1. Brain Builders An new approach to providing effective homework at
King’s Court First School

2. 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

6. 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

7. What’s so great about Brainbuilders….?
They encourage individualism and independence
They enable you to see the world from the child’s perspective
They’re fun
They are driven by the child and not the teacher
They challenge the children and bring them together
They develop and extend children’s independence of learning
Children take control of, actively engage with and take pride in their own learning

8. How will we achieve this?
Children will receive their Brain Builder and then have a week and a half to work through the task(s)
Brainbuilder tasks will still be supplemented by regular reading, word and number work
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

9. So, what does a ‘Brainbuilder’ look like
So, what does a ‘Brainbuilder’ 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….
I have been sent many example photographs from different schools showing examples from different age groups and different abilities. All the schools use this format from reception to year 6. Here are a few examples of what a Brain builder could look like. There is no right or wrong way to present a brain builder. The only rules are that it can only take one double page in the Brain Builder book. If more space is needed, paper can be stuck in to fold out or pockets added for cards to be stored in.

10. Year R

11. Year 1

12. Year 2

13. Year 3

14. Year 4

15. Year 4

16. Year 4

17. Year 5

18. Year 6

19. The rest is down to you and your child!
What will it involve?
Brain Builders will come home on a Friday, to be returned to school a week and a half later (on a Wednesday), when they will be shared in class and seen by teachers
The Learning Objective(s) will be clearly stated and linked to the learning happening in the classroom
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!

20. 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 Monday of next week

21. 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.

22. 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’

23. 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.

24. …or anything else they can think of!
They could…
Draw pictures
Label them
Take photographs
Write lists
Stick in food labels
Research from books or the internet
Write a poem or story
Interview a family member
Make a collage
Cut pictures out from magazines
Make a model
Draw a diagram
Draw a graph / pictogram
Conduct a survey
…or anything else they can think of!

25. They can display their work in their book however they wish – painted, coloured, in different types of writing implement (e.g. gel pens, biros), in collage, …
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, ...

26. YEARS 3 and 4:
The range of homework will include regular reading, spelling, maths and Brainbuilder tasks.

27. What if we are stuck for ideas?
Borrow books from the local library
Use the Internet if you have it (or your child could ask to use it at school)
Look at the world around you
Ask another parent from your class
Ask your child’s class teacher!

28. The aim of this work is to encourage our children to become more independent learners, be 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.

29. 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!''

30. What do children 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.”

31. What Now?
Brain Builders is a partnership between school and home. For it 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

32. 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 you have any questions in the meantime please ask!!!

33. Children will: SKILLS FOR LIFE Be proud of their learning
Be eager to share
Develop learning life skills