Level 3 KS1
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Level 3 KS1
I have a son in year 2 who is currently a 3b in mathematics. He has finished the Bond 7-8 mathematics book and is half way through the new CGP 7-8 book and 8-9 Bond No-nonsense book. He doesn't struggle at all with these books. His school do not believe in homework which is why I set him work. His school is not pushing him and seem to be unaware of his skill. He often complains of being bored and says he finishes his work before the rest of the class and is then given coloring to do!
Can anyone offer me any advice on what I should do with regards to the school? How far ahead of his peers is he?
Can anyone offer me any advice on what I should do with regards to the school? How far ahead of his peers is he?
Re: Level 3 KS1
he is probably up there with the brightest, Help him to be really quick with tables and mental maths, do lots of problem solving and practical examples of maths
Re: Level 3 KS1
Thank you. He knows most of his tables and can answer them within 5 secs. I'm disheartened with the school and feel they could do so much more to help him.
Re: Level 3 KS1
Look at http://www.nrich.maths.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and the stage 1 problems - he can answer the weekly ones online.
Problem solving and make it fun.
Problem solving and make it fun.
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Daogroupie
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- Location: Herts
Re: Level 3 KS1
Hello Macpac, one of my students started KS3 work in Year 5 having already achieved 100% in the KS2 Maths papers taken by students in Year 6. You need to formally apply for extension work for your ds. I would ask for him to do maths lessons with Year 3 or Year 4. Get some Year 3 and 4 Sats maths papers from Smiths and start working on them in the meantime. Where are you based? DG
Re: Level 3 KS1
They all sound like good ideas if you think it is important to carry on through the NC curriculum for maths and also do some enrichment. Otherwise, you could consider developing some other area of his education instead of doing Bond and CGP books at home.
You say that school does not realise how good he is at maths. In this case how do you know that he is a 3b in maths - they would have had to have given him a level 3 paper in year 1 or early year 2 for you to know this, or be giving him mid-level 3 work. So in that case they do know his current level and are capable of providing him with some appropriate work if they chose to? Or have you worked it out at home somehow and they are not listening to you or not believing you?
It's a great level for a year 2 child and it's likely maths will always be a great strength - but I suppose you don't know yet how good he will truly be at true mathematics when he is older as opposed to arithmetic which is the mainstay of the KS1 / early KS2 syllabus.
If he is not having to think about anything in maths at school that is a shame. Is that the case? It shouldn't be difficult for school to give him some challenging work but if they can't I wouldn't sweat over it too much as KS2 is coming up soon. Probably the year 2 teacher's attention is on getting as many children as possible to level 2, and a reasonable proportion beyond level 2, and has crossed your son off her "worry list" as he's already there. I know that won't seem that satisfactory to you, but longer term, there could be others who are as good at maths as your son but need some more spadework now to get there, and it is in his interests if there are some others for him to spar with in the future in maths. If he is always a mile ahead of the others because they lack some needed input and teaching, that won't be the best thing for him or them in terms of the whole class's direction and progress. Of course if he is always a mile ahead because his ability is so vastly different from all the rest that is a different matter, but at 3b now he is well advanced, but not impossibly far ahead of the top end of some year 2 classes at this point in time.
You say that school does not realise how good he is at maths. In this case how do you know that he is a 3b in maths - they would have had to have given him a level 3 paper in year 1 or early year 2 for you to know this, or be giving him mid-level 3 work. So in that case they do know his current level and are capable of providing him with some appropriate work if they chose to? Or have you worked it out at home somehow and they are not listening to you or not believing you?
It's a great level for a year 2 child and it's likely maths will always be a great strength - but I suppose you don't know yet how good he will truly be at true mathematics when he is older as opposed to arithmetic which is the mainstay of the KS1 / early KS2 syllabus.
If he is not having to think about anything in maths at school that is a shame. Is that the case? It shouldn't be difficult for school to give him some challenging work but if they can't I wouldn't sweat over it too much as KS2 is coming up soon. Probably the year 2 teacher's attention is on getting as many children as possible to level 2, and a reasonable proportion beyond level 2, and has crossed your son off her "worry list" as he's already there. I know that won't seem that satisfactory to you, but longer term, there could be others who are as good at maths as your son but need some more spadework now to get there, and it is in his interests if there are some others for him to spar with in the future in maths. If he is always a mile ahead of the others because they lack some needed input and teaching, that won't be the best thing for him or them in terms of the whole class's direction and progress. Of course if he is always a mile ahead because his ability is so vastly different from all the rest that is a different matter, but at 3b now he is well advanced, but not impossibly far ahead of the top end of some year 2 classes at this point in time.
Re: Level 3 KS1
Daogroupie - We are in Essex. He attends a 'satisfactory' state school. I had similar problems with my middle son at the same school which resulted in a move to a prep school.
Mystery - We do cover other areas too, but maths is his strongest and favourite subject. The school have told me he's a 3b, I would say he might be higher because they haven't tested his full knowledge. He is being given year 3 assessment papers by the school as they are preparing him for his end of year assessment. I am doing all the groundwork while they take the glory! He does complain his work is too easy. He came running out of school the other day excited because his teacher told him he needs harder work. He told her what 6x4 was very quickly and she was amazed. If they knew what he was capable of then they would know he knows almost all of his tables.
Mystery - We do cover other areas too, but maths is his strongest and favourite subject. The school have told me he's a 3b, I would say he might be higher because they haven't tested his full knowledge. He is being given year 3 assessment papers by the school as they are preparing him for his end of year assessment. I am doing all the groundwork while they take the glory! He does complain his work is too easy. He came running out of school the other day excited because his teacher told him he needs harder work. He told her what 6x4 was very quickly and she was amazed. If they knew what he was capable of then they would know he knows almost all of his tables.
Re: Level 3 KS1
Yes this is the sad thing about it - the assessment is sometimes based on such meaningless snippets and not a full picture of each child. But if they are giving him a paper which he can score 3b in I think they would see if he was higher than that.
My DD2 knew her 4 times table early in year 1 and wrote it out for fun and handed it in the to the teacher. It didn't impress though .... was and remained in the middle maths group and now is probably less capable in maths in quite a few respects than she was many, many months ago. So you do well just to keep on at it at home if he enjoys it.
Don't get in too much of a sweat about school right now because if the penny doesn't drop, you're not going to change the teacher very much in my view. And she does seem to be doing a better job of it than my school ..... so if you look around you might think "oh well, it's as good as I'm going to get".
KS2 should be a bit less limiting. The thing is though, if a child is really good at maths they are always going to be way ahead of the others at the drop of a hat and some teachers are never going to cater for it - some will, some won't. You almost wonder why you couldn't be allowed to provide your own enrichment and problem material to make life easier for them, but hey ho, that is not something that many teachers would countenance.
Get him to teach the others. The bigger the gap gets the more limiting "whole class" maths will get for him.
Don't worry too much, you can still get to do Oxbridge maths having been to a primary that poddles along. It must just be frustrating in the here and now.
My DD2 knew her 4 times table early in year 1 and wrote it out for fun and handed it in the to the teacher. It didn't impress though .... was and remained in the middle maths group and now is probably less capable in maths in quite a few respects than she was many, many months ago. So you do well just to keep on at it at home if he enjoys it.
Don't get in too much of a sweat about school right now because if the penny doesn't drop, you're not going to change the teacher very much in my view. And she does seem to be doing a better job of it than my school ..... so if you look around you might think "oh well, it's as good as I'm going to get".
KS2 should be a bit less limiting. The thing is though, if a child is really good at maths they are always going to be way ahead of the others at the drop of a hat and some teachers are never going to cater for it - some will, some won't. You almost wonder why you couldn't be allowed to provide your own enrichment and problem material to make life easier for them, but hey ho, that is not something that many teachers would countenance.
Get him to teach the others. The bigger the gap gets the more limiting "whole class" maths will get for him.
Don't worry too much, you can still get to do Oxbridge maths having been to a primary that poddles along. It must just be frustrating in the here and now.
Re: Level 3 KS1
Children taught in mixed ability groups, on a macro (international) level and on a micro level will have better results than those who are taught in differentiated groups. This is supported by enormous international studies (not one of the top performing countries in PISA - flawed I know - groups children by ability or teaches different abilities differently); and there are beginning to be some smaller studies done to support the theory too, for example in http://aer.sagepub.com/content/43/1/137.1.'" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;Accelerating Mathematics Achievement Using Heterogeneous Grouping'Get him to teach the others. The bigger the gap gets the more limiting "whole class" maths will get for him.
Agree with mystery - not worth worrying about at all. Teach him some other stuff instead. Doesn't matter if he is ahead in Maths and really doesn't matter if the teacher 'doesn't cater for it' either. There is only so far to go.the performance of initial high achievers did not differ statistically in heterogeneous classes relative to previous homogeneous grouping, and rates of participation in advanced placement calculus and test scores improved.
Re: Level 3 KS1
Mystery - it would be wonderful if parents and teachers could work together, wouldn't it? I would happily home school him, but he's the kind of boy that is on the go ALL the time! I could meet his academic needs, but not his social needs. I have considered not doing any work with him at home and letting him coast at school to make his life easier. I often think that being ahead of your peers does more harm than good. He enjoys the work though so it's unfair to stop. I only started doing work with him in April when I started to prepare my eldest for his 11+.
I'm not overly concerned about the school not pushing him, more what happens when they get bored at school. My middle son got a detention everyday because of minor disruptive behaviour when he was at this school. We moved him to a prep school and he's a different child. Because he's being stimulated his behaviour has greatly improved.
I'm not overly concerned about the school not pushing him, more what happens when they get bored at school. My middle son got a detention everyday because of minor disruptive behaviour when he was at this school. We moved him to a prep school and he's a different child. Because he's being stimulated his behaviour has greatly improved.
