Category: KS2 SATs

SATs Stretches…

As the Year 6 teachers around the country start the serious countdown (and consumption of adult beverages) to SATs week I have brought together some of my favourite resources to ease us into the potentially manic after Easter prep…

I truly believe in little and often and think that a carefully planned timetable of SATs prep activities can ensure focused and meaningful use of the school day rather than hours on ploughing through past papers (if you do use SATs papers it is most effective if worked on in pairs).

EGPS:

Really useful daily EGPS sessions are a must and to resource these I have used a variety of ready made resources. If you have a Twinkl subscription then the Year 6 Grammar Revision Guide and Quick Quiz Bumper Pack are great for clear explanations of each key grammar objective and the use SATs style questions to test understanding.

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http://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t2-e-2139-year-6-grammer-revision-guide-and-quick-quiz-passive-and-active-voice

 

To mix things up a bit there are Follow Me cards….

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http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/sites/default/files/spagfollowmecards_0.pdf

The fantastic Grammarsaurus have a free YouTube channel with songs to help remember rules and great tutorials giving simple explanations for some of the most complex rules which are essential for the SAT.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMhWKrdwzFr994ZhwqG4nlA/videos

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If you have a subscription to Grammarsaurus then there is an amazing quantity of EGPS resources for you to choose from – the site is well worth investing in.

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Reading:

Again I follow the mantra of little and often when preparing for the reading SAT.  These RIC activities created by MrsP Teach are great at getting children to look at texts in different way, including thinking about the ever elusive inference.  These can be used daily to start English lessons, guided reading or to drop in at any time of day…

http://www.mrspteach.com/2015/04/ric-starter-examples.html

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Use SATs style questions with the text you are using in English or guided reading lessons.  These question stems from Primary English Educational Consultancy are really useful…

http://primaryenglished.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/2015-GR-question-prompts_KS2.pdf

Also there are some great question stems from Alison Philipson Literacy – these are usefully colour coded to show which past paper they were taken from…

Y6 Reading Question Stems Based on Content Domain of the KS2 Test

I have put together my Year 6 reading intervention (written one Summer hols when I had no life…) on TES which encourages fluency and vocabulary focus as well as comprehension.  Some of you might find it useful I hope.

https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/sats-reading-revision-intervention-11532769

Good luck…and remember it takes a team to teach the children not just the Year 6 teacher!

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1.Boosting ideas…

The ‘Boosting’ season is approaching fast and the rapidly-aging Year 6 teachers will be considering the extra-prep nightmare for the early morning sessions that lie ahead.  Having taught Year 6 since 199…something I have always had my eyes peeled for new and effective approaches that are high impact, but low prep.

Over the next few weeks I will be sharing useful resources that I have come across over the years.

In this first blog I will start with Twinkl (I always explain that I get a free subscription for sharing my views…but these are very much my views!!).  Most teachers I know have a subscription so have access to these resources that can buy you back a few hours of your life!

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I would use these Year 6 Bumper Assessment Packs for Boosting and revision.  Each one contains a very specific teaching PowerPoint that highlights the key approaches needed to understand the text and answer the questions which could be used for ‘Boosting’.  I would use the question papers either during the previous sessions or as a home learning task.

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The Reading Revision Activity Mats are short and focused texts with questions.  I have used these really successfully as early morning focus work, whilst I do the register etc or a re-focus after lunchtime, again whilst I do the register etc.  Each one will not take more than ten minutes to complete, and some even less. However, they are useful for getting students used to reading unseen pieces of text under a time constraint.

SATs are an inevitable part of our teaching lives at the moment sorrowful-emoji but by sharing ideas and resources we can make life a little bit easier big_smile_happy_face_drawer_knob_srf-r95f84f7818be4b3aa45a36488e23c00d_zp2d5_324 whilst having a greater impact on final outcomes.