English Year 1

Year 1 programme of study

 

Reading – word reading

 

Statutory requirements

Pupils should be taught to:

  • apply phonic knowledge and skills as the route to decode words
  • respond speedily with the correct sound to graphemes (letters or groups of letters) for all 40+ phonemes, including, where applicable, alternative sounds for graphemes
  • read accurately by blending sounds in unfamiliar words containing GPCs that have been taught
  • read common exception words, noting unusual correspondences between spelling and sound and where these occur in the word
  • read words containing taught GPCs and –s, –es, –ing, –ed, –er and –est endings
  • read other words of more than one syllable that contain taught GPCs
  • read words with contractions [for example, I’m, I’ll, we’ll], and understand that the apostrophe represents the omitted letter(s)
  • read aloud accurately books that are consistent with their developing phonic knowledge and that do not require them to use other strategies to work out words
  • re-read these books to build up their fluency and confidence in word reading.

 

Reading – comprehension

 

Statutory requirements

Pupils should be taught to:

  • develop pleasure in reading, motivation to read, vocabulary and understanding by:
  • listening to and discussing a wide range of poems, stories and non-fiction at a level beyond that at which they can read independently
  • being encouraged to link what they read or hear read to their own experiences
  • becoming very familiar with key stories, fairy stories and traditional tales, retelling them and considering their particular characteristics
  • recognising and joining in with predictable phrases
  • learning to appreciate rhymes and poems, and to recite some by heart
  • discussing word meanings, linking new meanings to those already known
  • understand both the books they can already read accurately and fluently and those they listen to by:
  • drawing on what they already know or on background information and vocabulary provided by the teacher
  • checking that the text makes sense to them as they read and correcting inaccurate reading
  • discussing the significance of the title and events
  • making inferences on the basis of what is being said and done
  • predicting what might happen on the basis of what has been read so far
  • participate in discussion about what is read to them, taking turns and listening to what others say
  • explain clearly their understanding of what is read to them.

 

Writing – transcription

 

Statutory requirements
Pupils should be taught to:
  • spell:
  • words containing each of the 40+ phonemes already taught
  • common exception words
  • the days of the week
  • name the letters of the alphabet:
  • naming the letters of the alphabet in order
  • using letter names to distinguish between alternative spellings of the same sound
  • add prefixes and suffixes:
  • using the spelling rule for adding –s or –es as the plural marker for nouns and the third person singular marker for verbs
  • using the prefix un–
  • using –ing, –ed, –er and –est where no change is needed in the spelling of root words [for example, helping, helped, helper, eating, quicker, quickest]
  • apply simple spelling rules and guidance, as listed
  • write from memory simple sentences dictated by the teacher that include words using the GPCs and common exception words taught so far.

 

Writing – handwriting

 

Statutory requirements

Pupils should be taught to:

  • sit correctly at a table, holding a pencil comfortably and correctly
  • begin to form lower-case letters in the correct direction, starting and finishing in the right place
  • form capital letters
  • form digits 0-9
  • understand which letters belong to which handwriting ‘families’ (i.e. letters that are formed in similar ways) and to practise these.

 

Writing – composition

 

Statutory requirements

Pupils should be taught to:

  • write sentences by:
  • saying out loud what they are going to write about
  • composing a sentence orally before writing it
  • sequencing sentences to form short narratives
  • re-reading what they have written to check that it makes sense
  • discuss what they have written with the teacher or other pupils
  • read aloud their writing clearly enough to be heard by their peers and the teacher.

 

Writing – vocabulary, grammar and punctuation

 

Statutory requirements

Pupils should be taught to:

  • develop their understanding of the concepts set out by:
  • leaving spaces between words
  • joining words and joining clauses using and
  • beginning to punctuate sentences using a capital letter and a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark
  • using a capital letter for names of people, places, the days of the week, and the personal pronoun ‘I’
  • learning the grammar for year 1
  • use the grammatical terminology in discussing their writing.

 

 

Spelling - work for year 1

 

Revision of reception work

 

Statutory requirements

The boundary between revision of work covered in Reception and the introduction of new work may vary according to the programme used, but basic revision should include:

  • all letters of the alphabet and the sounds which they most commonly represent
  • consonant digraphs which have been taught and the sounds which they represent
  • vowel digraphs which have been taught and the sounds which they represent
  • the process of segmenting spoken words into sounds before choosing graphemes to represent the sounds
  • words with adjacent consonants
  • guidance and rules which have been taught

 

Statutory requirements

 

Rules and guidance (non statutory)

Example words (non statutory)

The sounds /f/, /l/, /s/, /z/ and /k/ spelt ff, ll, ss, zz and ck

 

The /f/, /l/, /s/, /z/ and /k/ sounds are usually spelt as ff, ll, ss, zz and ck if they come straight after a single vowel letter in short words. Exceptions: if, pal, us, bus, yes.

off, well, miss, buzz, back

The /ŋ/ sound spelt n before k

 

 

bank, think, honk, sunk

Division of words into syllables

 

Each syllable is like a ‘beat’ in the spoken word. Words of more than one syllable often have an unstressed syllable in which the vowel sound is unclear.

pocket, rabbit, carrot, thunder, sunset

 

Statutory requirements

 

Rules and guidance (non‑statutory)

Example words (non statutory)

-tch

 

The /tʃ/ sound is usually spelt as tch if it comes straight after a single vowel letter. Exceptions: rich, which, much, such.

catch, fetch, kitchen, notch, hutch

The /v/ sound at the end of words

 

English words hardly ever end with the letter v, so if a word ends with a /v/ sound, the letter e usually needs to be added after the ‘v’.

have, live, give

Adding s and es to words (plural of nouns and the third person singular of verbs)

 

If the ending sounds like /s/ or /z/, it is spelt as –s. If the ending sounds like /ɪz/ and forms an extra syllable or ‘beat’ in the word, it is spelt as –es.

cats, dogs, spends, rocks, thanks, catches

Adding the endings –ing, –ed and –er to verbs where no change is needed to the root word

 

–ing and –er always add an extra syllable to the word and –ed sometimes does.

The past tense of some verbs may sound as if it ends in /ɪd/ (extra syllable), /d/ or /t/ (no extra syllable), but all these endings are spelt –ed.

If the verb ends in two consonant letters (the same or different), the ending is simply added on.

hunting, hunted, hunter, buzzing, buzzed, buzzer, jumping, jumped, jumper

Adding –er and –est to adjectives where no change is needed to the root word

 

As with verbs (see above), if the adjective ends in two consonant letters (the same or different), the ending is simply added on.

grander, grandest, fresher, freshest, quicker, quickest

 

Vowel digraphs and trigraphs

Some may already be known, depending on the programmes used in Reception, but some will be new.

Vowel diagraphs and trigraphs

 

Rules and guidance (non statutory)

Example words (non statutory)

ai, oi

 

The digraphs ai and oi are virtually never used at the end of English words.

rain, wait, train, paid, afraid
oil, join, coin, point, soil

ay, oy

 

ay and oy are used for those sounds at the end of words and at the end of syllables.

day, play, say, way, stay
boy, toy, enjoy, annoy

a–e

 

 

made, came, same, take, safe

e–e

 

 

these, theme, complete

i–e

 

 

five, ride, like, time, side

o–e

 

 

home, those, woke, hope, hole

u–e

 

Both the /u:/ and /ju:/ (‘oo’ and ‘yoo’) sounds can be spelt as u–e.

June, rule, rude, use, tube, tune

ar

 

 

car, start, park, arm, garden

ee

 

 

see, tree, green, meet, week

ea (/i:/)

 

 

sea, dream, meat, each, read (present tense)

ea (/ɛ/)

 

 

head, bread, meant, instead, read (past tense)

er (/ɜ:/)

 

 

(stressed sound): her, term, verb, person

er (/ə/)

 

 

(unstressed schwa sound): better, under, summer, winter, sister

ir

 

 

girl, bird, shirt, first, third

ur

 

 

turn, hurt, church, burst, Thursday

 

Vowel diagraphs and trigraphs

 

Rules and guidance (non statutory)

Example words (non statutory)

oo (/u:/)

 

Very few words end with the letters oo, although the few that do are often words that primary children in year 1 will encounter, for example, zoo

food, pool, moon, zoo, soon

oo (/ʊ/)

 

 

book, took, foot, wood, good

oa

 

The digraph oa is very rare at the end of an English word.

boat, coat, road, coach, goal

oe

 

 

toe, goes

ou

 

The only common English word ending in ou is you.

out, about, mouth, around, sound

ow (/aʊ/)

ow (/əʊ/)

ue

ew

 

Both the /u:/ and /ju:/ (‘oo’ and ‘yoo’) sounds can be spelt as u–e, ue and ew. If words end in the /oo/ sound, ue and ew are more common spellings than oo.

now, how, brown, down, town
own, blow, snow, grow, show
blue, clue, true, rescue, Tuesday
new, few, grew, flew, drew, threw

ie (/aɪ/)

 

 

lie, tie, pie, cried, tried, dried

ie (/i:/)

 

 

chief, field, thief

igh

 

 

high, night, light, bright, right

or

 

 

for, short, born, horse, morning

ore

 

 

more, score, before, wore, shore

aw

 

 

saw, draw, yawn, crawl

au

 

 

author, August, dinosaur, astronaut

air

 

 

air, fair, pair, hair, chair

ear

 

 

dear, hear, beard, near, year

ear (/ɛə/)

 

 

bear, pear, wear

are (/ɛə/)

 

 

bare, dare, care, share, scared

 

Statutory requirements

 

Rules and guidance (non statutory)

Example words (non statutory)

Words ending –y (/i:/ or /ɪ/)

 

 

very, happy, funny, party, family

New consonant spellings ph and wh

 

The /f/ sound is not usually spelt as ph in short everyday words (e.g. fat, fill, fun).

dolphin, alphabet, phonics, elephant
when, where, which, wheel, while

Using k for the /k/ sound

 

The /k/ sound is spelt as krather than as c before e, iand y.

Kent, sketch, kit, skin, frisky

Adding the prefix –un

 

The prefix un– is added to the beginning of a word without any change to the spelling of the root word.

unhappy, undo, unload, unfair, unlock

Compound words

 

Compound words are two words joined together. Each part of the longer word is spelt as it would be if it were on its own.

football, playground, farmyard, bedroom, blackberry

Common exception words

 

Pupils’ attention should be drawn to the grapheme-phoneme correspondences that do and do not fit in with what has been taught so far.

the, a, do, to, today, of, said, says, are, were, was, is, his, has, I, you, your, they, be, he, me, she, we, no, go, so, by, my, here, there, where, love, come, some, one, once, ask, friend, school, put, push, pull, full, house, our – and/or others, according to the programme used

 

 

Year 1: Detail of content to be introduced (statutory requirement)

Word

Regular plural noun suffixes –s or –es [for example, dog, dogs; wish, wishes], including the effects of these suffixes on the meaning of the noun

Suffixes that can be added to verbs where no change is needed in the spelling of root words (e.g. helping, helped, helper)

How the prefix un– changes the meaning of verbs and adjectives [negation, for example, unkind, or undoing: untie the boat]

Sentence

How words can combine to make sentences

Joining words and joining clauses using and

Text

Sequencing sentences to form short narratives

Punctuation

Separation of words with spaces

Introduction to capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks to demarcate sentences

Capital letters for names and for the personal pronoun I

Terminology for pupils

letter, capital letter

word, singular, plural

sentence

punctuation, full stop, question mark, exclamation mark