1. Year 1 English Workshop
Welcome!

2. English in the National Curriculum
4 key areas:
Speaking and Listening
Reading
Writing
Spelling, grammar and punctuation
All of these skills are ‘mutually beneficial’ and
children need all of these in order to access and
understand the world around them.

3. Speaking and Listening
Speaking and listening permeates the whole curriculum but is extremely important in terms of English as it directly impacts upon children’s reading and writing.
It also helps children build confidence and develop social skills.
How can you help?
Make time to talk through real and meaningful experiences!
Help children build up their vocabulary so that they can transfer this into both their reading and writing.
Model ‘talk’ to help children to gain an understanding of standard English.
‘Reading and writing float on a sea of talk’ James Britton 1976

4. Reading 2 key elements: Decoding/word reading – reading the words
Comprehension – understanding the words
Both skills are equally as important and to be a ‘good’ reader
children need to be able to do both.

5. Reading: What the curriculum says…
Pupils should be taught to:
Word reading:
Use knowledge of phonic rules to spell and pronounce words
Use knowledge of graphemes to sound out new words quickly, including
Graphemes which represent more than one sound e.g. ea – leaf, bread
Read new words accurately by blending sounds, using knowledge of phonic rules
Read words that are common exceptions to phonic rules(tricky words), and identify unusual pairs of letters and sounds in these words
Read words that follow the phonic rules I have been taught and end in ‘s’. ‘es’, ‘ing’, ‘ed’, ‘er’ and ‘es’.
Read words with multiple syllables containing graphemes that have been taught.
Read contractions and understand that the apostrophe represents the missing letter(s)
Accurately read books aloud when the words follow phonic rules that have been taught
Reread books to increase fluency and confidence

6. Reading: What the curriculum says…
Comprehension
Listen to and discuss fiction, poetry and non-fiction that is above the level that they can read on their own.
Compare what I read or hear with my own experiences
Retell and explain the features of well-known stories, fairy stories and traditional tales
Recognise and complete predictable phrases
Appreciate rhymes and poety, and can recite some by heart
Discuss word meanings, linking words I already know to new words
Use their own knowledge, or information and vocabulry provided by the teacher, to understand books I read or hear
Check that a text makes sense as I read, and correct any errors in my reading
Discuss the importance of a book’s title and events
Infer meanings from what characters say and do
Predict what might happen next in a story based on what I have already read or heard
Discuss books that have been read to me and listen to other people’s opinions about them
Explain my understanding of books that have been read to me

7. Reading: How do we do it?
In Year 1 we approach reading in several ways:
We work on whole class reading activities through English lessons
We have a weekly guided reading session
We will do some 1:1 reading (as much as we can fit in!)

8. Reading: How can you help?
Reading with your child is vital. Research shows that it's the single most important thing you can do to help your child's education. It's best to read little and often, so try to put aside some time for it every day.
Do what works well for you…
Choose an appropriate time
Make sure your child is ready for reading (e.g. not too tired)
Choose a nice place to read
Ensure children are interested in the text (it doesn’t have to be a school book everyday)
Reading shouldn’t be a battle!

9. Reading: How can you help?
It is important that children read a book more than once.
Even returning to a book that they have read weeks, months or even years ago has value…especially with higher level reading skills such as comprehension, identifying with characters or situations.
BOOK TALK! Ask questions about a book, talk about the characters, settings, plot, likes and dislikes etc.
Above all, for children to become confident readers, reading needs to be fun.
Read to your child and discuss what you have read with them, asking questions, see if they can retell the story, predict what might happen
next.

10. Not something to worry about! Children will and do get there!
Writing
Not something to worry about! Children will and do get there!

11. Being a successful writer is tricky!
They need…
Access to a rich talking environment
Experiences of many stories and other texts being shared and read to them
Opportunities to join in with familiar texts/stories and add their own ideas
A chance to practise and develop language
A range of speaking and listening activities and drama to stimulate writing
Help to understand the structure of how texts are put together
To see a real purpose that is interesting and meaningful to them

12. Writing: What the curriculum says…
Transcription
Handwriting
Grammar
Vocabulary
Punctuation
Spelling
Composition
It is a lot and we can only develop small chunks at a time.

13. Writing: Composition Contexts: How to do this well: Narratives
Real events
Poetry
Different purposes (e.g. letters, postcards, lists, instructions, reports)
How to do this well:
Drama and acting out stories
TALK
DEVELOPING IDEAS
PLANNING!

14. Writing: Grammar, vocabulary and punctuation
Leaving spaces between words
Using ‘and’ to join words and clauses together
Start to use capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks
Capital letter for proper nouns and ‘I’
Understand grammar rules taught
Use grammatical terms that have been taught to talk about their writing
Terminology: letter, capital letter, word, sentence, singular, plural, punctuation, full stop, question mark, exclamation mark

15. Writing: Handwriting We will be learning ‘cursive’ letter formation
Cursive writing from the start - pros
Letters are produced in a flowing movement, which helps the development of a physical memory of how each letter is written.
Letters all start in the same place and flow from left to right, which reduces the likelihood of reversal mix-ups such as b/d and p/q.
Because of the smooth flow, writing soon becomes quicker and easier.
There is no messy transition stage when children move from print to a joined style.
A cursive style of handwriting is recommended by the British Dyslexia Association.
Cursive writing - cons
Letters written in cursive style can look quite different from printed letters in books.
In the early stages, writing can look messy as the movements are slightly more complex than print-style letters.

16. Writing: Punctuation Full stops Capital letters Exclamation marks
Question marks
KUNG FU!

17. Writing: Spelling
Expectations are high!

18. Writing: Spelling
Currently children are learning to spell words using their phonic knowledge – this is fine and this is what we encourage them to do.
Tricky word spelling is taught during phonics lessons and these need to be practised
We will begin to learn the specific spelling rules after Christmas when phonic knowledge has become more secure
Spelling rules will be sent home weekly with optional tasks to help the children learn to apply them

19. Writing: How can you help?
- A few children will be natural writers, whilst the majority will need patience and support to achieve the skills needed in writing:
Always try to praise and be supportive.
Lots of talk!
Support your child by giving them time and listening to the ideas that they are trying to set down
Help your child to begin to organise their ideas before they start writing
Support them with their homework of reading, spelling, English work that they bring home
Provide real life, fun writing activities, for a purpose such as, thank- you letters, writing their own party invitations, making lists for birthdays, Christmas. Get the children to write down the things needed when you go shopping… great fun especially as they are in charge of reading the list in the supermarket!
GAMES!

20. Remember!
Every child is unique and their writing will develop at different stages.

21. Please see the website for…
Top ten strategies
Help-sheets
Ideas for helping children at home
Useful websites
Phonic glossary
A copy of today’s presentation