At St Joseph’s, we are so grateful for the invaluable support that our parents and carers provide for our pupils. We know how well our families have been able to adapt to home learning so now that we can welcome all of our pupils back to school, we wanted to provide opportunities for our pupils to continue their learning at home, if they choose to. The homework given will prepare and support your child’s learning across the curriculum each half term. The homework tasks below are optional. If you would also like to read our homework policy, please follow the link below.

Please follow the links below to access our online learning platforms that are used for homework.

Resources to support optional homework tasks

Writing for Pleasure

To suggest some ideas for our aspiring authors for their next best chapter books, I included some links to fun picture prompts, story starter ideas and sentence challenges. Take on the challenge and see where a piece of paper, a pencil and your imagination takes you!

Maths

We know the importance of learning our times tables in Year 4.  We all know that we are expected to know all of our times tables by the end of the year.  Please use these links to help you learn your times tables online. Come up with some active ways to practise your times tables. Design a Burn2Learn activity to practise or learn some moves from the Super Movers. Super Movers Top Marks games Times tables online games Online and downloadable Oxford Owl activities

Here are some games you could download, print and play as a family too.

Try the Multiplication Tables Check activity that generates the 25 times tables questions randomly and the children have 6 seconds to type their answers in.

Multiplication Tables Check

Autumn 1

To help you with your learning this half term, here are some optional homework tasks and resources/activities for you to complete. I can’t wait to see your work that you complete at home!

Art

Sir John Tenniel was a Victorian artist who became well-known for his illustrations in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. He had great attention to detail and used the techniques of hatching and cross-hatching to create the darker areas in his illustrations.

Choose some of your favourite book characters and sketch them. Can you create lighter and darker tones in your drawings by using cross-hatching in the style of Sir John Tenniel?

Watch these videos to learn more about hatching and cross hatching. Hatching and cross hatching What is cross hatching?  

Take inspiration from Sir John Tenniel’s artwork. Sir John Tenniel Illustrations  

Geography

It is important to know which is your left hand and your right hand. In map reading, it is just as crucial to know where north, east, south and west are. Have a go at discovering features of the UK by using the 8 points of a compass. Can you tell which direction is Wetherby from London and other cities of the UK? Can you create your own map of an imaginary place like Wonderland?

Learn more about how to use a compass. Compasses and directions  

Use these templates to create your imaginary map. Imaginary map  

Work with this UK map to show directions. UK map  

History

The period between 1837 and 1901 was the period of Queen Victoria’s reign. Can you look into Wetherby’s history and find some interesting facts about the town? What was it like to live in Wetherby in the Victorian era? How was it different to what Wetherby is like today?

Find out more about the history of Wetherby. History of Wetherby  

Read more about the first train station in Wetherby. First train station in Wetherby  

Read the brochure with lots of fun facts in. Wetherby brochure  

MFL

This half term in French we will be learning about colours and our school and what we can find around the classroom. Can you draw a picture of the school or the classroom and label what you can see in French?

Use the images from the classroom to practise the names of various objects. Classroom objects  

Draw a picture of your classroom and label your drawing in French. Classroom frame  

Music

Hans Zimmer has helped shape the sound of today’s film, television and games. He has composed unique and powerful soundtracks for films including The Lion King, Kung Fu Panda and Blue Planet II. Evaluate the music from your favourite film! Can you use descriptive music vocabulary to describe why the music works well with the pictures? Try choosing one image from the movie, print or draw it and annotate with your thoughts and likes.

Watch an interview with Hans Zimmer about the composition of Planet Earth II. Hans Zimmer talkes about the music of Planet Earth II  

Use the following musical vocabulary to describe your chosen musical composition. Musical vocabulary  

Look at an example about an amazing cuttlefish. Cuttlefish example  

Science

Water is one of the most important substances on Earth. Being essential to all living cells, 75% of our bodies is made up of water! Water covers 70% of the Earth’s surface and is the most common liquid we come across. Water is continually recycled on our planet. Can you create your own information poster to explain the processes of the water cycle?

Read the following diagram to learn more about the water cycle. Water cycle diagram  

Read more about the water cycle. The water cycle  

Have a go at labeling the following diagram with the correct scientific words. Label the water cycle  

Summer 2

To help you with your learning this half term, here are some optional homework tasks and resources/activities for you to complete. I can’t wait to see your work that you complete at home!

Art

A cartouche is a nameplate that was used by the ancient Egyptians (usually pharaohs or very rich people). A cartouche had the person’s name written in hieroglyphics and was usually placed on a sarcophagus. The ancient Egyptians believed that it was important to have your name written down and recorded otherwise you might disappear in death and not find the underworld.
Investigate hieroglyphics and write your name in the style of the cartouche.

Check these slides to learn more about what a cartouche is. Information Slides  

Follow the instructions to work with clay and create your cartouche. Insturctions  Don’t worry if you don’t have any clay to work with, you could draw or paint too!

Use this template to help you create your artwork. Art Template  

Computing

Try touch typing! Touch typing is a method of typing without the need to look at the keyboard. This way, the fingers get so used to typing that they instinctively go to the appropriate keys without the typist needing to see or even feel around the keyboard.

Knowing where to find the keys can really boost your typing speed and efficiency. Computer, tablet and phone keyboards have a similar layout so you can get familiar with the place of the keys on any device.

Dance mat typing is a great game to help you learn how to touch type on a computer keyboard. Dance mat typing.

These prompts will help you remember the use of the different keys. Computer keyboard prompts.

Use your new typing skills to create a project in word, keynote, power point or any other program you like. The topic of the project is your choice! Happy typing!

DT

The ancient Egyptians had a very healthy diet. They ate plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, like leeks, beans, onions, grapes, dates, figs and pomegranates. There was plenty of fish too from the River Nile. Richer people could afford meat such as beef, pork and goat.Yet the main part of every diet, no matter how rich or poor you were, was bread. Use your cooking skills to bake some Egyptian bread!

Read the information slides to learn more about the ancient Egyptians’ diet. Information Slides  

Follow the instructions to bake your bread! Instructions  

Done with baking? Tasted your bread? Give this evaluation a go to record how well you have done. Evaluation  

History

Find out more about the ancient Egyptians and what gods and goddesses they worshipped!  The ancient Egyptians worshipped over 2000 different gods and goddesses. Each god or goddess played a particular role in their lives. Most ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses had human bodies and the heads of animals or birds. Present your research in a way you choose.

Read more about the various gods and goddesses. Information Slides  

Find a list of gods and goddesses here and choose which one you want to research. List of Gods and Godesses  

Fill in this template with the information you find. Research Template  

PE

Have you ever seen an Egyptian dance before? What was it like? The dance styles that take inspiration from ancient Egyptians is called pharaonic dance. Explore the various picture cards and try to come up with your own choreography!

Check out this groovy video to give you some fun ideas. Groove Like an Egyptian  

Find some more information and picture prompts for your dance. PE Information Slides PE Picture Prompts  

RE

As part of our RE learning, we learn about another faith. The faith that we learn about in Year 4 is Sikhism. To start this learning journey, take a look at the following websites to some reading. What is Sikhism? Information on Sikhism Sikhism  

Do some research about Sikhism and present your findings any way you prefer. You could choose to make a poster, PowerPoint presentation or Word document, the choice is yours!