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Brain Builders. An new approach to providing effective homework at Christ Church Primary School. Our aim. To improve the quality and effectiveness of homework tasks To extend learning by linking homework to activities completed in the classroom.
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Brain Builders An new approach to providing effective homework at Christ Church Primary School
Our aim • To improve the quality and effectiveness of homework tasks • To extend learning by linking homework to activities completed in the classroom. • To make homework something that children can take control of, actively engage with and take pride in.
The benefit of thinking skills Scan 1, act of memorising (visual images). Scan 2, act of recall Scans 3 and 4, Processing information, comparison, decision making. The results of the experiment were reported in November 2000
What’s so great about Brainbuilders….? From our trial year, we found that…. • They allow for individualism • They let you see the inside world of the child • They’re fun • They are driven by the child and not the teacher • They have really brought the children together • They develop and extend children’s independence of learning. • Children can; • Take control of - • Actively engage in - • Take pride in - …..their own learning
How will we achieve this? • Children will receive their Brain Builder tasks each week to work on throughout the week. • There will be opportunities during school time to review, share and discuss Brain Builder tasks. • Brain Builders will be high profile and high status in school.
So, what do they look like?This system is used in many schools up and down the country with huge success and positive comments from children, parents and teachers….they are as good as the children want them to be….
What will it involve? • Brain Builders will come home on a day set by the class teacher, to be returned to school the following week, when they will be shared in class and seen by teachers • The Learning Objective(s) will be clearly stated • Some suggested activities and ways to approach the task will be offered – this will be at a level that reflects the age and needs of the individual child • The rest is down to you and your child!
Brain Builder LO: Learning to tell the time Make something that someone else could use to learn to tell the time. It could be a clock, a game, a poster, a leaflet, a set of instructions or anything else you can think of. Bring your work to school by Friday of next week
How can you support your child? • Give children time to talk about what they have to do – just the process of explaining and discussing the task will help your child to understand. • Offer ideas on how to present the work. • Give children a space to work which is away from other distractions.
How can you support your child? (continued) • Give homework a high status in your house and make it a priority. • Try to set aside specific homework times/evenings – and make time to work with your child. • Ensure that some days are homework free. • Reward excellent work. • Remind your child that there may not be a ‘finished point’
What can we include? • We will be encouraging the children to be as creative with their homework as possible. • They can complete these tasks in any way they want to as long as it is broadly based on the theme of the Brain Builder. • The children can do as many or as few of these suggestions as they wish, or they can make up their own.
For example, they could draw pictures, label them, take photographs, write lists, stick in food labels, research from books or the internet – or anything else that they can think of.
They can display their work in their book as they wish – painted, coloured, in different types of writing implement (e.g. gel pens, biros), collage and they can include any work they would like to – poems, stories, information, plays, facts, instructions, interviews with family members, lift the flaps, pockets with letters in, pictures cut out from newspapers and magazines and so on
How much homework should my child get? • Reception • Children in the Foundation Stage are not included in the DCSF guidelines for homework and therefore formal homework is not given. The main focus is naturally on the enjoyment and thrill of developing reading techniques and the learning of phonics (sounds) of the letters and words. This work is judged on an individual basis and is normally most successful when the teacher and parents liaise closely as to the next step. To develop this further, some Brainbuilder tasks are set as the year progresses.
Year 1 & 2 : 60 minutes per week • Children in these year groups will get a suggested range of homework to include reading, phonics activities and Brainbuilder tasks. The suggested amount of time for this should equate to about an hour a week.
Year 3 & 4 : 90 minutes per week • The range of homework will include regular reading and Brainbuilder tasks. The suggested time for these year groups is about an hour and a half per week. Little and often is best practice – reading and spelling from the home link book should still be a constant feature.
Year 5&6 : 30 minutes per day • The range of homework should still include regular reading and comprehension questions to extend understanding of the text and the purpose of the author, as well as Brainbuilder tasks. • Working on these throughout the week is good practice and preparation for high school.
What about spellings? • List of age expected spellings in the front of the book • Encourage children to check the list for words they need to spell or look in a dictionary • Occasional dictation in class • Specific topic words may be built into tasks or put in home link books
What if we are stuck for ideas? • Borrow books from the school library • Use the Internet if you have it • (or your child could ask to use it at school) • Look at the world around!! • Ask your child’s class teacher!
The aim of this work is to encourage the children to become more independent and motivated in their own learning and also to enable them to make links in their learning. • Adult input is encouraged but please don’t do the work for them! Rather; prompt, guide, suggest and help the children to research.
What do teachers say? ''Definitely one of the best things I've done in 20 years. There they all were, these little Y2s, on the playground at 8.45 yesterday comparing work they'd done over the weekend!''
What do pupils say….? • Hello. my name is Mason. I like doing my learning log at home and I persevere with it when the going gets tough. I'm really proud of the work that I did on plants. I Made a bee that moves from flower to flower carrying pollen. • Hi. My name is Reneece. I like doing my homework in my learning log because it's fun. I can stick lots of things in and use lots of colour. I'm really proud when my teacher tells me that it's good. • “You can make them bright and colourful. It makes it more exciting and you want to do it.”
What Now? • Brain Builders are a partnership between school and home. For them to be effective everybody needs to be working towards a common aim. Good quality homework will help us to achieve ‘Success for all’. • Pupils will be given a Brainbuilder book and their first task will be to make a cover for it……a unique book for their unique learning journey
Working together • There will be an opportunity for parents to feedback their thoughts about Brain Builders later in the year so that we can measure the impact on learning • For some children, it will take a while to adjust – please encourage them during this time • If staff feel that there are additional tasks that your child needs or if there are any concerns, we will discuss this with you. • If there is a demand for it, we can offer a ‘Brainbuilder Club’ for pupils to be able to do some of their work after school. • If you have any questions in the meantime please ask!!!
Skills for life • Children will; • Be proud of their learning • Be eager to share • Develop learning life skills
