I've got both the year 6 and year 2 SATS upon me this May at the same time (Lord, help me!). Although, I'm not worried about the year 2 ones, I'm absolutely dreading the year 6 ones!
At the beginning of the year, the year 6 teachers already told us not to go away for Easter as they'll be given lots of work to do over the Easter period. So now you understand why I'm dreading it. Imagine being stuck at home, in sunny April, not going anywhere because the school has overloaded the kids with all the work they could have done at least during the beginning of the year. There wasn't much work over the Christmas holidays or during the October half term for Lucky. Mahi had no work to do during any of these holidays either! You'll think that with 2 important exams, that the school is stressing everyone about it, that they'll actually give you some things to prepare the kids towards these exams. But no!!!!!! I'm seeing other school children being given work over the holidays a bag load of work to prepare them!
So, it has fallen on us parents to slowly prepare our kids towards SATS. I actually haven't changed our studying routine much since the beginning of primary school. I just brought tighter deadlines for the kids to complete work. What do I do?:
1. I download the whole curriculum, which can easily be found on https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-primary-curriculum, and give greater emphasis to maths and english syllabus including spellings. But what I do too, is download the curriculum for the year above too so I can give my kids more knowledge. Although Lucky is year 6, at home it' is year 7work and Mahi is year 3 work. Exams always like to catch you if you don't have that extra knowledge so i'll rather be safe than sorry.
2. Worksheets / Workbooks -I use certain websites to download worksheets such as k5learning.com . The kids love worksheets as it's laid out in a format that is simple and clear to use I have no idea how much I spend on workbooks but I swear by BOND and CGP books with their corresponding assessment papers. My kids love BOND books better as it is very child friendly with easy language.
3. Studying timetable - on a Sunday evening, I set out the work for the coming week so when kids come from school, they know exactly what to do study. It is also a great way of me to keep a track of them and their work. Then on a Sunday morning, we correct the week's work together. They get a day free of studying. You could think that my kids work too much but it takes them an hour of their time and from 5pm onwards, they are free birds. But to me, it's important to incorporate studying around our lifestyle because education is everything. The kids also do a bit of mental workout session in the morning before going to school. Having lived in India, where waking up early and studying before school is normal, I personally found that I remembered and understood things better when I did that.
4. Practical learning - basic maths and english are better learnt when used in real-life circumstances. When the kids started reading, we read all the shopfront that we came across. If we are going to the shop, kids are responsible for buying things and getting the correct change. So whenever possible, use real-life situations to enhance their learning.
5. Practise, practise, practise - Practise is key to learning. If I'm done with a workbook or worksheet, I don't throw it away. I rub/scribble the answers and giveth book again, comparing their marks between their first and 2nd attempts. It is a great way to spot where they have improved but also what their weak points are so you can concentrate better on them. So don't throw away anything any studying materials!!!
This works for ours.What works for you?
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