SATs Writing Tests

Tuesday of the SATs week is the day we all dread in school. Our writing scores are never as high as our reading scores, so we are always more anxious about the writing papers.

The Long Writing Task this year was an information leaflet. The children were asked to write all about ways in which we can save the environment. I was really pleased with this! Although the task didn't really allow for much creativity, it was perfect for the children I teach in Set 2. They like factual writing and the task also allowed for some persuasion, which children enjoy. The task lended itself brilliantly to using paragraphs and extending sentences. I really hop the children did well in this.

The Short Writing Task was completely the opposite - not factual but very creative. The children were asked to write the introduction to a mystery story. This is a genre we have not really studied in Set 2. When we write stories I spend most of my time showing the children how to make their story simple with something really exciting that happens. In the Short Writing Task they had to make sure that nothing much really happens in order to build up suspense and make it a mystery! I can only hope that they did a good job on this.

The Spelling Test was the usual mix of easy and hard words. There are some children who you know are never going to get more than 2 or 3 out of 20 and so you have to hope their writing is extra special.

Not bad challenges today. The children always rise to the occasion and I hope they did the same today.