Year 1

Children entering Year 1 should be able to read and spell words containing adjacent consonants and some polysyllabic words. They will learn new graphemes and alternative pronunciations for theses graphemes and the graphemes they already know, where relevant.

Autumn

Pupils will revise the 42 letter sounds, plus the alternatives that have been taught. They will revise the short vowels. Pupils will have already been introduced to the most common digraphs, so the focus within this half term will be on the teaching of alternative graphemes such as: (ue) and (u_e) for the long /oo/ sound, (ay) for /ai/ and (oy) for /oi/, (ea) for /ee/ sound. Pupils will also consolidate their recognition of the following Tricky Words: go, no, so, they, you, one, by, come, some, your, said, here, there, only, old, like, have, live, give, little, down, what, when, why, where, who, which. By now they should be able to read and spell the words.

During the second half of the Autumn term, pupils will continue to learn alternative graphemes. They will be taught: (y) for the /ie/ sound, (ow) for the /oa/ sound, (ir) and (ur) for the /er/ sound, (ew) for /ue/ and /oo/. They will also revise letter formation, including the ascending / descending and capital letters. Pupils will read words, phrases and sentences as frequently as possible (using blending for unknown words), and develop their comprehension skills. They will be taught the short and long vowel sounds, with regular revision. Pupils will be encouraged to aurally segment words, using sound fingers on the chin. They will also write longer words and sentences from dictation, as well as write independently on a chosen theme.

Children will then be introduced to a new set of alternative graphemes: (ow) for the /ou/ sound,  (igh) for the /ie/ sound, (aw) for the /or/ sound, Revise /ai/ as ai, ay, a_e, (wh) for /w/ sound. The following Tricky Words will also be taught during reading and spelling sessions: any, many, more, before, because, want, saw, put, could, should, would, right, two, four, goes, does, made, their, once, upon, always, also, of, eight, love, cover, after, every, mother, father.

Spring and Summer

Once the children have completed the Jolly Phonics programme, they are introduced to Jolly Phonics Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation.  This is intended to:

• introduce the basic elements of grammar,
• teach spelling systematically,
• improve vocabulary and comprehension,
• develop dictionary skills,
• reinforce the teaching covered in the Jolly Phonics programme, and
• extend the children's phonic knowledge.