DD's English homework...opinions please

[TheFirstLady]

So DD comes home today with her first English homework so far this year.
It went like this:
Write 10 simple sentences (subject, object, verb)
Join 10 pairs of simple sentences using the connectives and, but or or.

and (optional extensiion section)
add an extra clause to five simple sentences using a connective such as despite, whilst, however, since etc.

My question is - from this homework what year group do you think DD is in?

All replies gratefully received, but those from English teachers are particularly welcome .

Y3?

I'm not a teacher, but DS2 is in Y3.

undergraduate?

Sort of thing my DCs got in Year 3.

Nice tries so far guys - keep them coming...

Early juniors - Y3/4

Not a primary teacher (eas secondary), but a mum of a Y4 child.

I'm going for Y7 (sec English teacher) - check understanding of stuff covered in primary. It's just a homework.

yr2

gherkin has a point - could be start of secondary in order to determine where each chid isat, esp if in differentiated groupings.

nursery school - she isn't at school yet?

Y2

OK then, I will tell you.
She is in Year NINE and as far as I can tell from the odd bit of work that got marked last year, since the school didn't choose to share end-of-year levels with parents, is working at level seven.

So I am a bit pissed off. But more to the point she is angry and frustrated.

If they used the words "clause" and "connective" in the homework, I would think maybe upwards of Year 4? I could see a Year 3 class possibly doing something like that but not necessarily at the start of Year 3 but possibly at the end.

I work in secondary & would say its the kind of thing that is used to recap & ensure all the pupils are aware of the basics. Not an unusual task for year 8,9s or even 10s

Mastery of the complex sentence is a high level descriptor. Students find it surprisingly difficult but it makes a big difference to the sophistication of their writing style. TBH I have to go over this stuff at A Level because you'd be amazed how many students use only simple sentences or compound sentences that go on for ever.

Agree with Whizzz, useful recap at any stage (you would be surprised how much 'basic' stuff seems to be forgotten and needs to be redone - I am curretnly having to recap Y6 maths operations with a Y10 maths class that they could do brilliantly 2 years ago when I last taught them!) Your daughter should know her level as well as her target for this year, if not she needs to ask.

AuntGertrude - we use the word "connectives" with Y1.

Pixie, she is angry and frustrated because English has been pitched at this level ever since she started secondary school. She loves English and is extremely good at it - wouldn't you be angry and frustrated if you were never given to do any interesting work in a subject that you loved?

if this is the level of the English homework since she started secondary and not just a one-off, there is something wrong there IMO. I'd get some good books and have her work through those instead

Whizz and penguin, I understand what you are saying, and I agree that you do need to recap on basic concepts to ensure understanding, but this is the level all her English work has been pitched at since Year 7 and I find it really sad that she should be so unbelievably bored and fed up with what should be one of her most enjoyable subjects.

It may sound simple but the student can enhance the homework by using really interesting vocabulary.

First week's homework can be simply a case of the teacher getting to know the students.

Did the teacher give the students a set of targets to achieve when setting homework?

(to give the benefit of the doubt).

I would use the homework to say exactly what I thought of the level i was being taught.

I enjoy English.
I enjoy English but I'm not being stretched.
I enjoy English, despite the piss poor level of teaching.

OK maybe not the last one...

She does do that Pixie. She always does her homework well and puts maximum effort into it - even tonight's (although her first sentence was something like "This homework is far too easy".
In fact last year when one homework was to list 10 nouns and 10 adjectives she got out the dictionary and chose the ten most obscure and interesting ones she could find.
Result? Her teacher said he didn't believe they were real words and she had to bring in the dictionary to prove it.