KS1 sats - any advice on how to help?

[glassofwine]

Hi, my Dd is in year 2 and about to start her sats - she doesn't even know about it as both parents and school are downplaying it all. I think this is the right approach for children at this age, but would like to help her somehow over the next couple of weeks. We moved house in the summer, so she's in a new much better school, but is having to play catch up as her previous school wasn't great. So for example all her classmates write joined up and have always been taught that way, my dd is getting extra help and doing well, but still quite behind. Therefore she hates writing even though she's got a great imagination. Her spelling is rather strange as she often misses out the vowels and I don't know how to explain it to her in a way she'd understand. Any tips please?

[dinosaure]

DS1 is also in Yr2 and about to do SATs, but as with your school, it's all being downplayed, so I don't really know what to suggest as a way of helping!

Has your DD's teacher given you any indication of the level she's working at already? DS1's teacher has said that he's already working at beyond the required level, so I must admit I haven't really given it too much thought .

[Hallgerda]

Hi, my DS3's about to do his KS1 SATs (and DS1 to do KS2 SATs). I'm afraid I'm not too sure there is much we can do at this stage to affect the results, but they don't actually matter very much. There are books of KS1 papers available from WH Smith that your daughter could work through at home, then you could clear up any holes in her understanding that become apparent (probably more to the point in Maths than in reading or writing). I'm not sure that English spelling is something one has to understand - I've always just told my children they had to learn them . I doubt there's a quick fix over the writing (if you find one, do tell me!).

[roisin]

Make sure she has good breakfasts and a good night's sleep, and as much relaxation as possible at home. I wouldn't do anything 'academic' at this point, it's unlikely to have much effect and could stress her out and be counterproductive.

DS2 is in yr2 but I've no idea when he's doing SATs or if he's done them already. I've heard no mention of them at all this year, which suits me fine.

[panicpants]

In the writing sat for ks1 they mark on several different things. i.e.,
puctuation (full stops, capitals, ! ? commas and correct use of speech marks

content (depends what paper your school is doing as now schools can choose from past sats papers, so if doing a letter, the child needs to organise their writing like a letter, if doing a recount have to use correct language etc etc

Use of language : lots of adjectives, imagery, phrases, make it interesting

Spelling - this is a separate test and not related to the writing.

HAndwriting, can only get the top marks if it's joined with correct formation i.e., ascenders, descenders, all correct.

Maths - all sorts of number problems and topic problems.

Reading - all sorts of questions related to different skills - make sure your child refers back to the text when you ask her questions when you read with her at home.

Please ignore typo's and spellings as trying to feed ds at same time!

[glassofwine]

Thank you everyone for your help. I know I shouldn't be worrying about it, but I'm concerned about her confidence taking a nose dive if everyone does better then her. Hopefully the parents will not broadcast the results as I know she's still catching up.

[glassofwine]

Thank you everyone for your help. I know I shouldn't be worrying about it, but I'm concerned about her confidence taking a nose dive if everyone does better then her. Hopefully the parents will not broadcast the results as I know she's still catching up.

[julienetmum]

This is why I HATE HATE HATE SATS.

Continue with the downplaying everything. Concentrate on helping her with the stuff she needs to catch up with regardl;ess of SATS. Her class teacher should be able to give you some pointers on how to help her at home.