Oral language#

The teacher will focus on expanding your child's oral language skills. For example, by the end of the year your child will:

• describe pictures and objects and talk about how they are similar and different to each other, sorting them into groups provided by the teacher
• talk about their experiences and retell familiar stories, including key information, such as who was involved and where and when it happened
• do short presentations for other people independently
• take part in discussions by sharing ideas and opinions, asking and answering questions, listening carefully, and using appropriate volume and talking speed
• ask for help and talk about problems and possible solutions
• use specific words that:
  • describe the world around them – for example, cafe, menu, vehicle, ambulance, rescue, park
  • name feelings and shapes – for example, happy, sad, circle, triangle
  • explain how something happens – for example, sadly, slowly, quickly
  • connect and sequence ideas – for example, and, but, so, for, first, then, finally
  • compare things – for example, smaller, faster
• think and talk about their learning at school, describing their feelings, what they like to do, and what was easy or hard for them.

Reading#

The teacher will focus on expanding your child’s reading skills. For example, by the end of the year your child will:

• recognise the difference between short and long vowel sounds – for example, the short /a/ sound in 'mad' and the long /a/ sound in 'made' where the vowel 'says its name'
• pronounce the sounds made by:
  • 2 consonants that together make 1 sound (consonant digraphs) such as 'ch' in 'chip'
  • 2 consonants that sit next to each other in a word and make 2 different sounds that are blended together (adjacent consonants), such as 'fl' in 'flag'. It can sometimes be hard for children to hear and recognise both sounds
  • some long vowel patterns, where the vowel 'says its name', such as 'ee' in 'bee'
• read and understand words that end in '-ed' and '-ing'
• use this knowledge (above) to read 1-syllable and simple 2-syllable words, such as picnic (your child will do this by recognising the sounds the letters show and blending the sounds together to make the word)
• use their knowledge of sounds, letters and letter patterns, and endings to fix mistakes
• reread sentences when they don't make sense
• read and understand longer sentences that include 2 complete ideas connected with a joining word – for example, and, but, so, for
• recognise the similarities and differences between different types of writing to entertain – for example, stories and poems – and writing to inform
• fix their understanding of what they read by checking that each sentence makes sense and by rereading
• answer with 'how' or 'why' and open questions about texts
• ask questions about unfamiliar words and use information in the story to work out what they mean
• use what has already happened and their existing knowledge to predict what might happen next in a text
• make personal connections to characters, events or ideas in texts.

Texts for the first year at school#

Books used in the first year at school will include decodable texts that contain sounds, letter patterns and word parts that have a meaning (morphemes) that children have already learnt. This will help your child practise reading words with the sounds, letter patterns and morphemes they have been learning about in a text.

Once your child can correctly read books that include words with consonant digraphs, adjacent consonants, and some long vowel patterns (explained above), they will also be reading carefully selected books with a wider range of vocabulary, sentence structures, and punctuation. These texts could include Ready to Read Colour Wheel books up to Green level.

The books they bring home will give them extra practice with the reading skills they have been taught. There is an example book on the page below.

Reading books at home in Year 1

Writing#

The teacher will focus on expanding your child's writing skills. For example, by the end of the year your child will:

• write letters and numbers using a comfortable and practical pencil grip, making sure each letter or number is formed, sized and spaced correctly and placed on the line
• break a simple word into its sounds and connect the sounds to letters to spell the word
• spell some common words correctly that don’t follow the sound-to-letter connections that your child has already learned – for example, 'was', 'of' and 'said'
• discuss the audience and purpose of a piece of writing, and keep that in mind as they write
• plan their writing by talking about it first
• write simple sentences to tell a story, explain a topic or share an opinion
• use full stops and capital letters in the right place
• check each sentence as they write it.

Resource#