level 2b to level3a- year 3

[rejim2]

A quick question for those who have time to spare in the busy 11 plus discussions-

How a level 2b child from KS1 can be improved to level 3a in an year time, any shortcuts to make it achievable. How systematic the way should be? 2b in numeracy and literacy-
-stressed parent

[yoyo123]

Rising stars publish a set of books called Achieve level 3. They are very good.

[London_Mum]

Level 2b to level 3c would be the minimum expected progress in a year so should be achievable if the child just continues as they are. To get a secure level 3, you might be aiming a little higher though in which case, reading the criteria / descriptions for each level and working through any weak areas might help eg level 3 criteria in English requires consistent basic punctuation in all written work.

[MyUniMoney]

A quick question for those who have time to spare in the busy 11 plus discussions-

How a level 2b child from KS1 can be improved to level 3a in an year time, any shortcuts to make it achievable. How systematic the way should be? 2b in numeracy and literacy-
-stressed parent

My son managed to achieve level 4 across the board in year 3. I set a consistent daily routine of an hour learning after he had a rest after school and another 30 minutes after dinner / before bed. At weekends, besides a lot of fun in the park, outings, DS games, flying helicopter, piano, violin etc, I make sure he does an hour or two of learning on Saturday and Sunday. I make it all a bit fun learning on weekends. Once he knows it is important for him and for us that he does the learning, he enjoys it, infact he expects it.

All these are done with a firm understanding from him as to why he is doing it - he fully understands. An example of this is this; he said he wants to be a top scientist and inventor as well as a successful businessman ( ) when he grows up!. I made sure we spent a summer holiday in Oxford, visiting all the Oxford colleges, the natural science museum etc and with the Harry Potter movie set weaved in as a theme. At the end we arrived at Christ Church College Oxford; I told him its one of the very best and famous colleges in Oxford - he said he want to go there and dropped a coin in the little fountain and made his wish . Bought him a Christ College mug and other souvenirs. Now that GOAL and PROMISE at the fountain becomes his focus, but in a pleasant fun way. He knows WHY he is studying. I always make sure he knows why he is doing something. Weather he will make it to Oxford or not is immaterial to me - he can go to any university he wants , hopefully at least a Russel's Group university .

To me, its all about what me as parent can do to help him - I made sure I got a thorough grasp of the National Curriculum and compare it with the school's syllabus plan - I noticed that even though his school is one of the best in the country, it puts priority to "less able" children - after all they are judged on TARGET ACHIEVED, not TARGET EXCEEDED for every child. So I came to conclusion that the school will only provide between 25% to 35% for his learning needs. With that conclusion, I set up to provide the rest of the 75% of his learning. It all pays off, the teachers report says he is an 11 year old level - he is only 8. His reports have words like "Phenomenal mathematician", "far ahead of his age" etc. But I think that's not because he is 11 year old level or phenomenal - the school expectation is just very low. To me, he is just a normal boy, he is not gifted with super brain or anything. But one thing for sure - I noticed a lot of parents in his class are so afraid of challenging their child - I hear parents complaining the school is too academic and gives too much work - the school only gives one homework for Math and one for English every week, for goodness sake!!! I don't view my child from a point of WEAKNESS , I view him from the point of STRENGTH - I tell him he is clever and very capable and he lives up to it. Now he demands that I buy all the Key stage 3 and GCSE books for him to read on holiday!

[ThreeKids]

[MyUniMoney]

I spoke to my brother and asked him what he would have liked to have happened to him. There is more to why I asked him, but I will cut it short. His comment was that he wished he had been broadened more. He wished he had spent more time learning to play sport, another instrument, watched more TV, etc etc etc.

Thank you Threekids, don't get me wrong, my son does Chess club, violin, a member of the orchestra, piano with his mum, karate twice a week, swimming and computer club . He also used to do construction club, gardening club, choir club, science club, Madarin / Chinese club, Judo , athletics, and played football at Fulham kids . He watches a lot of TV in the weekends, love scoobydoo and pokemons series...we play remote controlled helicopters, fly kite, go camping, cliff climbing, cycling , spends time at the allotment... I don't push him, i inspire him and he ask me, where are my work, where are my new books?!

Also, reading the papers at 4 is just normal to me, most child without a disability are able to read papers at 4 if parents train them at the early age. My friend's son just turned 4 and has a reading age of 9 (so the school says), hes not exceptional, his mother just read with him since he was little, that's all. It is just that we are conditioned by the curriculum to think otherwise - for instance the expectation in the NC is that kids should count up to 20 at year one... 20!!! My son was counting to 1000, doing the 4 order of operations at reception and there is NOTHING exceptional about that, we just played a lot of math games, that's all.

[Kingfisher]

Rejim2, I don't think there are short cuts, not if you want DC to retain the information. You will need to spend time talking through maths questions and doing lots of reading together. Find out what s/he needs to know for Level 3 but remember that whilst a piece of work might be level 3a, the child might well fluctuate within the level or slightly below whilst learning new skills. That's why only whole levels are submitted at the end of a key stage.

Work though books by all means but sometimes get DC to do things orally to speed things up and do them orally yourself, talking them through so s/he can understand your thought process. Likewise with English, read a section of text together and ask each other questions. And get involved too! Practise writing together. Let DC see what you do so you are modelling good work (albeit at a level only just higher than her/his writing) so s/he has something towards which to aspire.

I don't believe in the over work approach as I believe your DC will need time to assimilate the information. I believe in a holistic approach to education which is much more than studying books. The parent is the teacher in so many ways.

[rejim2]

Thank you all for the responses.
Yo Yo for suggesting the set of books.
Yes, I presume a consistent routine will help me through the process!
As Kingfisher said ,
The parent is the teacher in so many ways.. ..

[yoyo123]

make it fun too, there are plenty of online games etc to improve maths ability.

Discuss the news, papers etc.

Play word games like scrabble and boggle. Visit libraries and museums..

These sort of activities encourage children to think and to enjoy learning. A lot more interesting and enjoyable for both you and your child.