Phase 1 (Year 1 and 2)

Children will be taught to:

Speaking and listening

• Listen and respond appropriately to adults and their peers
• Ask relevant questions to extend their understanding and knowledge
• Use relevant strategies to build their vocabulary
• Begin to give reasons for their answers and express their opinions
• To begin to describe things including feelings
• Begin to give simple explanations
• Be active listeners and respond to others’ contributions
• Use talk partners to explore ideas and make predictions
• Participate in discussions performances and role play

Reading

• apply phonic knowledge and skills as the route to decode words ( Year 2 - until automatic decoding has become embedded and reading is fluent)
• 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 (grapheme, phoneme correspondences) that have been taught
• read words containing common suffixes
• read common exception words, noting unusual correspondences between spelling and sound and where these occur in the word
• read most words quickly and accurately, without overt sounding and blending, when they have been frequently encountered
• read accurately words of two or more syllables that contain the same graphemes as above
• 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.

Comprehension

Year 1

• 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.

Year 2

• develop pleasure in reading, motivation to read, vocabulary and understanding by:
• listening to, discussing and expressing views about a wide range of contemporary and classic poetry, stories and non-fiction at a level beyond that at which they can read independently
• discussing the sequence of events in books and how items of information are related
• becoming increasingly familiar with and retelling a wider range of stories, fairy stories and traditional tales
• being introduced to non-fiction books that are structured in different ways
• recognising simple recurring literary language in stories and poetry
• discussing and clarifying the meanings of words, linking new meanings to known vocabulary
• discussing their favourite words and phrases
• continuing to build up a repertoire of poems learnt by heart, appreciating these and reciting some, with appropriate intonation to make the meaning clear
• understand both the books that they can already read accurately and fluently and those that 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
• making inferences on the basis of what is being said and done
• answering and asking questions
• predicting what might happen on the basis of what has been read so far
• participate in discussion about books, poems and other works that are read to them and those that they can read for themselves, taking turns and listening to what others say
• explain and discuss their understanding of books, poems and other material, both those that they listen to and those that they read for themselves.

Handwriting

• Children to be able to form all letters of the alphabet correctly including capital letters and numbers.
• Letters have clear shape and orientation. Work can be read unassisted
• All letters correctly formed and beginning to join simple letter sets
• All letters correct size and orientation
• A fluent and legible style

Spelling

• Spell phonically plausible words using the 40+ phonemes from letters and sounds
• See year 1 and 2 spelling list
• Spell and use rules in Year 2 spelling appendix

Composition

• Discuss what they have written
• Children to be able to write a basic story which includes a clear beginning, middle and end
• Children to be able to write 10+ sentences consistently
• Children able to make connections within their sentences using connectives such as and, then, next, with
• Children to use adventurous/topic specific words
• Write for a sustained period
• Organise writing into simple paragraphs ( minimum of 3)
• Proof read and edit own work to improve it
• Use a wider variety of openers
• Use both simple and compound sentence structures
• Use time phrases to sequence writing
• Vivid and adventurous description to interest the reader
• Write stories and non- fiction texts that are interesting for the reader

Grammar and punctuation

• Punctuate a sentence using a capital letter, full stops and finger spaces in their writing
• Children understand what a question/exclamation mark is used for and may use them in their writing.
• Capital letters are used at the beginning of a piece of writing and when writing their own name, others names, days of the week and for the pronoun ‘I’.
• Use and to join two sentences
• Sequence sentences to form short narratives

Terminology
Letter, capital letter, word, singular, plural, punctuation, full stop, exclamation mark, question mark

• Use capital letters and full stops accurately in own writing
• Begin to use exclamation marks, question marks and inverted commas for speech
• Use comma to separate items in a list
• Use the correct tense appropriately
• Use apostrophes for contractions and single possession (Sam’s pen)
• Start sentences with adverbs
• Use because, while, however to link ideas
• Be able to recognise and use a statement, command, question and exclamation

Terminology
Noun, noun phrase, statement, exclamation, question, command, compound suffix, adjective, adverb, verb, tense (past-present) apostrophe and comma.

Spelling