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"Hooray, it's the last day of SATS," thought some children. However, Mrs Bell insisted that it was as important, if not more important to try hard today. Paper B is the calculator paper and gives 40% of the marks from which the maths level is scored. This is the opportunity to pick up extra marks to secure the level the children are working at.Once again, we did the usual routine - brain gym, maths warm up, water and even a bit of chocolate! Mrs Bell felt too sick today to have any, but there was no need. Children worked really hard and made an excellent attempt at each question. One or two children have been particularly nervous, but we will give strategies to them for the future.
After the test, Miss Akhtar played KingBall again with the class, whilst Mrs Bell and Mrs Fearn chatted about the week. We use what we learn from the experience to benefit other pupils.The afternoon is for a party. Mrs Annett has made cakes (Her sons were jealous there were no cakes left for them but we have sent them a bag of Easter eggs that Misha's mum bought for the class.) Both Mrs Annett and Miss Akhtar have been brilliant at giving TLC to the children and to Mrs Bell, who has looked stressed this week. Wonder why! Mrs Bell gave them flowers to say THANK YOU and Miss Akhtar and Mrs Annett gave Mrs Bell flowers to say, 'Have a relaxing weekend.'
It's Thursday 14th May 2009 and Year 6 children all over the country have been involved in their first part of the Maths tests. In class, the children did some maths warm ups which included body maths (Mrs Bell is keen on body maths!) and of course the Brain Gym. The water hydrated everyone - we all felt ready for the mental maths CD.Everyone tried extremely hard, but no-one felt they had got 20 out of 20. However, most children thought they had either got the marks they get on practices or more. We can't ask for more than that. The mental maths led us onto Paper A. Mrs Newton and Mrs Bell took some children into the Imran Khan room, whilst the others stayed in the classroom. It was an interesting paper, one that had us thinking hard! Just one more paper to go - Paper B, which is the calculator paper. Do remember: not every question will require the calculator. Use your calculator sensibly and wisely! Avoid 'silly' mistakes by reading the questions twice and circling words that help you to focus your answers. Good luck for it!
Wow,
after a glum and subdued start, everyone got stuck in the reading test with determination. This year, there were two booklets to read rather than a single book. The narrative was in the forms of letters from Norman, who had decided to leave home. The non-narrative was called, "Earthship" and was very interesting. After the 15 minutes reading time, children began to answer questions.
Staff in both rooms (Imran Khan room for Mrs Lerigo's group) were very impressed with the concentration levels. Shahzad said the double spray of lemon had helped him. He was amazing - Mrs Bell hasn't stopped telling everyone how well he was doing!After the test, Miss Akhtar kindly took children for Kingball, and for the final 10 minutes we went in the computer suite. This release of tension is needed for the maths revision this afternoon. Let's go for it, Y6 - we can do this!
Mrs Bell is delighted with all the positive energy in the classroom. The children who were most nervous (Ifra and Hannah) are now smiling happily because they know they have conquered their nerves and managed the tests. This is a brilliant life skill to learn as life will bring along many stresses to test you. It's important to know how to deal with them. You have all made a great start!Tommorrow is the hour long reading test. Everyone needs to use the reading strategies they have been taught, attempt to answer 2 and 3 mark questions in detail and we should be okay. In the afternoon, we will prepare ourselves for the maths on Thursday and Friday. The staff will have the party to think about - we think Y6 deserve a special afternoon on Friday.
Well, we have finished the writing and what a wonderful opportunity to show off our writing skills! Well done, everyone! The first one was a descriptive piece of writing, whilst the second one was a report. That also needed some descriptions.In the afternoon, first we looked at the Blog (now we can write comments). Then we did some reading and maths before having an extra playtime (WELL-DESERVED).Tomorrow it is our reading SAT. Phew we are nearly half way there! I hope everyone will persevere hard with that as so much progress has been made that it would be great to show in our levels.
The BIG day arrived at last! Miss Akhtar had nightmares the day before, Mrs Bell managed to sleep well and Mrs Annett seemed a little preoccupied (her son was unwell). Most children came in bright and early and grabbed a piece of toast. There were Science questions to get the brain working and a Revisewise tape running in the background. Classroom was set up for tests - we were ready!The tests were quite 'wordy' therefore they took a long time to read. Test A appeared easier than B, but was this because we were tired from the first test? This meant even the most able children only just finished in the 45 minutes. Mrs Bell had managed to get permission for 3 pupils to get extra time. Phew!The staff were impressed by the childrens' efforts - all the children got stars for being so good. The afternoon was looking at a writing task in 3 groups and then viewing the Blog in the ICT room. Unfortunately no-one was able to add comments (yet) but Mrs Bell was pleased with what the children wrote.Today this Blog has been adjusted to allow comments, so please free to write polite comments. WRITING today - I wonder what that will bring. We have worked hard on extended punctuation and complex sentences so we should be confident.
