conversation', write the conversation you imagine you would have with your friend about entering the cave. Don't forget to indent your direct speech! Watch this video to revise this key skill:



Feeling clever? Don't forget to include similes when you 'set the scene'

You can revise descriptive techniques by clicking here; revise story dialogue by clicking here.

Year Six Magazine Work - P.G. Wodehouse's The Drones Club first draft

L.O. To understand the importance of class in comedy

Homework: In class we created plans for a story set in P.G. Wodehouse's Drones club.
Your task tonight is to write the first draft of this story. Remember to include plenty of Wodehouse slang! Write 1 1/2 sides of A4.

Don't forget to visit the pupil wiki here for useful links and further information, and to download a copy of the example plan we created in class.

Year 5 Prose Style - The Bracketing Comma

L.O. To revise the use of the bracketing comma for bracketing off names, interjections & questions

As you know, the bracketing comma is the key to understanding the comma. In class we revised the use of the bracketing comma.

Homework: In our comprehension lesson we read about an argument between a rude customer and a shop assistant.

Write your own arguments between a rude customer and a shop assistant as a playscript - the challenge is to include a bracketing comma in every piece of dialogue. Write 1 side of A4.

Use a gel pen to show the bracketing comma; highlight interjections with a colour highlighter.

Click here if you need to revise the layout of a playscript.

Year Six Magazine Work - P.G. Wodehouse's The Drones Club

Click here for useful links and information on the fsg pupil wiki.

Homework: Write a dialogue between two members of the Drones Club and a servant about a prank (a trick) on a third member of the club. Write 1 sides of A4, and use as much Wodehousian slang as you can! Remember, the Drones Club members are twits; the servants are the smart ones!

An example opening:

“Hullo, old bean!” cried Pongo.
“Oh, how are you, my good man?” enquired Catsmeat
Pongo lowered his voice: “I’ve bad blood with Lord Emsworth. That blighter gave me a five shilling fine for stealing a policeman’s helmet! I thought the old poop was going to throw me in the jug!”

Don't forget to check the punctuation of your direct speech!Feeling clever? Try to include semi-colons and colons as part of your prose.

Year 4 - Story with a Dilemma

L.O. To understand the meaning of the term 'dilemma'

In class we read the first part of the story 'A Bad Thing to Do', and improvised some possible endings to the story.

Homework: Write your own conclusion to the story. Remember to write in the first person. Think about:

What happened when 'you' did the bad thing?
How did you feel when you were doing it?
How did you feel after you had done it?
Did anything happen then to make you feel even worse about what you had done?

Don't forget to include indented direct speech in your story.

Feeling clever? We'll be focussing on including characterisation in our writing this term. Click here and here to learn more about characterisation, and include some shown feelings. Extra credit to the girls who then annotate the shown feelings using a gel pen!

Year 5 Comprehension Homework - Summarising Paragraphs

In class we revised how to summarising a passage paragraph-by-paragraph.

Homework: Please complete the 'Shop Girl' comprehension passage. Click here for useful links and downloads from our pupil wiki.

Year Five Narrative Homework - Planning From A Picture

This half-term we are going to focus on planning under timed conditions.

Homework: Create three further plans based on the pictures you were given in class, using the 'planning moutain' method. Make sure you plan relevant stories!

There are useful links and downloads at our pupil wiki. Click here.

Year Five Comprehension Homework

Welcome back, Year Five!

Our class reader this term is Montmorency by Eleanor Updale. Learn more by visiting the Montmorency website - click here.

You can find details about your comprehension homework in the 'comprehension' section of the Year Five area on the FSG pupil wiki.