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Gifted and talented

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school has surprised me!

427 replies

blackeyedsusan · 08/11/2011 13:38

last week I asked for harder words to read... one (or more) groups have been given spellings!

I also asked for more challenging books as the yellow band books were a "little easy." given that we are reading easy chapter books at home they have put her up one band. I am shocked as we normally play a little game every couple of months where I say the books arer too easy and they ignore me and we carry on doing our own thing in our own happy way. once pmt has passed Grin

ok so she could spell the words first time at home and green band is not a big leap, but i do not know whether she will cope with spelling in a test and at least the green band books are a little harder and we can get something out of it now. she has been asked to practice adding numbers in the teens as she doesn't use the number line to count on. (tends to do these things in her head) well we have practised and introduced a strategy of using number bonds of single digit numbers to check teens+ addition (ie if 2 and 4 =6 then 12+4=16 and 22+4=26 etc) doubt that will go down well! Grin I hope she talks about her strategy at school.

I think I want to push for more, but not until she has had time to try out/prove herself for another month or so. (after all she might go to pieces under test conditions and we have a lot of work to do on handwriting) anyone fancy sitting on me and administering the duct tape for the next month?

(disclaimer, i know she is not doing some of the stuff other really bright children do at this age, though she is the top end of normal and I post mainly because i as fed up of the lack of progress ith reading in school compared to home)

ps, sorry about the lack of capitals, intermittent shift key!

OP posts:
iggly2 · 05/12/2011 22:35

BES I think multiplication and division are taught side by side so I would think so (I know I cannot really talk for Simpson but I think that is the case-not sure what they did with DS).

simpson · 05/12/2011 22:42

Don't know if he can do division Blush

He can add 2 2 digit numbers in his head.

Not sure he could go to minus numbers....

He could easily find pairs of numbers to make 100

He can easily find difference between 2 2 digit numbers

I guess I need to teach him the rest of the times tables (he begged me tonight)

Iggly - I think you are right multiplication/division is taught together now.

I knew his mental maths was good. He is not on G&T for maths BTW just reading, writing & spelling.

He said to me tonight "mummy I love maths so much" Grin but Sad at the same time as I hate it and don't feel I can help v him much....

iggly2 · 05/12/2011 22:48

I must admit I love maths (if you need help). I often think though it is the way it is taught (so Simpson you may like it if you try to relearn it in a style that suits you). Actually some of the newer methods of teaching seem rather good and certainly at DS school they bring in problem solving more than I remember at school to make things more fun Smile.

iggly2 · 05/12/2011 22:49

"mummy I love maths so much" that's my DS. He gets maths books with his pocket money and puts them in his treasure chest Confused.

simpson · 05/12/2011 22:53

The odd thing is his maths at the end of yr1 was a 1a so not outstanding but everything else was a 2b.

But his teacher he had in yr1 said he did not feel DS enjoyed maths very much which in fairness he hasn't until the last fortnight or so Confused

simpson · 05/12/2011 22:55

lol at maths book in treasure chest Grin

DS's school did a numeracy course at the end of last yr (13 wks) to show how maths is taught in schools.

Am about to start the literacy course in Jan...

simpson · 05/12/2011 22:56

thanks iggly Smile

blackeyedsanta · 05/12/2011 23:04

how about telling the time to the 1/4 hour, then 5 minutes, then to the exact minute?

move on to finding the pairs of 100's that make a 1000, adding past 100, adding 100s in his head?

can he name shapes and say how many sides/corners or 3d shapes, faces/edges/vertices? I think they learn cylinder, cube, cuboid, squarebased pyramid, sphere, cone firstish.

reflection, lines of symmetry?

weighing, reading a scale? knowing litres/millilitres 1000ml=1L

I find dd reading the maths book I bought to help me know what to do next. she is already doing stuff further than I have had to do with year ones in the past.

money, adding various totals and giving change from £1-£10

simpson · 05/12/2011 23:18

he taught himself how to tell the time in reception.

he knows all the shapes etc (better than me Blush)

money/change etc is no problem

weighing etc is good actually as I don't think he can do that.

Also reflection/lines of symetery etc (mind boggles) was his homework this wk which was ok ish....needed some help. So practice in this would be good.

I hate maths!!!

blackeyedsanta · 05/12/2011 23:48

get a maths book yourself and learn how to do reflecting, translation and rotation of shapes.

time. can he work out problems with time. what time will it be in x minute? or in an hour and a half? does he know his calendar and could he work out problems with that.

can you set him problems? all the ways to make 10p and 20p but working methodically? eg 10x 1p; 8x1p and 1x 2p? the methodical working is the point here.

measuring? measuring from 0 to the nearest cm, half cm and mm? knowing how many mm in a cm, cm in a m, m in a km and converting from one to another?

will haveto go and check the documents for more ideas.

working methodically and talking about the strategies used are all good things at this level.

simpson · 06/12/2011 23:33

Thanks.

Loads of good ideas Smile

He is very good with time and money and I always give him sums/questions relating to them but not done measuring or distance yet.

Had a chat with his teacher today and she has given him another 100 times table questions (DS asked for them - they are her own worksheets that she has put together) to do over the next few days. She said that his confidence has grown massively in the last couple of wks in doing his school work etc.

She also said to teach him the rest of his times tables starting with 3s & 4s (which he does know really as he can count in sequences iyswim) then move on to 6s after that. As even when they do them in the classroom later on (yr3) it will be good practice.

He has got no spellings this week so can use the time we usually spend on them iyswim.

I do have a maths book I bought from the book people so I will have to dig it out.....

Just so gutted that she is leaving Sad

Also wanted to ask about SATS?? Is it true that the highest a child can get in yr2 is a 3??

blackeyedsanta · 07/12/2011 22:41

you may need to ask that in primary education, though you may get told not to worry as they are doing well to get a level 2 blahdiblah.. perhaps repost it in g and t instead.

Joyn · 07/12/2011 23:22

Simpson, dcs can get higher than a 3 in yr2, if they sit the ks2 paper. Some schools offer this to yr2s, my ds sat it in addition to the ks1 paper. Annoyingly, I don't actually know what he scored on it, as level given on his report was mostly based on teacher assessment, (as it should be, but it'd be nice to have both). But have read on here of other dcs who've got level 4s in yr2.

blackeyedsanta · 08/12/2011 07:36

level 4 seems a lonnnnnngggggggg way off!

simpson fractions. having had a quick scan he needs to work on understanding fractions that are several parts of a whole (eg 2/6 =1/3 etc)

the dfe have gone and changed the format of the curriculum so it is harder to find stuff, AGAIN bloody annoying!

simpson · 08/12/2011 08:33

funnily enough I forgot to mention his teacher mentioned fractions the other day.

Going to do some work in the holidays if he wants to on it. Was thinking of using paper plates and drawing/colouring segments iyswim.

iggly2 · 08/12/2011 08:50

Great idea Simpson about the plates. I cut out big circles (pretended they were pizza) to explain fractions to DS.

I would think any child could get any NC level if they are working at that level and the teacher is confident. Is teacher continuous assessment the over riding mark?

Iamnotminterested · 08/12/2011 11:09

iggly2 - yes.

simpson have a look at the WHSmith "challenge" range of workbooks, I have found them to be really useful with DD2; if she has done something that week/day in maths and either didn't get it right easily, or even if she DID but wanted to show me (Old gimmer) we spend 10 minutes with the book.

blackeyedsanta · 08/12/2011 11:27

there is a set of magnets you can buy that have the fractions on. I thought about getting some strips of paper and measuring them, sharing the number into the correct number of bits and chopping them up. killing 3 birds with one stone (measuring/division/fractions. and easier than getting the ruddy protractor out. plates for halves quarters and eighths though. e have done it before with real pizzas as a sort of introductory activity. i think we are still on the introducing the idea though rather than expecting her to understand it. but you never know, i do find her reading my her maths book for fun. Xmas Confused

simpson · 08/12/2011 12:28

was going to do the pizza segment thing too Grin

Think its continous (sp) teacher assessment on his SATS but have to confess I am not 100% sure Blush.

Met DS's new teacher (who is taking over from Jan) He seems nice but hard to tell in a crowded hall (he came to meet the kids and watch their nativity play)

I also think he is ready to be taught that 1/4 is a quarter 1/2 is half etc (if he does not already know this) and maybe also teaching him the same in % ie 1/4 is 25% iyswim.

blackeyedsanta · 08/12/2011 13:44

I think they have to do 1/4=2/8 and 1/2=2/4=4/8 first. will check later after the nativity play.

blackeyedsanta · 08/12/2011 17:58

maths attainment targets, ma2 number and algebra
Updated: 25 November 2011

Level 3

Pupils show understanding of place value in numbers up to 1000 and use this to make approximations. They begin to use decimal notation and to recognise negative numbers, in contexts such as money and temperature. Pupils use mental recall of addition and subtraction facts to 20 in solving problems involving larger numbers. They add and subtract numbers with two digits mentally and numbers with three digits using written methods. They use mental recall of the 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 multiplication tables and derive the associated division facts. They solve whole-number problems involving multiplication or division, including those that give rise to remainders. They use simple fractions that are several parts of a whole and recognise when two simple fractions are equivalent.

Fraidylady · 08/12/2011 18:40

At the end of Y2, teacher assessments are reported, not results of the tests. A teacher can assess to whatever level they please. They could use KS2 SATs papers to support the assessment if they thought the child was working above L3.

iggly2 · 08/12/2011 18:55

Thanks for the summary BES , Imnotinterested and Fraidylady. I have no idea what NC level DS would be at -and he is meant to be assessed this year I think (do not know if we hear back either). No idea where he should be at with English writing/reading etc. BES any helpful summaries Grin like the maths? He is a happy bunny so guess all is fine. I'm the token fraud in this section!

blackeyedsanta · 08/12/2011 19:40

it is a copy and paste from the documents. Xmas Blush they have just changed the format which is a bit annoying, but it is allowing some c and p so I suppose that is a bonus. ma1 (using and applying) has been spread out among the other programmes of study and seems to have disappeared from the attainment targets. I assume it has also been distributed around the place.

Joyn · 08/12/2011 22:46

Hi all, I'm a bit late joining you, but wanted to share a trick on fraction teaching, using paper plates, use two different coloured plates & cut a slit in each of them & slot them together. You can then change the proportion of each colour to demonstrate any fraction/percentage, (eg get the dcs to show you 1/4 'red' & ask them what fraction of the other colour etc). Some of you may have already had this in mind, but, it never occurred to me until the teacher showed me in a 'how we teach your kids maths' class.