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Ref: DfES 0326/2000
Order limit: 10

Please contact:
DCSF Publications Centre
PO Box 5050, Annesley, Nottingham, NG15 0DJ

Tel: 0845 60 222 60
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Sample Year 6 booster lessons

Audience:	Key Stage 2 teachers
Date of issue:	Dec. 2000
Reference number:	DfES 0326/2000

What is it?

This book contains 12 sample lesson plans for you to use with Year 6 booster groups. They are designed to reflect the mathematical content and approaches to teaching that have proved particularly helpful to children who need intensive targeted support to reach level 4 in the Key Stage 2 national tests.

Experience has shown that many children currently operating just under level 4 in Year 6 can make the progress required to catch up, and that booster classes can help you to provide the necessary help and support. It is crucial for these children to reach the expected standard before entering secondary school if they are to fulfil their potential in the subject and succeed in GCSE mathematics.

Lesson plans
All lessons follow the three-part model developed by the National Numeracy Strategy. The plans list teaching objectives, vocabulary, resources, teaching points and key questions. Each lesson ends with a key statement for children to remember. There is a substantial proportion of direct teaching in which children are expected to participate.

All the general principles of effective mathematics teaching apply to these lessons. Some elements are specially important for booster classes: a step-by-step approach; built-in consolidation and frequent summaries; the expression of the same mathematical ideas in a variety of ways; the reinforcement of key mathematical vocabulary; and encouraging children to spell out and articulate their mathematics. Less emphasis than usual is given to differentiation as the lessons are targeted at a specific group in Year 6. This doesn't mean that the pitch of the lessons is automatically right for your group of children. You will need to adjust them according to your children's current attainment levels, their progress and the responses they make.

Content
The materials provide considerable support in the areas covered but will not do all your preparation for you. If you follow them, they will give you a firm structure to guide your teaching. The mathematical content of the sample lessons focuses on identified areas of weakness in the upper years of Key Stage 2, particularly word problems, the use of calculators, fractions, decimals and percentages, and ratio and proportion.

Some of the lessons follow on from each other. There are two lessons on money and two on time. Most lessons provide opportunities for children to consider whether to use a calculator and to practise calculator skills, especially in the context of word problems. It is essential that children can use a calculator effectively and accurately if they are to tackle the B paper of the Key Stage 2 national test with success.

You should note that these materials do not aim to provide a comprehensive catch up programme. They are no more than the sample lesson plans they claim to be. You are the best person to decide what will work best with the children you teach.

Index

Lessons 1 to 7