Below are a range of different activities you can complete (again please use these as a guide) – they include some English and Topic activities based on our topic of ‘Street Detectives’.
- Ask your child to think about questions that they might like to ask you, parents, friends and grandparents about living in the local area. Ask questions like: What do you like about our local area? What don’t you like? Use a simple questionnaire format to record the answers. Ask parents/grandparents (if safe to do so) to give reasons for their answers and explain their views.
- Share the results of their questionnaires with you. Discuss about how people responded, finding out if people strongly agreed or disagreed on the same topics. Compare any common likes or dislikes revealed through their views. Your child could write a sentence or sentences to describe one thing that they like and one thing that they dislike about the local area, suggesting something that could be done to improve it.
- Write a letter to the local council, explaining the findings from their questionnaire and discussions with you. Include some ideas for improvements, based on their detective work, that the council could make for the local community. Use a formal letter format. Addresses, Dear Sir/Madam, Yours faithfully.
- Look at newspaper adverts or websites like ‘Rightmove’ about houses in the local area. Copy out adjectives used to describe them. Pick out sentences and phrases that refer to the local community, such as ‘near to the local school’, ‘situated five minutes’ walk from the local park’, ‘close to local shops’, ‘on a bus route’ or ‘a quiet street’. Encourage your child to think about how they might describe your home in a sales advert. What features could they include? What aspects of the local environment could they use?
- Ask your child to write an advert for their home. Include all the good points about living in the area. Remember to include positive, upbeat adjectives to describe its best features. Words like attractive, open-plan, cosy, stunning, scenic, beautiful, large, modern, light, airy, delightful, peaceful etc.