St Marys Sports College

To connect to St Marys website please follow this link :- http://www.stmaryscollegehull.co.uk

To send your completed work directly use the following address: – smlit@st-marys.hull.sch.uk 

SUMMER TASKS
Below are a variety of fun English and Literacy Tasks for you to have a go at over the Summer. It is clear from Transition Week that we have a highly motivated and creative Year 7 to look forward to and we are sure you will impress all your English teachers with your ideas and stories. Happy Writing!!!!

Summer Task 1

This year’s transition-week Literacy focus was Spelling. Jenny Morgan came in and gave us loads of new spelling strategies, but what did you think…? Write in and tell us your views!

1. Did you find Jenny’s strategies helpful? Why (or why not?)
2. Imagine you are interviewing Jenny. Think of 10 questions you would like to ask her (how long she has been working with children etc etc).
3. Write a newspaper report about Jenny’s session at St Mary’s. Who knows, if it is good enough, it might appear in the school newspaper or even on the transition website.
4. What inspired you most about Jenny’s visit? Can you explain this?
5. Write a (pretend) letter to Jenny on behalf of St Mary’s. What would you say to her? Remember to set it out correctly and use a formal (polite) tone as it’s somebody that you don’t know personally.

Spelling Strategies

1. Have a look at http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/spelling/ Imagine you are a teacher for the new Year 7 group. Choose a particular spelling focus (e.g. prefixes) and write a lesson plan to teach students how to revise that skill.
2. Choose a particular spelling strategy and make up a poem (or even a rap) that will help students remember it! Make up a fun dance to go with it!
3. Create a word-search of the keywords you learned during transition week. Try to make it more difficult by missing out some of the clues!
4. Make a set of dominoes that will help students to remember the difference between homophones (words that have the same sound, e.g. hear/here). Use lots of pictures to help students use the right one.
5. Research a ‘root’ word and draw a tree diagram to show which other words can be created from it.

Summer Reads!

1. Once you have read through your summer book, write a list of 9 questions you would like to ask the author.  
2. Write a book review using one of the worksheets attached.
3. Write a list of the main characters in your book. If you could pick any famous actors/actresses from television programmes or films, who would you cast to play each part? Explain your answer! For an even bigger challenge, invent a new character altogether and explain how they would fit in with the story. Draw a picture to illustrate if you like.
4. If you were asked to redesign the front cover of your novel, what would you include in it, and on it? Why not design the front cover for us? You could do a computer design or better still, hand draw/paint one and post it in to St Mary’s College.
5. Write the continuing chapter of the novel. Try a happy ending then a contrasting sad ending!

Summer Task 2

We were so lucky to hear Craig Heap talk about his Olympic Gold-medal-winning successes. Hopefully, our very own Transition Week will have given YOU the opportunity to try lots of exciting activities and learn some useful new skills too. Why not use these skills to attempt some of the Olympic themed tasks listed below:

• Research a recent sporting event (e.g. the Wimbledon Final or a recent Hull City match) and write an article to inform your readers about it. Make this as informative and entertaining as you can. You might even set it out like a newspaper article, with columns and pictures, etc.
• Pick one of the many sports represented in last year’s Olympics and research its history and background. You could produce an information leaflet/booklet informing your readers about its development over the years.
• There were many famous sports personalities appearing at the Olympics. Which was your favourite? How much do you know about them? Why not research this person. You could produce a fact sheet on them.
• Keep your own sports diary during the summer holidays – detailing the events you have watched, anything you have participated in (even swimming in the pool on holiday!) and how it made you feel.
• A good story depends on an interesting setting. What better setting than an exciting sporting event. You could be an athlete or a spectator. Have a go at writing the opening chapter. If you feel you want to write the whole short story … why not give it a go and send it in.
• Last year’s Olympics were based in China. How much do you know about this country? Find out as much as you can and produce a holiday brochure aimed at teenagers. You need to make sure you hold your reader’s interest as much as possible.
• Why not produce a crossword or word-search based around the Olympics: sports, athletes, country, etc.
• Imagine you have been asked to host a pub quiz based around the Olympics: past and present. Write twenty questions (with the answers). These will need to entertain your guests and also challenge them.
• If you could make up your own ‘new sport’, what would it be? Produce an information booklet outlining the details necessary: how many players, rules of the game, where it would be played, does it have a referee, etc. You could also design the kits they might play in or even the pitch/ground you might play it on, etc.
• The national anthems are always played for the winner of a competition. If you had to write an anthem for St Mary’s Olympics Transition Week, what would it be? Remember, often anthems have a repeated chorus.
• You listened to Gez Walsh during the Transition Week, and heard/read many of his poems. Why not write your own poem(s) based on last year’s Olympics – you have so much to base it on. Go for it!
• Pretend you are the winner of a sporting event. Write your diary entry on the day you win, explaining how you feel, how you felt the event went, etc.

Summer Tasks 3

By now, you will have seen Gez Walsh during Transition Week. Wasn’t he fantastic! I bet you have read his poetry book from cover to cover already.

Just to keep you excited by his poetry, why not have a go at some of the tasks below. You can complete one task, a few, or all … it’s entirely up to you.

• You were given one of Gez Walsh’s poetry books to look at over the summer holidays. Write a review of this book in order for it to appear in a student magazine.
• Which poem(s) did you like best? Write an explanation why this is the case.
• Imagine your friend did not make the presentation by Gez Walsh. Write a letter to this friend letting him/her know what the presentation was like. Make this as detailed and informative as possible. Refer to the poet, his poetry, his presentation style, etc etc.
• Gez Walsh was very funny and most of all inspiring. Why not write a poem of your own, based on the Olympics.
• Building on the above, why not write a poem about St Mary’s Transition Week. If this is good, we might post it on the webpage.
• Imagine you are a journalist for a very popular student newspaper.  Your editor has asked you to research the poet Gez Walsh. Find out as much as you can about him and write a feature page on him.
• On the back of Gez’s books, he refers you to the website: www.pottypoets.com. Have a look at this and have a go at any of the tasks, etc it mentions. You can sent them in to us to look at.
• Write a review of the website www.pottypoets.com. What does it feature? Would you recommend it? What was your favourite part?
• Why not write a quiz based on the Gez’s poems from the book you were given for the summer. You can ask a question based on the poet in general or some of his poems specifically. Good luck!
• There are many poetic devices. Can you find any examples of the following in any of the poems: metaphors, similes, alliteration, repetition, personification, etc. If you find any examples, list them and … if you really want a challenge … state why you think Gez has used them in that particular poem.
• If you like to draw, and want to send in a picture of your own, why not draw one of the characters from one of the poems in the book?
• The titles of Gez’s poetry books are really quite funny. Why do you think he does this?
• Each of Gez’s books is a collection of his poems. He has even illustrated the books himself. Why not produce your own collection of poems – based on the Transition Week – and illustrate the booklet yourself. You could produce a colourful front cover and even think of a funny title for your book. Go on, give it a go! (n.b. if you wanted to produce a booklet with a different theme of poems, then have a go at that also).

Summer Task 4: How to write a Book Review of the book you took home for the summer!

 Getting started

Below is a list of questions about your book.  If you answer them carefully and in detail you can use your answers to form a detailed book review which gives your opinion of the book. Answer in sentences to form paragraphs under the following headings rather than numbering your answers or using bullet points.

Plot

What happened in the story?

What was the story about?

What length of time did it cover? (this is the amount of time that passes during the course of the story, not how long it took you to read it)

Was what happened unusual?  Ordinary?

What was the opening of the story like?  Exciting?  Slow?  Dramatic?  Dull?

How did the events of the story follow on from each other?

Characters

Who were the main characters?

What were they like?

Were they described in much detail?

Which did you find most interesting?  Most sympathetic? (if you find a character sympathetic, you like them as you can understand their feelings.  Perhaps you have had a similar experience to them)

What kind of relationships and / or conflicts were there?

Did these characters change throughout the story?

Comments on style

Was the story written in the first or third person?( ‘I’ or ‘he / she’)

How important was this to the story?

Was the setting described in detail?

Were feelings and attitudes described in depth?

Was it a good story?  Why?

What was your favourite moment in the story? Why?

Were there any moments (or characters) that might have been improved?  If so, what changes would you make?

General

Do you think the writer had a particular reason for telling this story?

How did you feel during and after reading it?

Do you think you learned anything from the book about people?  Ways of life?

How would you compare it to other books you’ve read?

What else do you think is important to say about it?

Would you recommend this book / read another by the same author?