Homework and Spellings (Spring Term)

This page is designed to help keep you updated on your child's homework and spellings for the week. Children in Maple copy down their new spellings on a Monday, and are then tested on them the following Monday. Please encourage your child to independently find a word in the dictionary if they don't know its meaning. Underneath this post you can find a list of the words from the Year 3 & 4 statutory spelling list.
 
Your child should practise their spellings at least three times over the course of the week, but in addition to homework, spellings and their guided reading book, we also ask that you regularly read other books with your child and help them to learn their multiplication tables and their associated division facts. Your child has been given login details for Times Table Rockstars and we ask that they use this website at home to practise their times tables and improve their speed of recall.
 
As mentioned in the autumn parent consultations, Children in Year 4 will take part in the National Times Table Check in June 2020. This will test their knowledge of all the times tables up to 12 x 12 over 25 multiplication questions (not division) with 6 seconds per question. This website closely mirrors what the check looks like.
 
There are also games, activities and worksheets for most subjects available to help your child on our virtual learning platform, School 360. These can be found by clicking on Resources.
Monday 16th March - Monday 23rd March
 
Spellings
 
Sports
We are continuing down the list of statutory spellings.
 
earth (Earth if we're talking about the planet)
eight
eighth
enough
exercise
experience
experiment
extreme
famous
favourite
 
Cars and Ships
There are many words in the English language that contain vowels that are not clearly pronounced. For example, in 'generally' the middle vowel ‘e’ is usually not pronounced (becoming 'genrally'). As a result, these words are commonly misspelled.
 
generally
generous
interesting
lottery
memorable
miserable
ordinary
poisonous
separate
Wednesday
 
Animals
When the long /o/ sound is at the end of word we usually use ow, as in grow (some, but not many, have oe, as in toe, which we will look at next week). 
 
bow
low
slow
grow
blow
know
arrow
below
borrow
tomorrow
 
Homework
This week is British Science Week and we are celebrating it in school with a series of experiments. For their homework, children are asked to put their scientific hats on and think about a problem in the world and how it can be solved. They will then draw a picture of their proposed solution and annotate it. Following that, children are asked to provide - on a piece of A4 paper - an explanation of their solution as well as the problem it is intended to solve. Children will need to include the following:
 
  • A description of the invention
  • Where the idea came from and/or who inspired the idea
  • Who would use the invention and why?
  • What problem does the invention solve and why is it a problem?
  • How does the solution work?
  • Who or what benefits from the invention?
  • Why is their solution special?
Children may also want to interview an engineer if they know one to help them in their design process.
 
Thank you!
Mr W
 
Monday 9th March - Monday 16th March
 
Spellings
 
Sports
We are continuing down the list of statutory spellings.
 
circle
complete
consider
continue
decide
describe
different
difficult
disappear
early
 
Cars and Ships
There are many words in the English language that contain vowels that are not clearly pronounced. For example, in 'library' the middle vowel ‘a’ is usually not pronounced. As a result, these words are commonly misspelled. Ten words will be the focus this week and the theme will continue with another ten words next week.
 
business
company
desperate
different
easily
factory
family
favourite
February
frightening
 
Animals
After o_e,the next most common way to spell the long /o/ sound is oa as in boat.
 
coach
load
road
loaf
coal
goal
cloak
boast
toast
groan (this a homophone and means to complain. Next week children will be given grown, as in to get bigger)
 
Homework
Children are continuing to learn about area and perimeter. For their homework, please may they - using a ruler - draw rectilinear shapes with the same area but different perimeters, recording the perimeter and area of the shape next to it and making sure to use the correct unit of measurement (cm for perimeter and cm2 for area). They have been given a sheet of 1cm squared paper to help them so all they have to do is count the squares, although they do need to be careful not to count the corners when calculating the perimeter.
 
Thank you!
Mr W
 
Monday 2nd March - Monday 9nd March
 
Spellings
 
Sports
These words are taken from the Year 3 & 4 statutory spelling list. There is no particular spelling pattern to these words.
 
breath
breathe
build
busy
business
calendar
caught
centre
century
certain
 
Cars and Ships
Words that end in the /zher/ sound are usually spelled -sure. Words that end in the /cher/ sound are spelled –ture. Both are either nouns or verbs, although some can be both.
 
closure
measure
pleasure
treasure
leisure
 
signature
texture
feature
nature
fixture
 
Animals
Moving on from the short /o/ sound we are looking at the long /o/. The most common way to spell this sound is with just an ‘o’ but the next most common – which we are learning this week – is with a split ‘o_e’.
 
rose
globe
robe
code
joke
whole
quote
console
impose
envelope
 
Homework
Children have been learning about the Anglo-Saxons in their history lessons and will now start to focus on the Viking invasion during the same period. We can still see the effects of these peoples on our everday lives today, such as in the names of towns and villages, or even our street names. For example, Ashington was originally spelled ‘Aescen-denu’ and this is an Anglo-Saxon name that means ‘valley overgrown with ash trees’; whilst Warkworth comes from ‘weorc’ (an earthwork or castle) and ‘worth’ (an enclosed settlement). Nearly every place name ending in ‘ton’ or ‘ham’ is Anglo-Saxon whilst those that end in 'by' is Viking (it means a farm or village). How many Anglo-Saxon or Viking towns or villages can your child find in our local area? If they are struggling, they can widen the search to include the whole of the country if necessary. How they choose to complete it is up to them, it may be in the style of a Word document or PowerPoint. Let their creativity flow! There is no need to print anything off, instead the work can be completed using their School360 account by making a new document and sharing it with me using my school360 email address (craig.warburton@school360.co.uk). Children will be shown how to do this on Monday afternoon if they are not confident.
 
Thank you!
Mr W
 
Monday 24th February - Monday 2nd March
 
Spellings
 
Sports
These words are taken from the Year 3 & 4 statutory spelling list. There is no particular spelling pattern to these words.
 
accident
accidentally
actual
actually
address
answer
appear
arrive
believe
bicycle
 
Cars and Ships
Words that end in the /cher/ sound are usually spelled -ture. They are either nouns or verbs although some can be both (e.g. a fracture or to fracture).
 
adventure
capture
creature
departure
fracture
furniture
mixture
picture
puncture
structure
 
Animals
Last time children learned words where 'w' changed the 'a' to make a long /o/ sound (e.g. wand). This week children will learn words where 'qu' has the same effect on an 'a'.
 
quad
quack
qualify
quality
quantity
 
square
squawk
squash
squat
squad
 
Homework
Children are starting to focus on length, perimeter and area in their maths lessons. For their homework children will practise measuring using a ruler. The bars children have been given to measure do not start at the 0cm mark on the ruler, rather they have been placed part way along. Therefore please make sure your child starts counting from where the bar has been placed and does not give the final number as the bar's length in cm (i.e. if a bar is placed on 4cm and extends to 10cm, then the bar is 6cm long not 10cm). To extend your child's learning, you may wish to set them challenges where they have to draw lines to a given length and/or measure objects and give their length to the nearest cm.
 
Thank you!
Mr W
 
Monday 10th February - Monday 24th February
 
Spellings
 
Sports & Cars and Ships
Homophones are words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings.
 
break
brake
groan
grown
heel
heal
grate
great
hear
here
 
Animals
These words all have the short /o/ sound. The ‘w’ has a bewitching effect on vowels often changing their sounds. After ‘w’ or ‘qu’ /o/ is spelled with an ‘a’.
 
wand
want
was
wash
watch
what
swab
swamp
swan
swallow
 
Homework
There is no written homework over the half-term holidays. However, children still do have their Guided Reading book to read ready for when they return and please may your child continue to practise their times tables.
 
Thank you!
Mr W
 
Monday 3rd February - Monday 10th February
 
Spellings

Sports
These words are taken from the statutory year 3/4 spelling list. There is no particular pattern this week, they just need to be learned.
 
famous
favourite
February
forward
fruit
grammar
group
guard
guide
heard
 
Cars and Ships
We are continuing to learn the same rule from last week. When a word contains a ‘c’ pronounced /s/, the ‘c’ is always followed by a vowel or a ‘y’ pronounced like a vowel.
 
dance
juice
mice
niece
pace
police
pounce
race
rice
slice 
 
Animals
These words all have the short /o/ sound. Most of the time this is just spelled with the letter 'o', but after the letter w this changes to an 'a' to make the same sound. This week we will look at words spelled with 'o', next week it will be the /o/ sound spelled 'wa' (e.g. 'watch' and 'wand').
 
on
off
odd
often
October
top
rock
sock
song
drop
 
Homework
The Friends of Swansfield Park are embarking on an exciting to further develop the school field, namely building a hobbit hut which will allow us to offer an even more exciting and engaging outdoor learning environment. However, they need the children's help! For their homework this week, please may your child design what they would like to see inside the hut and what they would like the outside to look like. The designs will be given to the architect who will take some of these ideas to influence the final design. The design should be on A4 paper, landscape, and be labelled with what materials are being used and what the key features of the design are.
 
Thank you!
Mr W
 
Monday 27th January - Monday 3rd February
 
Spellings
 
Sports
The prefix inter- means ‘between’.
 
international
interview
intercom
interfere
interrupt
interval
internet
interact
intercept
interlude
 
Cars and Ships
When a word contains a ‘c’ pronounced /s/, the ‘c’ is always followed by a vowel or a ‘y’ pronounced like a vowel (e.g. in ‘city’ the ‘y’ is /ee/).
 
advice
chance
choice
city
glance
piece
sentence
twice
voice
pounce
 
Animals
We are revising the long /a/ sounds learned so far. In some words, you just need the ‘a’  if it is a longer word and the /a/ sound is the first one. The most common is ‘a_e’ when /a/ is the second last sound followed by ‘ai’. ‘ay’ is used when the /a/ sound is the last sound. Finally, only some words use ‘ei’.
 
acorn
apron
 
ale
ate*
 
aid
aim
 
day
say
 
reign*
weight*
 
*These words are homophones (words which share the same sound as other words but not the same spelling or meaning. E.g. ‘ate’ and ‘eight’). I have not mixed words with the same sound in this list. Please encourage your child to learn the meaning of the word they are learning the spelling of.
 
Homework
We are learning the formal method for multiplication this week before moving onto division. Your child has been given some multiplication questions similar to those they have done and are doing in class. We have used both the expanded form and the short form. Your child can use whichever method works best for them. When it comes to multiplying 2- or 3-digit numbers by 1-digit, please encourage them to not think of the second or third digit as 'ones' as this has been a common misconception, particularly when using the expanded form. For example, in 23 x 5, it is 20 x 5 not 2 x 5.
 
Below are two examples of how they can set their work out.
 
Thank you!
Mr W
Monday 20th January - Monday 27th January
 
Spellings
 
Sports
Prefixes are groups of letters that can be added to the beginning of root words. They usually change the meaning of the root word. The prefix auto- means self.
 
automobile
autograph
autobiography
autocue
automatic
autopilot
autonomy
autofocus
autoroute
autocratic
 
Cars and Ships
The letters ‘ch’ can make both a /k/ and /ch/ sound. If ‘ch’ is in the middle of a word it is usually pronounced /k/. If ‘ch’ is at the end of a word it can be pronounced /ch/ or /k/. When the letters ‘ch’ make a /k/ sound, the word is usually Greek in origin.
 
ache
character
chorus
monarch
stomach
anchor
chasm
echo
technology
chaos
 
Animals
Only a few words use ei to make the long /a/ sound.
 
reins
reindeer
vein
veil
reign
weigh
weight
sleigh
eight
freight
 
Homework
Your child has been given a double sided sheet which focuses on punctuating direct speech using inverted commas, a comma to separate speech from the rest of the text and a reporting clause (e.g. Robert said). There is an example on the sheet so please encourage your child to follow how it has been set out in their own work.
 
Thank you!
Mr W
 
 
Monday 13th January - Monday 20th January
 
Spellings
 
Sports
Last week children learned the prefix super-. This week focuses on the two prefixes anti- and sub-. Anti- means 'against' and sub- means 'under' or 'below'. Adding these prefixes does not change the spelling of the root word. It is easiest to learn the root words and then practise adding the necessary prefix.
 
antifreeze
antisocial
antiseptic
anticlockwise
subheading
submarine
subtitle
subdivide
subset
substandard
subway
 
Cars and Ships 
Last week children learned how to add the suffix -ous to nouns, turning them into adjectives. The general rule is that with words ending in -y pronounced /i/, the ‘y’ is changed to an ‘i’ and -ous is added, e.g. mystery + -ous = mysterious. However, there are some nouns that are less straightforward to turn into adjectives by adding -ous and these are the focus this week. These words just have to be learned as they do not conform to any particular spelling rule.
 
generosity
generous
miracle
miraculous
number
numerous
curiosity
curious
jealousy
jealous
 
Animals
Children are continuing to learn the long /a/ sound. This week the sound is at the end of the word. When /a/ is at the end of a word we usually spell it 'ay'.
 
day
lay
slay
clay
play
stay
spray
stray
away
display
 
Homework
In maths, children are beginning to learn the formal methods of multiplication and division. As part of this, children will this week identify factor pairs. Children will also be learning the precise mathematical language to help them do so: factor pairs are two whole numbers that, when multiplied together, give a product (we can think of the factor pairs as being the numbers in a times table, e.g. 6 x 4 and the product as the 'answer', 24 in this example.).To help reinforce this learning at home, your child has been given a 'factor rainbow' worksheet, where - either side of the rainbow - they need to write the factors of a given product. If the product they are given is 10, then they would identify 1 x 10 and 2 x 5 as the two factor pairs. Remember, every number shares itself and 1 as its factors.
 
Thank you!
Mr W
 
Monday 6th January - Monday 13th January
 
Spellings
 
Sports
Prefixes are groups of letters that are added to the beginning of a root word and usually change the meaning of the root word. The prefix super- means over and above, or bigger and better.
 
supermarket
superman
superpower
superhuman
superstar
supersonic
superstore
supernatural
supercharged
superhero
 
Cars and Ships
The suffix -ous means ‘full of’. When it is added to words ending in -e, the ‘e’ is removed and -ous is added, e.g. fame + -ous = famous. With words ending in -y pronounced /i/, the ‘y’ is changed to an ‘i’ and -ous is added, e.g. mystery + -ous = mysterious. Otherwise –ous is just added to the root word.
 
The words in brackets will not be tested.
 
famous (fame)
adventurous (adventure)
spacious (space)
nervous (nerve)
furious (fury)
mysterious (mystery)
dangerous (danger)
mountainous (mountain)
hazardous (hazard)
joyous (joy)
 
Animals
Children are continuing to learn different ways to spell the long /a/ sound. Previously children learned words which followed the 'magic e' rule, which is the most common way of spelling the sound. Children are now learning words which follow the 'vowel team' rule, which is the second most common. This rule states when two vowels go walking the first does the talking and the second is silent. The combination of both an 'a' and an 'i' (double vowels) results in the long /a/ sound. The last word is a challenge word.
 
aid
aim
paid
fail
brain
claim
stain
faint
paint
complain
 
Homework
Children are starting their English work this term looking at Anglo Saxon myths and legends, focusing on Beowulf. As part of this children will write their own myth. To help with this, at home can your child please draw their hero or heroine (they can do so using any medium they wish or do so digitally) and surround their image with words that describe the hero. Heroes like Beowulf are the best of the best therefore please challenge your child to use superlatives  (i.e. 'fastest' and 'strongest' rather than 'fast' or 'strong').
 
Thank you!
Mr W