Home Learning

Any problems please email Mrs Dodwell, hdodwell@gts.devon.sch.uk

Firstly, and most importantly, please spend at least 30 mins a day reading

Ideally more than 30 minutes if you are stuck at home anyway. To add to your own collection of reading material, there is plenty to read on The Day website. Choose a selection of articles to read and follow the associated links if you’re interested.

You can now set the reading level of the articles to suit your ability and you can also adjust the settings to – for example – be dyslexia friendly. (Click on the little figure in the top right).

In response to your reading, choose a selection of the below activities to show your understanding.

Reading activities

After reading your book for 20-30 mins, choose one of the following activities. (The ones with a star next to them are also suitable for non-fiction/factual books).

Create a character study.

Choose an interesting character from your book and draw a small picture of them in the middle of your page. (If you do want to draw, try designing a font for their name to represent their personality). Around the picture, write down everything you know about the character. Add a quotation from the book to support your comments.

Theme study

Think of an overall theme which is explored in your book (e.g. friendship, feeling like an outsider, death etc.) Collect as many quotations/ references as you can which are relevant to this theme. Try to explain them.

Comic strip / storyboard

Retell the story, or part of the story, in pictures (aim for no more than ten!) Support each one with at least one quotation from the book.

Create a past life

Choose a character about whom the author doesn’t give much information (e.g. a mysterious character or a minor character). Create a past life for them, including details about their family, friends, childhood, home, school , job, hobbies, crimes, secrets etc.

Plot timeline

Draw a timeline to represent events in your story. Illustrate it and use quotations to show each key event. You could even extend the timeline into the past and/or future with your own ideas.

Wordsearch / Crossword.*

Create a wordsearch or crossword using clues from a book (ideally one which one of your friends / teacher / parents / siblings has also read/ is going to read, so that they can complete the puzzle!)

Create a factfile.*

Collect a list of the most interesting facts on a topic from your book. If you like, design a poster / leaflet to display them attractively, using illustrations, quotations, your own words and diagrams etc.

Design a quiz / test.*

Create ten questions based on information from your book. Write the answers down on a separate piece of paper, plus page references for where the information can be found. You can either ask a friend to test you another time, or test someone else who has also read the same book.

What next?*

Create a sample page(s) for a new book to follow on from the one you’ve just read. It could be the same style but on a different topic, or it might be the same topic but written / presented in a different style. Design a front cover for it too if you like.

Year 8

Here is the poetry booklet you are working on in class.

Choose one of the poems you have studied so far and create a collage, picture, image, map or cartoon which represents the poem and the images within in.
Choose one of the poets you have studied so far and research their life and their writing. Create a "poet profile" with all the biographical information you have found out.
Choose one of the poets you have studied so far. Find another poem by this poet and explain what you think it is about and how it links to the one you have studied in class.