Name _______________________

English teacher _________________

Year 7

Each week, you will have three English homework tasks to complete.

1. A list of ten spelling words to learn.

2. An editing / sequencing/proofreading/grammar or comprehension task.

3. A challenge task -extended writing/reading exam style question/research/ skills task

(Your English teacher will tell you which words to learn, which activity to complete, and

when she/he expects you to complete the work.)

You will have a spelling test in your English lesson once a week.

Your reading activities will be peer / teacher assessed in your English lessons each week.

Remember to record your spelling marks below!

Your parents must initial/sign when your

homework has been completed.

Activities log

Activity Completed Challenge Completed

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

My spelling test marks

Test Mark Date of test

Test

one

/10

Test

two

/10

Test

three

/10

Test

four

/10

Test

five

/10

Test

six

/10

Test

seven

/10

Test

eight

/10

Your teacher will tell you which day will be your spelling test day.

1. January

2. February

3. March

4. August

5. September

6. October

7. November

8. December

9. Wednesday

10. Autobiography

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Homework Skills Task 1: Nouns

These are the words we use to name

things. Along with verbs, they are the parts of speech we really could

not function without. There are a few different types of noun:

Concrete nouns—used to describe things that can be recognised

by at least one of the senses (eg a cat, a dog, an alarm)

Abstract nouns—these describe something which isn’t physical

(a feeling eg fear, joy, happiness)

Proper nouns –used to describe a specific person, place or thing.

They’re recognised with a capital letter (names & places eg

London, Lady Gaga, the Severn Bridge)

Highlighted in the sentences below are the nouns. Write next to it

whether you think it is a concrete, abstract or proper noun.

1. She is a pleasure to work with.

2. The Queen was at the palace.

3. He was attacked by a squid.

4. I want to play football for Newport.

5. I have a pain in my leg.

6. We flew across the Atlantic Ocean.

7. The mourners were full of grief.

8. My favourite meal is steak!

9. She had a fear of failure.

10. Louisa will be staying in Los Angeles.

The New Girl

Barbara Heston is the most important person in our class. She is a large girl with a loud

voice, curly red hair and big white teeth. Her friends say she is pretty. If you’re small, you

keep out of her way.

The new girl was small. Her name was Lily Barnes, though she looked more like a weed than

a lily, being thin and nervous, as if she was afraid some gardener would come and yank her

out by the roots and throw her on the rubbish heap. She was wearing the wrong clothes.

Our school doesn’t have a uniform. We wear what we choose – or rather what Barbara

chooses for we all try to copy her. Her parents are rich, and she always wears the latest

and most expensive fashions, which we follow as best we can. This term it was sleeveless

blouses, miniskirts and ankle socks, though it was a cold May and our arms and legs became

blue and goose-pimpled, and the boys jeered at us. Lily came to school wearing shabby grey

trousers with a patch on one knee, a red and green jumper too small for her and white

trainers. I saw Barbara look her up and down and wrinkle her nose like at a bad smell.

Homework CHALLENGE 1: The

New Girl comprehension

1. List 3 ways that Barbara Heston is described

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2. What is Lily Barnes compared to and why?

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3. The school doesn’t have a uniform. Why is this bad for the pupils?

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4. “Lily came to school wearing shabby grey trousers” - can you choose a

word to use instead of shabby that would fit in this sentence?

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5. “The boys jeered at us”. What do you

think this word means? Circle your option:

A) The boys whispered about the girls

B) The boys were rude and shouted mocking comments at the girls

C) The boys ignored the girls

6. “Wrinkle her nose like at a bad smell”. This sentence uses the

comparison ‘like’. What is this comparison technique called?

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7. How would you feel if you were Lily Barnes? Why?

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Your teacher will tell you which day will be your spelling test day.

1. pound

2. Accept

3. Sincerely

4. Found

5. Decisive

6. Truly

7. Britain

8. sound

9. Successful

10. Knuckle

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Homework Skills Task 2:

Proofreading

This room was my mother's pride and joy. Its briliant white

curtins always smelt fresh and the mahogany furniture was

always highly polished, as was the wooden floor. My sister and

I spent many hours polishing that room from as far back as I

can remember. We had to do the polishing before we left for

school each day. The comfurtable wooden chairs in the room

were draped with crisp white headrests and the round table,

which we ate from on Sundays and other special occasons,

had a doiley in its centre, on which sat a glass of glorious fresh

flowers. These were from our small front garden which was full

of exotick, sweet-smelling flowers and shrubs such as the

beautiful flame-red hibiscus which seemed to attract swarms of

exquisite butterflies and hoovering hummingbirds, in search of

the nectar. The room is kept for special occasions, but it is still

a pleasent place to be.

Locate and correct the 7 spelling errors below:

1: 2:

3: 4:

5: 6:

7:

Homework CHALLENGE 2: Then and Now

The schools our parents and grandparents attended were very different from the schools

we go to today. You are going to interview your parents and/or grandparents to find out

what kinds of schools they went to and how different they were from your experiences.

Person you interviewed: …………………………………………………………

Where did you go to school?

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How did you get to school?

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What were the lessons like? Which was your favourite lesson? Which was your worst

lesson?

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What were school dinners like?

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What was your school uniform like?

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Now ask at least another 3 questions of your own!

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You will be required to feedback your findings to your class.

Your teacher will tell you which day will be your spelling test day.

1. Necessary

2. Wrestle

3. Kept

4. dialogue

5. Accident

6. Honour

7. Desk

8. Concern

9. Key

10. Harbour

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Find out the definition to all the words on the previous page. (use a dictionary)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

2. Find out a synonym for each of the words. Reminder: a synonym is a word which has a

similar meaning. For example: good = wonderful, amazing, fantastic. (use a thesaurus)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

Homework Skills Task 3: Dictionary and

thesaurus work

Dictionaries and

thesaurus are also

available on the

internet…

Homework CHALLENGE 3: Holidays

Facts Opinions

1

2

3

4

1

2

3

4

Look at the text on the previous page.

Write down five facts you learn and five opinions you discover.

Think of somewhere you have visited. Write a short paragraph for a travel brochure that

includes facts and opinions. Remember to use all of your creative writing skills

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Your teacher will tell you which day will be your spelling test day.

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1. Even

2. practice

3. use

4. used

5. Height

6. Collector

7. Neither

8. These

9. Learn

10. Foreign

Read the following sentences below. Put them in the

most suitable order by numbering them 1 to 4.

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes ……..

Place the cookies on a baking tray. ……..

Mix all the ingredients together. ……..

Prepare a shopping list of cookie ingredients. ……..

I don’t want to eat pizza again for a long time. ……..

I ate ten slices of pizza. ……..

Late that night, I got sick. ……..

I felt very full. ……..

Homework SKILLS 4: Sequencing

Homework CHALLENGE 4

All about me!

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1. Early

2. Government

3. Would

4. Separate

5. Villain

6. Could

7. Should

8. Argument

9. Number

10. Lightning

Roald Dahl was born on 13 September 1916 and died on 23 November 1990. He was a novelist, short story writer, fighter pilot and screenwriter.

Born in Llandaff, Cardiff, to Norwegian parents, he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence agent, rising to the rank of Wing Commander. Dahl became famous in the 1940s writing for both children and adults, and became one of the world's bestselling authors. He has been referred to as “one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century” and his books are well loved for their fantastic characters and often very dark humour.

Some of his most popular works include James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox, Matilda, The Witches, and The Big Friendly Giant.

Homework SKILLS 5: Comprehension

1. When was Roald Dahl born and when did he die?

2.List three of Roald’s jobs.

3.When did Roald’s stories first gain popularity?

4. Name three of Roald Dahl’s books.

5. RESEARCH TASK: Where did Roald Dahl write his stories?

6. Roald Dahl wrote about chocolate, sweets, giants etc… if you were able to pitch one final idea to him, what would the story be about?

Homework SKILLS 5: Comprehension

Considering Ambitions

You have been in Chepstow School now for a few weeks. You

may have found that you like some subjects more than others,

which might shape the path of your future. You’ll have made new

friends and overcome a lot of worries that you might once have

had. You can imagine this time as your ‘bridge’ between

different parts of your life: early childhood to teenage years. On

the page below, make a collage of dreams and ambitions you

wish to achieve during your time in Chepstow School

Homework Challenge 5

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1. Ruler

2. Prompt

3. Uncle

4. Succeed

5. Note

6. Successful

7. Woke

8. Advertisement

9. Courageous

10. Debt

Skills Task 6: Compound nouns

Compound nouns

A compound noun is a noun made up of two (or more) words to make a word

or phrase with a meaning of its own. For example:

Post +man = postman soft + ware = software

Air + hostess = airhostess pain + killers = painkillers

Can you match a word from column A with one from column B to form a

compound noun? The first has been done for you!

Column A Column B

arm

bicycle

chop

door

dry

finger

girl

mother

night

pain

pear

science

cleaning

tree

friend

in-law

pit

club

seat

killer

fiction

print

bell

stick

Challenge Task 6: Reading

Read the passage below form Roald Dahl’s Boy. What impression

do you get of Mrs Pratchett? How does the writer create these

impressions? Use evidence from the text to support your ideas.

Her name was Mrs. Pratchett. She was a small skinny old hag

with a moustache on her upper lip and a mouth as sour as a

green gooseberry. She never smiled. She never welcomed us

when we went in. By far the most loathsome thing about Mrs.

Pratchett was the filth that clung about her. Her apron was

grey and greasy. Her blouse had bits of breakfast all over it,

toast-crumbs and tea stains and splotches of dried egg yolk. It

was her hands, however, that disturbed us most. They were

disgusting. They were black with dirt and grime. They looked

as though they had been putting lumps of coal on the fire all

day long. The mere sight of her grimy right hand with its

black fingernails digging an ounce of Chocolate Fudge out of

the jar would have caused a starving tramp to go running from

the shop.

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1. played

2. Outrageous

3. Doubt

4. Stayed

5. Cushion

6. Clever

7. Brief

8. Temperature

9. Drove

10. Belief

Homework Task 7: Quantifiers

How much? Quantifiers!

A quantifier is a word that tells us how much there is or how many there

are of something. As well as numbers, sometimes we use words to explain

this. For example, instead of saying ’32 students are worried about

homework’, we would instead write: ‘Too many students are worried

about homework’.

Too many = the amount of students that are worried.

Can you select the correct quantifier to complete the sentences. The first

has been done for you:

1) (a lot of /too much) people have problems with grammar.

2) I think I got (the majority of/not much) questions right.

3) I only drink (a little/a couple of) coffee because caffeine can give me a

headache.

4) With the deadline approaching, there was (some/not much) time left.

5) Though some of the city was destroyed, (a great deal/all) remained

standing.

6) He woke up with a headache, having drunk (too much/all) wine last

night.

7) He was sick after he ate (all/ a few of) the cake.

8) His essay was marked down for (a lack of/little) attention to detail.

9) He had three tickets for the game so he took (a lot of/a couple of)

friends.

10) She catalogued (a little of/all of) the library’s books.

Well done! You’ve reached the end of your first half term in

Chepstow School. We hope you’re not too tired!

Your task is to write a leaflet for next year’s new Year 7s as a

guide for what they should expect and do for when they join

Chepstow School. Plan your work below then complete your

leaflet on the next page.

What should my leaflet include?

Homework Challenge 7: Leaflet

Feedback page– We value your

opinions…

Once you have completed all the homework activities and marked

them, please take a few minutes to complete the information

below.

Your views:

Feedback( things you liked about the homework booklet)

1.

2.

3.

Feedforward ( things to be improved for next time)

1.

2.

3.

Parents/ Guardians views:

Feedback( things you liked about the homework booklet)

1.

2.

3.b

Feedforward ( things to be improved for next time)

1.

2.

3.