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Helping your child through Year 2 SATSWhile you don't want to be too pushy you also want your child to give the SATS his best shot. By taking a sensible approach you'll be helping him make the most of his abilities. Expert Mary Dowson gives some useful tips. IntroductionSATs, or Standard Assessment Tests, were originally devised for the Government to keep track of how individual schools were doing and for Governors to ensure that the National Curriculum is being properly delivered. Therefore individual children's 'results' were not the initial focus. However, over the years, parents and teachers have begun to see the tests as a way of assessing individual progress and development and quite naturally everyone wants their child to do their best. The children in Year 2 are still very young and the test situation does not suit everyone, so there is a concern that some preparation may be needed. Schools try to make the test part of the daily routine but inevitably there is an element of pressure which children can pick up on. Speak to your child's teacher to get an idea of any areas that your child may need help with and try out these useful tips. Reading Ensure that reading is a regular habit at home. Enjoy books together, talk about the title, the author and why you have chosen the book. Read a page each, help with unknown words giving your child strategies to decode unknown words. Look at the first letter, the final sound, look at the meaning within the sentence and use picture cues. Continue reading bedtime stories even with independent readers. Writing The test will ask the children to write independently. There will be an assessment of handwriting and spelling. Writing little and often at home may be useful. Encourage your child to have a go at unknown spellings using the sound knowledge they have built up. Help your child learn spellings by practising a few at a time. Encourage him to look, say, cover and then write. The school will have a list of the high frequency words along with the phonic groups. Stick them on the fridge at home and practise a few a day. Encourage your child to notice and use capital letters and full stops. Don't make writing a chore. Maths Build up his confidence by chanting number patterns, solving problems mentally, learning number bonds to 10 and 20 and playing games where he needs to calculate. Look for patterns in numbers. Get him to verbalise how he reached an answer. All of this will develop confidence. There are many publications in the shops, which practise English and maths (see our reading list below) but remember your child is likely to be extremely tired at the end of the school day, so don't overload him too much, especially if he already has homework to do. Don't let your child become stressed or over tired. He needs time to play and take part in physical and creative activities or just rest. Above all ensure that your child is well prepared by eating well and getting plenty of sleep. Mary Dowson is a primary school teacher. She has two daughters and lives in London. Maths Made Easy: Age 6-7 Books 1 and 2 by Carol Vordeman (Dorling Kindersley, £2.39 each) Key Stage 1 National Test Practice Papers 2001: Mathematics by Sarah Carvill (Letts Educational Ltd, £3.99) Key Stage One Mathematics: the Question Book by Richard Parsons, (Coordination Group Publications, £2.50) Key Stage One Science: the Study Book by Richard Parsons (Letts Educational Ltd, £2.95) At Home with English: Level 1 by Louis Fidge (Oxford University Press, £2.50) At Home with Spelling 1 by Deirdre Coates (Oxford University Press, £2.50) Basic Skills: Spelling & Phonics (Ages 6-7) by Louis Fidge (Oxford University Press, £2.50) 100 Literacy Hours: Year Two by Wendy Jolliffe (Scholastic, £20) Key Stage 1 Literacy Book: Year 2: Term 2 (Letts Educational Ltd, £2) Key Stage 1 National Test Practice Papers 2001: English - Writing by Sarah Harris (Letts Educational Ltd, £2.99) |
