Christmas holiday homework

English Christmas holiday homework!

For this homework, you are going to write one more article. The situation is that you still work for the Hammersmith and Fulham Gazette and a girl from Fulham has won X Factor.

Her name is Hannah, she is sixteen years old, and she has been singing since she was four years old. She was mentored by Mel B and her prize is a recording contract and a national tour.

This time, I am going to leave it up to you to decide what information you put into each paragraph, but, as always, you need to make sure you include:

·        A headline

·        Three paragraphs

·        Subheadings

·        Quotes

Merry Christmas!

Homework: 4th December, 2014

There’s been a fire at the Moat School!

You are a reporter from the local newspaper, The Hammersmith and Fulham Gazette. Earlier this afternoon you were sent to report on a fire that broke out at the Moat School.

It is up to you to make up the details, but remember to include:

·        A headline

·        Three paragraphs

·        Subheadings

·        Quotes

You might also want to use the following structure:

Paragraph One

Explain where the school is and give a brief overview of how the fire started and when it started

Paragraph Two

Include some quotes from one of the pupils and one of the teachers (pretend you interviewed them outside the school).

Paragraph Three

Explain that the fire brigade eventually showed up and put out the fire, so no-one was hurt.

Due: Monday, 8th December

Homework: 27th November, 2014

Hi,

This week it's another reading comprehension activity. All the instructions are on the sheet I gave you in the lesson. 

Have fun!

Homework: 13th November, 2014

Hi,

This week I would like you to answer some comprehension questions based on a couple of pages from Two Weeks With The Queen. Comprehension means understanding, so comprehension questions test how well you understand what you have written. You should have the photocopied pages from the book and question sheet which I gave you in the lesson. 

Some of the questions are very straightforward and you can find the answer just by looking at the text.

Example: 

What did Colin try to tell mum about on the train to Sydney?

All you have to do to answer this question is skim through the text and pick out some of the key words, e.g. 'Colin', 'mum', 'tell' and 'train', then copy down the answer. We'll call this a Level 1 question. 

Some of the questions, however, get you to think a bit more about what is written in the text. 

Example:

Why do you think the other people on the train suddenly became 'even more interested in the black and white photo of the Lithgow suspension bridge'?

To answer this question, you have to find the quote in the text, read around it, then think for yourself about why the other people on the train behaved as they did. We'll call this a Level 2 question. 

You can write your answers on the lined paper I gave you along with the other bits, or on a computer and print it out. 

Good luck!

Articles

Hi,

Homework will start up again next week, but in the meantime, I thought you might like to know what we will be studying between now and Christmas. We will be looking at articles - what they are, what they aren't, where we find them and how we write them. We will be studying the following features specifically:

* Headlines/titles

* Subheadings

* Paragraphs

* Quotations

* Interesting content

You can find them in the following example, which we looked at in class:

Bradley Wiggins out of running for Sports Personality of the Year contest due to lack of personality

Dull

Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins was today forced to withdraw from the BBC’s annual Sports Personality of the Year competition because he does not actually have a personality, it emerged yesterday.

Sporting hero

Wiggins, 32, yesterday admitted that he did indeed ‘lack any kind of personality whatsoever’, and that ‘there was nothing interesting’ about him, aside from the fact that he was a Tour de France winner and Olympic gold medalist.

Murray

When asked who he thought would win the award, he said ‘Andy Murray, although he’s not exactly the brightest bulb in the chandelier either.’ Wiggins is currently preparing for next year’s Tour de France, which will, interestingly, take place in Mexico. 

We will also be reading the novel Two Weeks With the Queen by Maurice Gleitzman and writing some articles about what happens to the main character, Colin. 

If you want to do some extra work on this, my advice would be to try and read at least one article everyday, either in a newspaper, a magazine, or online, and think about all the different topics that articles can be about and all the different ways writers make them interesting. 

Have fun!

One more thing ...

If you ever get bored at home and want to do something fun to help you improve your literacy, you can always go one of the following websites and play some of the games on there:

www.manythings.org/vocabulary

www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games

Have fun!

Half term homework!

Hi,

This half term, I would like you to write one last letter (informal) telling me what you plan to get up to over the holiday.  

Have a nice holiday!

Message for parents

Hi,

If you are keen to see the work that your son/daughter has been doing in class, please let me know via the school's email address (office@moatschool.org.uk) and I will make sure that his/her workbook goes home with him/her on Wednesday next week (the last day of school before half term). 

N.B. Please, please, please make sure it comes back after half term!

Homework: 16th October, 2014

Hi,

This week we have been working on formal letters, specifically, job application letters. 

To build on what we have been doing in class, I would like you to write a formal letter applying for a job as a gym instructor at your local gym. The address you can write to is: The Manager, Fulham Leisure Centre, Fulham, SW6 6EH.

I have given you an example of a formal letter to help you. You can either write your letter out by hand, or do it on a computer and print it out. 

Due: Monday, 17th October. 

Wilfred Personibbler,

7 McTavish Street,

Edinburgh,

ED1 1ED.

12^th November, 1972

The Prime Minister of Giant Country

1 Giant Lane,

Giant Country,

GC1 1 GC.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to you to apply for the position of giant in Giant Country, having seen the advertisement in the newspaper.

I feel I would be excellent for the position as I have five years’ experience of being very tall and a university degree in having giant feet. I also perform extremely well as part of a team, but can also work independently to complete tasks. In addition to this, I am reliable, hard-working, and have good communication skills.

Along with this letter, I have enclosed a copy of my CV. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Wilfred Personibbler

Homework: Thursday, 9th October

Hi,

This week you are going to do some work on adjectives. 

You have been given an extract from The BFG. I would like you to go through it and underline all the adjectives you can find. Some of them are completely new words which have been made up by the author, but you should be able to work out that they are verbs from how they are used in the text. 

If you really want to push yourself, you could then use the verbs to write some sentences of your own. 

Due: Friday, 9th October

Homework: Thursday, 2nd October

Hi,

Verbs are doing words. 'Run', 'laughing' and 'smiled' are all examples of verbs. 

Read the extract from the BFG which I gave you in the lesson (pages 40-41) and underline all the verbs you can find. Three have been done for you as examples. 

This activity gives you the opportunity to show you understand how verbs work. Remember: they sometimes end in 'ing' or 'ed'. 

If you want to push yourself, you could try writing down the words you underline and then use them to make new sentences. 

Good luck!

Due: Friday, 3rd October

Good news!

Because today is Founders' Day, I am under strict instructions not to give you homework!

Next week we will carry on reading the BFG and you will write the final drafts of your informal letters, making sure to use the feedback I have given you from your first drafts. I will then give you a final grade. 

Have a nice extended weekend!

Homework: Thursday, 18th September

We all know that some of the BFG's sentences aren't quite grammatically correct and that he has a habit of making up words. Your homework this week is to translate the following sentences into plain English. 

The first one has been done for you as an example:

1. By now they must be jipping and skumping all over the house shouting 'Hello, hello, where is Sophie gone?'

By now they must be rushing around the house shouting, 'Hello, hello, where has Sophie gone?'

2. How is you getting punished?

3. That is the horridest thing I is hearing for years!

4. All is my fault. I is the one who kidsnatched you.

5. Trees is living and growing just like you and me. They is alive. So is plants. 

Due: Friday, 19th September

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog! 

I will be posting homework assignments on here every week, but I will also be keeping you up to date on what we are studying in lessons. 

This half term we are reading the BFG and building on work done in Year 7 on formal and informal letter writing.  

Hopefully, by half term, everyone in the class will have written at least one informal and one formal letter as a character from the novel, learning how to draft and redraft in the process, as well as showing an understanding of appropriate vocabulary and good spelling, punctuation and grammar. 

That's it for now; make sure you check back every week for updates and homework. 

See you again soon,

Mr Quillfeldt