Help Your Child At Home : Year 7 We are what we repeatedly do. - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Help Your Child At Home : Year 7

‘We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.’

Aristotle

From Day 1 of Year 7, all students need to be used to:

• Working hard
• Being challenged
• Finding things difficult
• Writing for long periods of time
• Remembering things off by heart
• Working independently at home
• Engaging with and acting on teacher

feedback

Homework

• Homework timetable : set days of the

week for every subject

• Once every three lessons
• Around 30 minutes per subject – 4 to 4.5

hours a week

• Done in exercise books if written
• HMK in the margin

Homework timetable

Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri 7NJ Maths French English Computing (2) Science History (2&3) PE (1&3) Geography (1&2) RE (1) Tech (1&2) Art (3) Mus / Dra (1&3) 7PW Maths RE (1) English Geography (1&2) Computing (2) Art (3) PE (1&3) Science History (2&3) French Tech (1&2) Mus / Dra (1&3) 7BE Maths PE (1 &3) Science English Mus / Dra (1&3) History (2&3) French RE (1) Computing (2) Tech (1&2) Art (3) Geography (1&2) 7BG Maths RE (1) PE (1 &3) English Geography (1&2) Art (3) Mus / Dra (1&3) History (2 & 3) French Computing Science Tech (1&2) 7BW Spanish Geography (1&2) Art (3) Tech (1&2) PE (1&3) English History (2 &3) Science RE (1) Maths Mus / Dra (1&3) Computing (2) 7MS Science Spanish Tech (1&2) PE (1&3) Computing (2) English History (2&3) RE (1) Geography (1&2) Maths Mus / Dra (1&3) 7CW Spanish Geography (1&2) Tech (1&2) History (2&3) English Computing (2) Science RE (1) Maths PE (1&3) 7FI Spanish History (2&3) Science Tech (1&2) Computing (2) English RE (1) Art (3) Geography (1&2) Mus / Dra (1 & 3) Maths PE (1 & 3)

Homework

• Types of homework : written, learning off by heart,

revision, research

• Ready to Learn club : before and after school ICT1 and

G3

• Role of parents and carers:

– Checking and signing planner weekly – Conversation about what they have been set and how they are coping with deadlines – Looking at some of your child’s homework with them: presentation indication of effort

Revision

• Year 11 : 100% exams
• Assessments
• KS3 exams
• How parents and carers can help with revision:

– Little and often – Making resources from class notes : flashcards, mind maps, spoken recordings – Quizzing / self testing – Reframe what your child realise they have forgotten as a strength : this is where to focus next – Re- test a few days later

Some simple ways to support your child’s literacy skills

• Vocabulary
• Writing and presentation
• Spellings
• Reading (will cover when discussing

English lessons)

Word of the week

• What is it? A weekly word introduced to all students Y7 –

13.

• Why? To have a small but whole school approach to

extending students’ vocabulary

• Where? Emailed to all students, sent out on our school

app, on all students’ and staff desktop

• What can parents and carers do?

– Ask your child what the word is and what it means each week. – Try and use the word in your family each week.

1. evanescent 2. industrious 3. macabre 4. copious 5. enervate 6. intervene 7. inevitable 8. devoted 9. concur 10. penultimate 11. malevolent 12. averse 13. essential 14. indicative 15. adverse 16. conspicuous 17. defiant 18. gusto 19. egregious 20. kindle 21. meander 22. meticulous 23. versatile 24. vigilant 25. replenish 26. pristine 27. soporific 28. benevolent 29. cumulative 30. brusque 31. penchant 32. gratuitous 33. nadir 34. zenith 35. salient 36. sycophantic 37. myriad 38.

• blivious

39. jubilant

Presentation of work

Presentation : a good indication of a child’s effort

• What can parents and carers do?

– Look each week at a few of your child’s books with them. Perhaps ask to look at something they are very proud of and something they think they might have done better. – Discuss with them : are they meeting our presentation requirements? – Celebrate successes with your child. – Consider asking them to improve a piece where something has slipped – eg underline titles. – Look at a few pieces of written homework with your child and check they meet our presentation standards.

Best piece of Y6 writing

• What is it? An example of a good piece of writing from

primary

• Why? To remind Year 7s how well they can write
• Where? Stuck in the front of most of your child’s exercise

books

• What can parents and carers do?

– Remind your child to set out work as neatly as the best piece and try as hard - especially homework.

Literacy target

• What is it? All year 7s have a literacy target, chosen

through Y6 staff liaison.

• Why? To encourage year 7s to keep working on

something Y6 staff said was important for them.

• Where? Year 7s have their target stuck onto the front of

their planners.

• What can parents and carers do?

– In the first few weeks especially, encourage students to look at and act on their target when starting and checking their own written work at home.

Use a wider vocabulary, thinking about why and who you are writing for. 62 Check your work to make sure you are using capital letters and full stops. 53 Always write neatly and re-read your work to check for careless errors. 31 Use different ways of starting your sentences and different types of sentences in your writing. 18 Add more detail to your answers by using a wider range of connectives like therefore, because, as a result and so on. 15 Use complex punctuation such as : ; ( ) - to express your ideas more precisely. 13 Read questions and tasks carefully. Look up or ask about words you do not know. 7 Think more deeply about a text and what it might mean or be about rather than settling for the first idea that comes to mind. 7 Use a wider range of punctuation like , ! ? : ; 5 Plan what you are going to write before you start writing. 4 Make sure you understand the question before you start it and ask for help when you need it. 4 Check you have not mixed up tenses in longer writing. 1 Paragraph and structure your work. 1

Spellings

• Marked by staff – up to 5 spellings
• Written out three times
• Word Wall in planners
• Look, cover, write, check
• Practise at home with parents and carers

Subject Specific Advice

• But first, some common ground all subject areas gave…

– Ask your child to explain what he or she has been learning in a subject that week, perhaps looking at their books with them. – Ask your child to demonstrate a skill they have learned, such as a technique in Art or Technology. – Encourage your child to talk to his or her teacher if struggling, or for an

• nline link to help or to read around the subject.

– Remind your child not to copy and paste information from the Internet for homework. Instead, encourage your child to write ideas up in their

• wn words so they understand what they have read.

– Learn key spellings in the subject – using look, cover, write, check. – Practise any spelling corrections given by staff : write them out three times, use in a sentence, and record on the Word Wall in the planners. – Re-read any advice given by teachers in their marking : be able to explain to you the next step they need to take to improve.

Creative Arts

Drama

• When learning a script, as well

as breaking it into smaller chunks

• f text, encourage your child

to add a movement or gesture that reflects the meaning of each line.

• Supporting homework

evaluations by asking not only "What did you do/say?" but also "How did you do/say it", "Why did you do/say it like that" and "Did it achieve your intention? Why?"

• Go and watch a performance.

Theatres often put on free events,

• Derby Theatre Nottingham

Playhouse.

Art

• Make sure you have good

colouring pencils. Not wax crayons or felt tips.

• Talk about and research

the artists your child is studying.

Technology

• Food practicals are always set a week before, so check

with your child what they need and when.

• Read the recipe together and talk about how the product

will be made.

• Encourage your child to practise skills at home if you

have a family member who is skilled in sewing, embroidery, cooking, using a tenon saw or chisel.

• Encourage your child to label any designs done for

homework, explaining the different parts of the design and thinking about its positives and drawbacks.

PE

• Ask your child when their PE lessons are.
• Ask if they have their PE kit ready on the appropriate

day.

• Try and encourage them to do something physical

everyday.

English

• Encourage your child to read widely and out of their

comfort zone. Some advice on authors to try is here for you to take away.

• Really reluctant readers, encourage them to keep

reading and value anything they read.

• Encourage your child to look up, remember and use new

words from what they read.

• Encourage your child to read over everything they write

to check for basic errors, and their own literacy target.

Maths

• Encourage your child to problem solve - this could be trying a puzzle

together from a book or news paper, or working out what is the best value deal in the supermarket.

• Look over your child's homework and consider how well they have

communicated their work. Giving just an answer without any working

• ut is like only giving the last line of story.

– Have they written down all the calculations they did (including really simple ones or ones done using a calculator)? – Do calculations need a title to show what they are? – Are calculations written in a logical order down the page?

History, Geography, RE

• Encourage them to read through their homework and

ensure that they have explained their answers fully by using ‘this means…..this shows…..this is because….

• Encourage your child to use geographical terminology in

every day scenarios such as directions, distances, weather etc.

• Encourage your child to watch the news and weather

reports to hear about new locations.

• Encourage your child to look at maps if they hear a place

name and are unsure where it is.

Modern Languages

• Test your child regularly on the vocabulary they have

been learning in the lesson. You could ask them the English and they can tell you how to say it in Spanish or French.

• Encourage your child to teach someone at home the

language as they learn it. Teaching numbers, greetings etc to you, a grandparent, a younger brother or sister etc will help them transfer important vocabulary to their long term memory.

Science

• Ask your child to state some new keywords that they

have learned in Science recently, describe what they mean and see if they can spell them confidently.

• Encourage your child to try to explain a concept that they

have learned about today, this week, this half term.

• Ask your child to explain what they had to do in their last

Big Write assessment, at the end of most half terms, and get them to explain what they think they did well, and what they could have done to improve.

https://scratch.mit.edu/scratch_1.4/

Computing

• If it is possible at home, download the (free) software we

are using, using the link below.

• Encourage your child to experiment and explore in their
• wn time.
• Encourage your child to teach you what they've learnt

Key Dates Year 7

• Tuesday 11th October : parents / tutor meeting
• Friday 13th January : student review day, parents / children /

tutors meet – appointments in the school day, school closed

• w/c 27th March : Y7 exams in the hall
• Thursday 7th May : subject tutors Y7 parents’ evening, with

reports given out

• Reports posted:

– 17th October – 12th December – 20th February – 24th April – 17th July