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marg

For KE mum or Ken R

Post by marg »

Please could you help in recommending any simple short book with exercises to teach punctuation.

Thanks
KenR
Posts: 1506
Joined: Fri Mar 17, 2006 6:12 pm
Location: Birmingham

Punctuation Material

Post by KenR »

Hi Marg

Not sure I can recommend anything specific apart from the normal School text books. We didn't use anything special.

If you want to try something different and perhaps more fun for your child you could try looking at some of the online CD materials available.

Try looking at Curriculum Online http://www.curriculumonline.gov.ukand do a search for 'punctuation' under KS2, Year 6, English. I came up with lots of useful material when I did the search, although some of it is a bit expensive.

I found a CD product the punctuation club for 10-13 years which had a good write up but this was about £49!!! There are a few free products available though from various sources.

Good luck, hope this helps
KEMum

Post by KEMum »

Hi

We also didn't use a book for punctuation particularly. However we did use The New First Aid in English by Angus McIver or McInver. They do lots of books aimed at learners of English and they may have something in the punctuation line - we got ours from Waterstones in New Street. The other books that we used were Bond - the English in the Bond books were quite challenging, so they might help. Sorry not to be terribly helpful and good luck to your son.
Sham

For KenR or KEMum

Post by Sham »

Hi KenR or KEMum

I am new to this site but wish that I had discovered it earlier. I have read some of your threads and found some very usefull information. Congratulation on your success, your children seem exceptionally gifted. I think kind people like yourselves are an admiration to others and I wish that more people would give advice, help others and share their knowledge and experience on this site.

I am extremely worried about the KE tests, especially the comprehension. My son has been having private tuition for 12 months and is due to sit the test in November but I do not feel that he is at all prepared. He attends *** tutorial and has been to intense summer classes working on NV tests only. I feel that he hasnt recieved the adequate tuition and hasnt worked on any comprehension, ie Reading and essay writing. However, I spoke to the tutor who seems to think that he is progressing well.

At present, we are working on all the bond assessment papers at home, but eventhough he has been scoring the highest in the NV tests at tuition, I sometimes feel that he lacks the required skills in english and comprehension. I work full time and long shifts and find it extremely exhausting trying to help him revise.

I am especially worried about the comprehension test for KE as KEMum wrote in a previous thread about how the passage from the comprehension paper is read by the child and then the it is removed. Is it true that they have to answer the questions after the first paper is completed? I would really appreciate some advice. If this is all true then I think my son may get into problems with this section. Is the comprehension section multiple choice aswell? Do you think the Bond and NFER papers are sufficient for revision? I am thinking of finding another tutor aswell as EPS so that he can be better prepared, what do you think? Do you think it is too late to start reading poems and heavy books? Is it too late to start practising essays for the KE grammar test.

Any advice or suggestions would be very appreciated.

My email; shamin333@hotmail.co.uk

Kind Regards
Sham x
KenR
Posts: 1506
Joined: Fri Mar 17, 2006 6:12 pm
Location: Birmingham

KE Birmingham - Fr Sham

Post by KenR »

Hi Sham

I'm afraid I don't know anything about *** Tutorial, but if they are any good they should have researched the type of questions covered by the KE exams and work on those areas. I would ask them specific questions about what they are doing for the KE exam.

You are quite correct about the comprehension,they do take the passage away and then have to answer questions about it later. I think most childen find this difficult. There is no guarantee that this year's test will be exactly the same - KE and Durham Univ are deliberately quite vague about the content.

From your own point of view, Bond and NFER are ok - certainly for standard VR and NVR type questions (of which there are still plenty in the test). I would buy a couple of Comprehension books and try a few examples from there.

As I mentioned previously, most chilrdren found the Synonyms the hardest - they had to answer 80 questions in 10 minutes pitched at a reading age of >13.5 years. - (1 every 7.5 secs!). Most children found this very difficult.

(The example I was given was 80 questions like:-

VOLATILE - Load, explosive, talkative, welcoming

You had to underline the matching word to the first in less than 7.5 secs!)

Other words included may be such as:-

Vibrant, Indolent, Labyrinthine, Enigmatic, Zealot, Wrangle, Brevity, Notorious. Not easy for parents either!

My recomendation would be to do a lot of dictionary games (mabye in the car) and try to make up a few tests yourself. EPS should realy be doing this ask them!

A final point - it is a very difficult test - the typical pass mark is certainly a lot lowerh than conventional NFR tests such as the B/Ham Grammar tests.

Best of luck to your son.

Regards

Ken
Sham

Post by Sham »

Hi KenR

Thankyou so much for your advice, it is greatly appreciated.

Regards
Sham
KE Mum

Post by KE Mum »

Dear Sham and anyone else who is in Brum

They do indeed take the comprehension away from the child. They read the passage first and answer questions on it last. If you look at the KE Birmingham thread, the 3rd or 4th message down gives the format of the tests last year - my daughter was buzzing when she came out and is good at remembering things. In fact, she still comes out with some of the items from the test now!

There were some very difficult parts to the test, but she has said she didn't have a clue and just guessed. She also did quite a lot of the words within the time, but said that if she got 20 right, she would have been lucky. In other words, she didn't have a clue. I believe the main comprehension was non fiction, but there was also a Roald Dahl passage in the paper. (The Landlady)

Remember that your son will be sitting the test with lots of other 10 year olds and children tend not to read the question/guess/rush, etc.

We used Bond, NFER, and Learning Together papers. We did timed papers together and rather than actually timing her, I sat and did the test with her and just noted the time, so as not to put too much pressure on. We then compared marks and she loved beating me.

It is getting very close now to the test, but try not to panic too much. We didn't do any NFER papers until quite late on, mainly because there aren't very many and they are the best (in my humble opinion) - particularly the maths which is pretty difficult.

Good luck to your son, if you have any other questions, please ask.

Ken - I hope your son is looking forward to starting at 5 ways.
KE Mum

Post by KE Mum »

Forgot to add - there was no essay in the test. Also, encourage him to read books - Anthony Horowitz, Dr Who, anything!
Sham

For KEMum

Post by Sham »

KEMum

Thankyou kindly for your advice, it was appreciated. It seems that other than yourself or KenR nobody else wants to post any messages or give any advice on the Birmingham forum.

The Bucks forum looks extremely busy, looks like a lot of kids are going to be competing for places. I wish them all GOODLUCK!!

Thanks kindly
Sham
KenR
Posts: 1506
Joined: Fri Mar 17, 2006 6:12 pm
Location: Birmingham

For Sham

Post by KenR »

Hi Sham

I recall last year the Birmingham Forum suddenly became active after the summer holidays and in particular when the school open days started. I would recommend you keep posting!

I don't know where about you live in Bimingham you live, but I would also recommend that you visit a number of the Schools on the various open days. For the KE schools the dates have already been published.

Also don't assume that you can only put down the KE school nearest to your home as your first choice. Most of the KE Schools have now signed-up with the Green Bus Company and have really good special School Buses travelling from all part of the west midlands.

My son starts at KE Five Ways next week and although it's about 7 miles away there is a school bus that goes directly there from quite close to us. We orginally didn't think that travel to Five Ways was viable, but we are glad we explored further. You find out a lot about the school (and prospective pupils and parents!) on the open days. Talk to other parents on the days and find out what they are doing about preparing for the exam.

Best of luck

KenR
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