Books/websites for preparation in 2012 and future years
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Re: Books/websites for preparation in 2012 and future years
I agree with anxiousmother. People can take lessons from the experiences of others most relevant to their own particular circumstances. And, there could be similar stickies for all regions.
Seize the day ... before it seizes you.
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Re: Books/websites for preparation in 2012 and future years
Thanks Fatbananas,
. I think only 3 of us will be posting in this thread and all the others are sleeping or busy with other things. I have seen that there are many views but people donot want to say anything. I am just trying to help newcomers
. I think only 3 of us will be posting in this thread and all the others are sleeping or busy with other things. I have seen that there are many views but people donot want to say anything. I am just trying to help newcomers
Re: Books/websites for preparation in 2012 and future years
I can understand parents' frustration that all they want is a nice list of 3/4 workbooks that will provide just the right prep for the CEM exam.
Unfortunately, it just doesn't work like that - at all.
My experience is with the literacy side of the exam, not Maths/NVR, but I can say two things:
1) The exam genuinely tests literacy ability, in a much more thorough way than traditional VR papers do.
A child who is very well read, can discuss and understand what they have read, using appropriate inference and evaluation, and who has a rich and varied vocabulary, and good spelling and grammar skills, will do well. You can't build up that skill set through a few workbooks. You can through regularly sharing a genuine love of literature and poetry, both modern and classical, and of a variety of genres, with your child. We all know (I presume) of websites such as free rice, which can support vocabulary building.
2) When you get to actual exam practice, many of the questions that come up (as detailed in the sticky) do not have any practice papers/books available. To put it simply, you need to design them yourself if you want to practice those question types beforehand.
Unfortunately, it just doesn't work like that - at all.
My experience is with the literacy side of the exam, not Maths/NVR, but I can say two things:
1) The exam genuinely tests literacy ability, in a much more thorough way than traditional VR papers do.
A child who is very well read, can discuss and understand what they have read, using appropriate inference and evaluation, and who has a rich and varied vocabulary, and good spelling and grammar skills, will do well. You can't build up that skill set through a few workbooks. You can through regularly sharing a genuine love of literature and poetry, both modern and classical, and of a variety of genres, with your child. We all know (I presume) of websites such as free rice, which can support vocabulary building.
2) When you get to actual exam practice, many of the questions that come up (as detailed in the sticky) do not have any practice papers/books available. To put it simply, you need to design them yourself if you want to practice those question types beforehand.
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Re: Books/websites for preparation in 2012 and future years
You are absolutely right Um,
But if each one of us could actually give some real information as to how we started our journey i.e. step by step or month by month then it would be helpful. Does not matter if it was 3 books or 4 but any little would help. For example I could say for English we started with the Bond books and to improve vocabulary we used books by say..... C.S. Lewis and Michael Murpurgo etc.. etc.. Then the others can say what they did to help improve the synonyms and antonyms. Like that some information will be there. It is better than no information.
When I started my first post and asked the same question someone said " why don't you look in the posts ". Now that's not a clear answer. Even if you give a name of an author for eg. someone said look in the posts of Fm. Now I have just seen there are about 900 posts by her. Someone else suggested 3 more authors. So half of the day will be gone in looking for the posts by the authors.
Rather than that if we had a sticky like how we have for KE exam content and KE pass mark etc. One will get a clear idea as to how to go about it. I may post what books I looked into and you will post yours. It really does not matter that both of us will suggest the same books but at least some info. is always better than no info.
Some of the people live in an area where they have no exposure to senior kids who are in grammar school i.e. neither in their child's primary or neighbor or friends/relatives. For those people some readily available info. is really helpful
But if each one of us could actually give some real information as to how we started our journey i.e. step by step or month by month then it would be helpful. Does not matter if it was 3 books or 4 but any little would help. For example I could say for English we started with the Bond books and to improve vocabulary we used books by say..... C.S. Lewis and Michael Murpurgo etc.. etc.. Then the others can say what they did to help improve the synonyms and antonyms. Like that some information will be there. It is better than no information.
When I started my first post and asked the same question someone said " why don't you look in the posts ". Now that's not a clear answer. Even if you give a name of an author for eg. someone said look in the posts of Fm. Now I have just seen there are about 900 posts by her. Someone else suggested 3 more authors. So half of the day will be gone in looking for the posts by the authors.
Rather than that if we had a sticky like how we have for KE exam content and KE pass mark etc. One will get a clear idea as to how to go about it. I may post what books I looked into and you will post yours. It really does not matter that both of us will suggest the same books but at least some info. is always better than no info.
Some of the people live in an area where they have no exposure to senior kids who are in grammar school i.e. neither in their child's primary or neighbor or friends/relatives. For those people some readily available info. is really helpful
Re: Books/websites for preparation in 2012 and future years
Hello anxious_mother, I am really glad that you have continued to pursue this matter as I might have given up by now , so I will offer you what I can. Unfortunately, I am pushed for time and typing on my phone, so it will have to be several short messages.
For English : I second what um says in that general reading is the best practice. Increase the level of difficulty over time so that they are challenged by what they read. DS liked the Morpogo (sp?) and CS LEwis books, but we started with the Lemony Snickett books before them. Towards the end we moved onto Northern Lights trilogy, but there were many others in between and the choices were led by his interests more than a set reading list. I would also highly recommend regular discussion of articles from broadsheet newspapers as it provides an interactive opportunity to discuss current events whilst providing an opportunity to discuss the use of difficult vocabulary. I found that DS learned far more new vocabulary this way as well as taking an interest in current affairs. It is also less irritating for the child if you discuss new words in an article compared to interrupting their favourite story to make sure they understood all the words. I got him to skim through and highlight difficult words before we went through articles.
In terms of workbooks for English, we mainly used Bond, but the fifth papers are quite difficult. I would say that if comprehension is an issue, it might be a good idea to start with CGP papers, or the comprehension exercises at the back of HAydyn's English book. First Aid in English also has comprehension exercises at the back. Another thing to note is that it is not uncommon for avid readers to still find comprehension exercises difficult. If this is the case then it is usually the fact that they have adopted a 'skim reading' habit for everything they read - here I would say the task is to teach them to slow down and draw meaning from much shorter extracts so that they learn to appreciate the use of language more.
For the vocabulary section of the exam, I would say that the above is useful here too. I would add that I found the First Aid in English as a good start to build up synonyms and antonyms. Also go through the chapters that give vocab around certain professions, types of houses etc. To break up the routine, the free-rice website is good as kids often love anything on the computer.
The cloze passage section is a bit more tricky as it relies not only on the child understanding the passage but also their spelling and vocabulary. For spelling, Schonells Spelling list workbooks are good as they work on vocabulary and spelling. AE Tuition is also good but a lot more arduous and depending on the level of the child, I might choose to simply stick with Schonells .
For cloze passages, parents might find that they simply have make their own and leave out certain letters. I found G Moore's cloze books helpful but I put some of letters back in and removed the word bank at the top when photocopying.
That's all I have got for now. I hope that KenR will consider making this thread into a sticky as parents new to the forum always ask the same questions.
Will update later
For English : I second what um says in that general reading is the best practice. Increase the level of difficulty over time so that they are challenged by what they read. DS liked the Morpogo (sp?) and CS LEwis books, but we started with the Lemony Snickett books before them. Towards the end we moved onto Northern Lights trilogy, but there were many others in between and the choices were led by his interests more than a set reading list. I would also highly recommend regular discussion of articles from broadsheet newspapers as it provides an interactive opportunity to discuss current events whilst providing an opportunity to discuss the use of difficult vocabulary. I found that DS learned far more new vocabulary this way as well as taking an interest in current affairs. It is also less irritating for the child if you discuss new words in an article compared to interrupting their favourite story to make sure they understood all the words. I got him to skim through and highlight difficult words before we went through articles.
In terms of workbooks for English, we mainly used Bond, but the fifth papers are quite difficult. I would say that if comprehension is an issue, it might be a good idea to start with CGP papers, or the comprehension exercises at the back of HAydyn's English book. First Aid in English also has comprehension exercises at the back. Another thing to note is that it is not uncommon for avid readers to still find comprehension exercises difficult. If this is the case then it is usually the fact that they have adopted a 'skim reading' habit for everything they read - here I would say the task is to teach them to slow down and draw meaning from much shorter extracts so that they learn to appreciate the use of language more.
For the vocabulary section of the exam, I would say that the above is useful here too. I would add that I found the First Aid in English as a good start to build up synonyms and antonyms. Also go through the chapters that give vocab around certain professions, types of houses etc. To break up the routine, the free-rice website is good as kids often love anything on the computer.
The cloze passage section is a bit more tricky as it relies not only on the child understanding the passage but also their spelling and vocabulary. For spelling, Schonells Spelling list workbooks are good as they work on vocabulary and spelling. AE Tuition is also good but a lot more arduous and depending on the level of the child, I might choose to simply stick with Schonells .
For cloze passages, parents might find that they simply have make their own and leave out certain letters. I found G Moore's cloze books helpful but I put some of letters back in and removed the word bank at the top when photocopying.
That's all I have got for now. I hope that KenR will consider making this thread into a sticky as parents new to the forum always ask the same questions.
Will update later
Last edited by UmSusu on Tue Mar 06, 2012 4:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
UmSusu
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Re: Books/websites for preparation in 2012 and future years
Many Many Thanks UmSusu,
I hope a lot of people get inspired by your reply rather me struggling to convey the message.
What you have given is more than enough to give an idea for a newcomer . At least they will know that these books exist . I do not wish to see anyone struggling to find info. like the way I did. I am lucky to have kind people like you and many others who would reply to me.
I hope a lot of people get inspired by your reply rather me struggling to convey the message.
What you have given is more than enough to give an idea for a newcomer . At least they will know that these books exist . I do not wish to see anyone struggling to find info. like the way I did. I am lucky to have kind people like you and many others who would reply to me.
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Books used in preparation for King Edwards, Birmingham
Can anybody advise me on the best scheme of books to use in preparation for the King Edwards 11+ exams in Birmingham?
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Re: Books used in preparation for King Edwards, Birmingham
Since no one has replied, here is my rough guide (I'm sure others will add). Btw, this question has been asked and touched upon in previous threads...perhaps a sticky is needed for newbies?
If it's the KEGs: you have four areas: nvr, vr, eng and maths.
VR (words): Schonell's Essential Spelling books 1-3, Freerice site
VR (cloze): George Moore and make up your own. Sometimes this area needs to address spelling in addition to vocabulary. Wordshark cd is good / Schofield and Sims' Spelling book.
NVR: a range of papers (Bond, Athey etc). Something that gets overlooked with nvr is developing it through toys, building work and ICT work. Certainly out of my dc- the ones who excel in nvr tests (dc1 and dc5) are the ones who also enjoy spatial developmental activities.
Maths: Bond books and papers 4-6, Maths Challenge, Junior Maths bk 3, Heinemann books explain some topics very well, Schofield and Sims, Nrich site.
English: comprehension- Bond, Schofield and Sims, reading with dc and quizzing them helps.
If it's KES:
No NVR needed. There is a focus on composition, traditional VR (all types), Maths & English comprehension.
VR: Susan, Nfer, etc
Composition: good grammar needed and handwriting - Hayden English books, First Aid in English. CGP's composition are good practice. Morrells / Camb pen pals for handwriting. Sample papers from indi schools: Manchester, Haberdashers Aske, Perse, Dulwich etc are useful for homing in on the Maths and English areas.
My advice is to go into WHSmiths and have a peruse to see what will work best for your dc. It's the same with adults. My research supervisor always goes on about Robson's book which incidentally is meant to be one of the very 'best'- didn't work well for me!
Best of luck!
If it's the KEGs: you have four areas: nvr, vr, eng and maths.
VR (words): Schonell's Essential Spelling books 1-3, Freerice site
VR (cloze): George Moore and make up your own. Sometimes this area needs to address spelling in addition to vocabulary. Wordshark cd is good / Schofield and Sims' Spelling book.
NVR: a range of papers (Bond, Athey etc). Something that gets overlooked with nvr is developing it through toys, building work and ICT work. Certainly out of my dc- the ones who excel in nvr tests (dc1 and dc5) are the ones who also enjoy spatial developmental activities.
Maths: Bond books and papers 4-6, Maths Challenge, Junior Maths bk 3, Heinemann books explain some topics very well, Schofield and Sims, Nrich site.
English: comprehension- Bond, Schofield and Sims, reading with dc and quizzing them helps.
If it's KES:
No NVR needed. There is a focus on composition, traditional VR (all types), Maths & English comprehension.
VR: Susan, Nfer, etc
Composition: good grammar needed and handwriting - Hayden English books, First Aid in English. CGP's composition are good practice. Morrells / Camb pen pals for handwriting. Sample papers from indi schools: Manchester, Haberdashers Aske, Perse, Dulwich etc are useful for homing in on the Maths and English areas.
My advice is to go into WHSmiths and have a peruse to see what will work best for your dc. It's the same with adults. My research supervisor always goes on about Robson's book which incidentally is meant to be one of the very 'best'- didn't work well for me!
Best of luck!
Re: Books/websites for preparation in 2012 and future years
Just when I thought I was out they pull me back in! I have just finished with DS and my summer plans of relaxing have been cunningly thwarted by my dear extended family. Niece and nephew Y4 and Y5 are now in the hot spot. I have been ‘persuaded’ , and I use the term very loosely, into tuition and now started with nephew. So would also welcome other parents to share ideas and tips and what worked for them or what didn’t.
There is lots of info on traditional material but would like to add some of the more unconventional methods which also helped us to supplement DS learning. The most unusual of which related to helping on matters of supposition and inference. Most of the TV that DS used to watch fed the information step-by-step thus not requiring DS to think at all. So to help him to ‘think’ I changed his programme schedules
It may sound extremely bizarre and odd but what I found helped was the original series of ‘Star Trek’. I am no secret ‘trekkie’ but this helped DS to tackle and identify the veiled agendas and motives/reasons of actions which may not always be explained explicitly. Another series was ‘The Waltons’ which also, was again an odd, but useful tool in helping DS to understand the underlying subplots and actions of characters.
Our character/plot analysis in the early days led us to “why did he speak in a louder pitch?”, “why did he do that?”, “Why did she not say that?” which was met with a confused expression of horror, as if I had accused DS of a monstrous crime. We would discuss and go through the reasons/motives etc. I remember after one episode DS asked when we should start our english comprehension, I smiled and said “we’ve just finished”. Im sure there are many other tv options out there but those two choices are hard to forget.
He moved onto the major detectives and avidly searches between the lines as standard, relishing the challenge, the critical and important element was the analysis and discussion of the assumption/theories/motives. There was a period when it felt like ALL efforts were falling on deaf ears, but we persevered, the only downside is having to tolerate a mini wannabe ‘colombo’
Also in the early days DS writing skills were very basic to begin with, when doing a piece on “trip to the park”, he would rely heavily on visual references. In a bid to heighten his awareness of other senses such as sound, touch etc. I remember few days later at the park I got DS to cover his eyes with a scarf and asked him to redo the piece by explaining to me what he would write now. This helped DS to tap into other dimensions that he could call upon when writing. So instead of walking through the park looking for an adventure to fill his writing, the actual journey though the park itself became the adventure!
With numbers probably mentioned before but the supermarket challenge was a good one. Where DS identified items that were better value using weight and price as factors, again I found this useful in embedding these skills. In the early days I cut up Jelly Babies to help explain fractions, I also used good old lego to help DS visualise hidden cube faces.
DS also enjoyed puzzles like Suduko and playing along to Countdown. He volunteered to be the banker in Monopoly and Scrabble was a great way to pick and validate words by improving his vocab.
I also to set him challenges and asked how much it would cost to carpet the room? Using a tape measure helped him visualise and understand measurements square metres, square feet so covering both metric and imperial. (Aarrgghhhh!!) As he improved this moved onto costing the whole house, which led to suggestions on how best to cut the carpet to get the minimum wastage out of a standard roll! Helping to measure out and cost garden panels, shed and paint needed, holidays and trips, measuring the glass needed for replacement windows etc
In the kitchen it was guess the volume weight, how many litres in a milk bottle, how much kg of pasta. Individually these small snippets did not seem to add any major value, but collectively they can add up to help supplement and turn his maths skills into usable maths skills, which he can call on when needed. I found this awareness also helped when a misplaced decimal point would otherwise have given an absurd answer.
I can also vouch for the micheal murpogo books and we managed to get at great price for the bookset from a link posted on this forum last year, others include phillip pullman and a firm favourite was the warrior cats series.
Learning does not have to be confined to the desk and I think there are lots of little things you can do that can make learning fun and in turn help bring out the skills that each child most definitely has lurking within. It will vary for each child and some things will work others may not, no harm in trying.
If it takes trekking through the eyes of James T Kirk or even helping John Boy in one of his many dilemmas, or covering a child’s eyes to help them tap into other senses, or even sitting there pretending to be a mushroom, crawling on all fours to mimic the movements of a cat, or even acting out the character you are going to write about ie scrooge - whatever it takes, the options are truly limitless.
There is a saying that:
In an adults eyes there are 7 wonders of the world, in a child’s eyes there are 7 million.
Would be great to learn if anyone else has tried any other techniques that they have found useful.
Just finished with one and now started on the next, best of luck to people prepping for this year, an exhausting but most rewarding journey.
ok1
PS: kudos to anxious_mother – this thread is a great idea, but we will need a post a day to maintain its coveted sticky status.
There is lots of info on traditional material but would like to add some of the more unconventional methods which also helped us to supplement DS learning. The most unusual of which related to helping on matters of supposition and inference. Most of the TV that DS used to watch fed the information step-by-step thus not requiring DS to think at all. So to help him to ‘think’ I changed his programme schedules
It may sound extremely bizarre and odd but what I found helped was the original series of ‘Star Trek’. I am no secret ‘trekkie’ but this helped DS to tackle and identify the veiled agendas and motives/reasons of actions which may not always be explained explicitly. Another series was ‘The Waltons’ which also, was again an odd, but useful tool in helping DS to understand the underlying subplots and actions of characters.
Our character/plot analysis in the early days led us to “why did he speak in a louder pitch?”, “why did he do that?”, “Why did she not say that?” which was met with a confused expression of horror, as if I had accused DS of a monstrous crime. We would discuss and go through the reasons/motives etc. I remember after one episode DS asked when we should start our english comprehension, I smiled and said “we’ve just finished”. Im sure there are many other tv options out there but those two choices are hard to forget.
He moved onto the major detectives and avidly searches between the lines as standard, relishing the challenge, the critical and important element was the analysis and discussion of the assumption/theories/motives. There was a period when it felt like ALL efforts were falling on deaf ears, but we persevered, the only downside is having to tolerate a mini wannabe ‘colombo’
Also in the early days DS writing skills were very basic to begin with, when doing a piece on “trip to the park”, he would rely heavily on visual references. In a bid to heighten his awareness of other senses such as sound, touch etc. I remember few days later at the park I got DS to cover his eyes with a scarf and asked him to redo the piece by explaining to me what he would write now. This helped DS to tap into other dimensions that he could call upon when writing. So instead of walking through the park looking for an adventure to fill his writing, the actual journey though the park itself became the adventure!
With numbers probably mentioned before but the supermarket challenge was a good one. Where DS identified items that were better value using weight and price as factors, again I found this useful in embedding these skills. In the early days I cut up Jelly Babies to help explain fractions, I also used good old lego to help DS visualise hidden cube faces.
DS also enjoyed puzzles like Suduko and playing along to Countdown. He volunteered to be the banker in Monopoly and Scrabble was a great way to pick and validate words by improving his vocab.
I also to set him challenges and asked how much it would cost to carpet the room? Using a tape measure helped him visualise and understand measurements square metres, square feet so covering both metric and imperial. (Aarrgghhhh!!) As he improved this moved onto costing the whole house, which led to suggestions on how best to cut the carpet to get the minimum wastage out of a standard roll! Helping to measure out and cost garden panels, shed and paint needed, holidays and trips, measuring the glass needed for replacement windows etc
In the kitchen it was guess the volume weight, how many litres in a milk bottle, how much kg of pasta. Individually these small snippets did not seem to add any major value, but collectively they can add up to help supplement and turn his maths skills into usable maths skills, which he can call on when needed. I found this awareness also helped when a misplaced decimal point would otherwise have given an absurd answer.
I can also vouch for the micheal murpogo books and we managed to get at great price for the bookset from a link posted on this forum last year, others include phillip pullman and a firm favourite was the warrior cats series.
Learning does not have to be confined to the desk and I think there are lots of little things you can do that can make learning fun and in turn help bring out the skills that each child most definitely has lurking within. It will vary for each child and some things will work others may not, no harm in trying.
If it takes trekking through the eyes of James T Kirk or even helping John Boy in one of his many dilemmas, or covering a child’s eyes to help them tap into other senses, or even sitting there pretending to be a mushroom, crawling on all fours to mimic the movements of a cat, or even acting out the character you are going to write about ie scrooge - whatever it takes, the options are truly limitless.
There is a saying that:
In an adults eyes there are 7 wonders of the world, in a child’s eyes there are 7 million.
Would be great to learn if anyone else has tried any other techniques that they have found useful.
Just finished with one and now started on the next, best of luck to people prepping for this year, an exhausting but most rewarding journey.
ok1
PS: kudos to anxious_mother – this thread is a great idea, but we will need a post a day to maintain its coveted sticky status.
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Re: Books/websites for preparation in 2012 and future years
Ok1 - what a fantastic and generous post!
I shall be checking this thread frequently and adding if I come up with anything. And we don't live in your region! Perhaps I should get DS to work out how long it would take us to get to Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Wrekin; how long the journeys would be and then get him to put those last 3 'W' names in alphabetical order!
I shall be checking this thread frequently and adding if I come up with anything. And we don't live in your region! Perhaps I should get DS to work out how long it would take us to get to Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Wrekin; how long the journeys would be and then get him to put those last 3 'W' names in alphabetical order!
Seize the day ... before it seizes you.