Welcome

Welcome to Yewlands School CLC! Sometimes it's nice to have a change of scene. This can help to boost your learning. Today we welcome Y6 representatives of Fox Hill, Mansel and St Thomas More Primary Schools. We hope you got a lot out of your Science sessions. Our focus before and after lunch will be English.
In May - the KS2 SATs will be happening across our country. Here are the dates for the English SATs:-
Tuesday May 13th:-
English Shorter Writing Task & Spelling Test
English Writing Test
Wednesday May 14th:-
English Reading Test

Now doesn't that sound like FUN!

Today we are going to do a few things that will help to boost your performance in the SATs.

We are going to start off with twenty minutes of unstructured time in which you explore the BBC's KS2 Revision site. Only explore the English section on WRITING! Click on Popeye the Sailorman (below) to get to the English section of KS2 Bitesize. Here you will find activities and guidance connected with Writing. At this stage don't look at Reading or Spelling and Grammar. Go on - EXPLORE!

After your first spell on Bitesize, we are now going to move on with a shorter writing task before exercising skills you need for The Reading Paper.

The Shorter Writing Task

The Shorter Writing Task is only worth 12 marks. You are advised to spend just twenty minutes on it. A small amount of that time has to go into planning but it is only the actual writing that is assessed. Assessment is organised like this - a maximum of 8 marks for "Composition and Effect" and a maximum of 4 marks for "Sentence Structure, Punctuation and Text Organisation".

See this prickly little fellow below - he's called Humphrey - much cuter than last summer's Tongo Lizard! Click on him and he will take you to the shorter writing task that Y6 pupils had to tackle back in 2003. You won't be able to copy and paste this page because it is a PDF file. Having checked the exam paper out and having made a swift plan on paper, you are then asked to bring up a Word page and attempt this piece of writing. Put your name on it. You will have twenty minutes in total and it will be marked for you. You will need to print it off. There are sometimes technical glitches with printers in the CLC so please be patient.

When you have finished your shorter writing task you will go back on KS2 Bitesize for more unstructured exploration. This time only explore Reading. Again click on Popeye below:-

Hi! I am Popeye and I will take you to KS2 Bitesize again! READING! Just click on me. By the way - eating spinach also helps kids to do well in their SATs! Yummy mummy!

The Walkie Talkie Teddy

Last year, a Y6 pupil from Grenoside Primary School produced this response to the 2003 Shorter Writing Task:-

The Walkie-Talkie Teddy

Have you got kids? Are they constantly bored? Well have no fear for the Walkie Talkie Teddy is here! The most action packed teddy around.

The Walkie Talkie Teddy has over four amazing features. Have you ever seen a teddy that wears waterproofs and can be used in the bath? A teddy that can give hugs on no batteries! A teddy that talks when you press his stomach and has over seven catchphrases? A teddy that can talk when wound up? You're all probably wondering why we haven't called him SuperTeddy! But it gets better. He's unbreakable and wouldn't even break if you threw him off the top of Ben Nevis.

This is what one mother said after her kids tried out the Walkiew Talkie Teddy for a week - "It was absolutely stress-free. Fort once I could actually make dinner without having to keep checking on the children all the time!"

Does that sound like a happy customer to you? I think so! The Walkie-Talkie Teddy is available in toy stores all over the world - suchy as ToysRUs, Woolworths, Toy Factory, Toy World and many more. If you have any questiuons about The Walkie Talkie Teddy then write to us at 9 Liverpool St, London, PO Box 16.

So don't forget to buy The Walkie Talkie Teddy if you ever come across it... and give your child a Walkie-Talkie smile!

Well done to Emily B. from Grenoside Primary! This piece is lively. Emily clearly understood the task and showed a real awareness of the audience she was writing for. It genuinely sounds like a radio ad. Seven out of eight marks for Composition and Effect and three out of four marks for Structure and Organisation. Smashing!

Inference and Deduction

The Reading Paper is worth a lot of marks - a possible fifty! Good readers, pupils who are good enough to make Level 5 are able to read between the lines - draw hidden things out of texts - make deductions upon the basis of evidence. Look at the picture below. It was taken somewhere on our planet. What do you deduce about this place? Make at least six bullet points. You may work with partners on this if you wish.

Below there is your second picture. What do you deduce from this photograph? Remember deductions must be based on evidence! Make three bullet pointed deductions based upon what you can see in the picture. Then using your imagination make three suggestions about these people. When using imagination we are not really directly drawing from evidence - we are simply pursuing hunches or flights of fancy:-

NOTE :- If you want to look more closely at either picture you will have to copy it and paste it onto a Word page then expand it - sorry!

Selling Sheffield

Sheffield City Council has a Tourist Information section and on the council's website this is how they introduce our city:-

Sheffield is a great place to be…you’ll soon realise why we’re so proud of our city. We just love it.

What’s more, we’re pretty sure you will too. Electrifying entertainment, exciting events and astounding attractions are bound to get you hooked.

Or maybe you’ll fall for our parks and woodlands. After all, we’re five miles from the glorious scenery of the Peak National Park.

You’re certain to find something to tempt you here in Sheffield…even if it’s just the warm Yorkshire welcome…

On a new Word page, copy and paste the piece before commenting upon the writer's use of language. Bring out THREE different points and back up your remarks with evidence.

After that you please go to the Sheffield City Council website and explore the next three parts of the Tourist Information section - Attractions, Events, City Breaks. Click on the Council logo below:-

TASK.

In Attractions, Events and City Breaks find three or four examples of words or phrases that have been selected by the writer to PERSUADE people to visit Sheffield. Give a clear reason for each of your choices. In what way is the word or phrase persuasive? Do this on your Word page.

Bitesize Again

Y6 teachers in the Yewlands family of schools seem to agree that in the English SATs, pupils who make Level 5 are good at tackling the three mark questions on the Reading Paper. These questions generally ask for higher level thinking and skills such as deduction and inference. You normally have to make more than one point to earn the marks. This time when you click on Popeye to go to BBC KS2 Bitesize, make sure you continue to have had a good look into the Reading section. What tips can you pick up here about tackling the Reading paper? Spend the next twenty minutes back on Bitesize. If you are finished with Reading then go on to Spelling and Grammar.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

We were told that Y6 pupils from Monteney would soon be reading Roald Dahl's novel - "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". Let us share this extract from the novel and then do the two tasks that come after the extract.

Charlie entered the shop and laid the damp fifty pence on the counter.

'One Wonka's Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight,' he said, remembering how much he had loved the one he had on his birthday.

The man behind the counter looked fat and well-fed. He had big lips and fat cheeks and a very fat neck. The fat around his neck bulged out all around the top of his collar like a rubber ring. He turned and reached behind him for the chocolate bar, then he turned back again and handed it to Charlie. Charlie grabbed it and quickly tore off the wrapper and took an enormous bite. Then he took another … and another … and oh, the joy of being able to cram large pieces of something sweet and solid into one's mouth! The sheer blissful joy of being able to fill one's mouth with rich solid food!

'You look like you wanted that one, sonny,' the shopkeeper said pleasantly.

Charlie nodded, his mouth bulging with chocolate.

The shopkeeper put Charlie's change on the counter. 'Take it easy,' he said. 'It'll give you a tummy-ache if you swallow it like that without chewing.

'Charlie went on wolfing the chocolate. He couldn't stop. And in less than a minute, the whole thing had disappeared down his throat. He was quite out of breath, but he felt marvellously, extraordinarily happy. He reached out a hand to take the change. Then he paused. His eyes were just above the level of the counter. They were staring at the silver coins lying there. The coins were all five-penny pieces. There were nine of them altogether. Surely it wouldn't matter if he spent just one more …

'I think,' he said quietly, 'I think … I'll have just one more of those chocolate bars. The same kind as before, please.

''Why not?' the fat shopkeeper said, reaching behind him again and taking another Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight from the shelf. He laid it on the counter.

Charlie picked it up and tore off the wrapper … and suddenly …from underneath the wrapper … there came a brilliant flash of gold.

Charlie's heart stood still.

'It's a Golden Ticket!' screamed the shopkeeper, leaping about a foot in the air. 'You've got a Golden Ticket! You've found the last Golden Ticket! Hey, would you believe it! Come and look at this, everybody! The kid's found Wonka's last Golden Ticket! There it is! It's right here in his hands!

COMPLETE THESE TASKS

ON A NEW WORD PAGE:-

1. How did the writer make Charlie's discovery of the golden ticket seem exciting?

2. With a partner, or on your own, think of at least two more questions that could have been asked about this passage. If you were one of the people who sets English SATS papers, what would you ask Y6 pupils about it?