11 Plus Exams Forum

Hiiiii all

I want to know what is the best way to start preparing him for grammar schools for year 3/4 kids? my son is good in mathematics and verbal/non verbal reasoning but not quite there in English/Vocabulary/Reading & Writing.

Is there any coursebook/workbook for beginners ?

Thanks in advance...

Year 3/4 (presumably 3 at the moment) is very early. Most people start in year 5. The best thing you can do at the moment is to read with him a lot & make sure he understands the vocabulary. And make sure he knows his tables when they do those.
Roughly where are you? The advice for which books to use when the time comes will vary depending on where you are.

I would agree with Scary mum. Year 3/4 is very early. You don't want to put your child off working. At this stage I think imbuing a love of learning and knowledge and reading and encouraging motivation to work would be the most productive thing to do.
You could play word games to help with vocabulary. You could read with your child to help comprehension. Talk about the books you read to check understanding. Read books with complex text and vocabulary together such as the classics. Word games and simple crosswords are fun. Do fun puzzles to help with Non verbal. Keep it light and enjoyable make it something that you do with your child so they enjoy the time spent together with you.The hopefully come year 5 when you do start on the more formal exercises they will look forward to it.

It is really early.
Your best bet is to just work on basics which will help whatever happens 3 years on.
Play games, lots of them.
Tetris and jigsaws are great for spatial awareness. Read books together, play scrabble (if you use a dictionary, it really helps learn vovabulary. Spot the difference games.
Play card games, darts, there are also loads of free online maths games.

If your child is being introduced to Verbal and Non Verbal reasoning exercises now, like anything, your child will grow to find them boring and develop an unhealthy attitude towards solving them. I'd strongly recommend against it.

As mentioned above, there are many other ways that your child can develop the necessary skills while having fun, all the while not being over-exposed to the NV and V problems. Scrabble, Countdown, Tetris, Construction/building, and probably most importantly, regular reading.

For now, I suggest he focuses on the curriculum while enjoying the activities above. After all, Maths and Reading are very much a huge part of the 11+ anyway!