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Year 6 SAT questions

With SATs just a couple of weeks away now is the time of year that schools intensify their year 6 revision.. The types of question that come up are fairly predictable and follow a similar layout each year. It is well worthwhile, therefore, to let your children have a practice at the style of questions they are likely to come across on the test.

We have a good selection of SAT questions which can be printed free of charge, including pages on:

writing numbers

making mathematical statements true

completing number sentences

number problems

time problems

symmetry

Why not have a look at our Year 6 ‘Booster’ pages for SATs?

Resource of the Week: written addition

Written methods of calculating continue to prove to be some of the more popular pages on the site. This week I would like to highlight a Year 5 maths worksheet on written addition which is the second in a series showing children clearly how addition should be laid out and also giving them the opportunity to re-write questions from a horizontal lay out to a vertical layout. The hardest part of this is to ensure the numbers line up under each other, starting with the units on the far right. Squares can help with this in the early stages, but children should also get used to laying them out correctly without squared paper.

Rarely, if ever, will you find a SATs addition question which has been laid out already in the traditional, or standard method but it is expected that children use this method when solving a difficult addition calculation.

This pager can be found in our Year 5 Calculating section. Similar pages, with more detailed instructions, can also be found in our Four Rules section.

Written addition of several numbers (2)

Resource of the week: sorting shapes in Year 1

One of the earliest stages of data handling is to be able to sort and a lot of practical work can be done, such as tidying up a drawer of pens, pencils, paper clips etc. Don’t underestimate this type of practical activity as it is important for children learning to group and order objects.

The next stage is to be able to record the results and here we have a simple page where the two sets of shapes can be sorted and recorded on the columns.

The outlines of the cylinders and cubes are provided and it is just a matter of counting the number of each shape and recording by colouring the correct number on the columns.

The task can be extended by providing real cubes, keeping to two or three colours and recording how many there are in columns.

This page can be found in our Handling Data section for Year 1.

Sorting shapes 1

Resource of the Week: Easter co-ordinates for Year 4

As we move towards Easter it is always fun to have some maths linked to the time of year.

There are several important aspects to this page. Firstly the axes are numbered rather than the spaces. This is an important step as the conventions of using co-ordinates come into play. It is important to show how co-ordinates are written:

e.g. (3, 1)

Brackets are always placed around the co-ordinates, with the numbers separated by a comma. The position (3, 1) means 3 along and 1 up, which in this case takes you to the pink rabbit (and not the rabbit holding the basket of eggs).

The grid can be used for further work: e.g.

1.ask how you can move along the lines to go from one point to another (2 along and 1 up)

2. Draw more features at the points and ask where they are positioned.

3. Ask child to draw an egg at a certain point etc.

This can be found in the Year 4 Shape category.

Thanks to urbrainy.com for allowing me to use it.

Easter coordinates

Resource of the Week: interpret pie charts

Something which looksvery easy, but can cause difficulties for this week’s Resource of the Week. Pie charts are a good way to illustrate the proportion of a whole amount or quantity. The arc length of each sector or the sectors area is proportional to the quantity it represents. This might sound a little tricky, but pie charts can be effective in displaying information.

This worksheet looks at a pie chart where the percentages have also been given. This allows for numbers to be worked out if the total number is given. The first pie chart looks at ice cream sales and the second looks at football supporters attending a tournament.

Pie chart (1)

Resource of the Week: half way between

Today I’m looking at a resource which has proved to be very popular and on the face of it this looks quite a simple task. However, many children (and adults) find it very tricky to work out what half way between two numbers is. Often there is a lot of ‘trial and improvement’ going on in people’s heads as they guess their way towards finding half way.

Two methods make the task fairly straightforward.

For method one a number line is very useful to start with. Put a finger of the left hand on the first (lower) number shown on the number line and a finger of the right hand on the second number. Then move the left hand finger one place to the right and the right hand finger one place to the left. Repeat this until the two fingers meet – that is your half way number.

The second way of finding half way involves two steps:

step 1: add the two numbers.

step 2: halve the answer.

This is the better method as it works for all numbers, not just those shown on the number line.

This page can be found in our Year 3, Counting and Number section

Half way between_(1)

Resource of the week: Money and place value

$decimal fractions and money$

Money is a great way to reinforce place value with decimals. For example in the total £3.45 the digit 4 has a value of 4 tenths or 40p. Money makes it very easy to show tenths (a 10p coin is one tenth of a pound) and hundredths (a one pence coin is one hundredth of a pound).

This page looks at this in more detail, showing that ten pence can be written in two ways; either as 10p or as part of a pound £0.10. There are two further things to remember here:

1. that we should always have two digits after the decimal point when writing fractions of a pound eg £0.30 not £0.3.

2. that we should not include both the pound and pence sign when writing amounts in pounds eg £0.30 is correct but £0.30p is not. it is 0.30 of a pound, not 0.30 of a penny.

This is just one worksheet from a great selection in our Counting and Understanding Numbers section within our year 4 maths worksheets. Why not go and have a look at what else is freely available?

Decimal fractions and money

Resource of the Week: Year 2 symmetry

Folding to create symmetrical patterns is a popular past-time in schools, but understanding reflective symmetry can be quite tricky. These maths worksheets for year 2 ask children to colour the correct spots on the other side of the line of symmetry to make sure that the shape is symmetrical.

Pegboards are a useful aid to this work, as is a mirror, which can be laid along the line, or axis of symmetry to see how the pattern continues. Watch out for children who just copy the image rather than show the reflection.

More can be found in our year 2, Understanding shape section.

Symmetry_1

Resource of the Week: percentages

This week’s resource of the Week highlights the second of our percentages worksheets for Year 5. It is typical of the English that we manage to write per cent in two different ways. Unlike the Americans who use percent we use two words per cent, apart from when we write percentage when we put it altogether.

Anyway, as to the maths: remember that many percentages can be worked out ‘in your head’ by remembering that 10% of an amount is equivalent to dividing the amount by 10. At this stage we will only be dealing with whole tens so it is probably the best approach. Later more complicated percentages will be found by dividing by 100 and multiplying by the percentage.

To find 20% of £350.

Find 10% of £350, which is £35

If 10% is £35, then 20% will be £35 x 2 = £70.

Percentages (pg 2)

Resource of the week: Valentine’s Day Maths

Looking through the range of resources it occurred to me that Valentine’s Day is coming up shortly. Sometimes it’s nice to have a change and special occasions such as Valentine’s Day allows us to do this. Here we have a maths worksheet suitable for Year 3 children with a Valentine Day’s theme. It is a subtraction page but all the missing numbers have to be put into the special Valentine hearts. There are also a couple of Valentine word problems.

The easiest way to do most of these subtractions is by adding on from the smaller number, once again showing the special relationship between addition and subtraction.

Thanks to urbrainy.com for letting me use this page from their vast supply of worksheets, including more on Valentine’s Day.

Valentine subtraction