Supporting Your Child in Class 1
Reception
Phonics, Reading and Writing
When your child is in their first year of school, the focus is on
learning the letters of the alphabet and the sounds these make,
then going on to learn sounds which contain 2 letters or more (such
as ‘oo’ in food and ‘igh’ in night).
Your child will learn these sounds in sequence and this will enable
them to build up to blending words for reading and segmenting the
sounds in words for spelling.
For information on the sequence in which the sounds are taught,
please see the Letters and Sounds document attached, which also
has ideas for games and activities.
Common Exception and High Frequency Words
Your child will also begin to learn a range of Common Exception
Words (‘tricky words’). These are words which are not regular and
therefore cannot be sounded out phonetically. Many of the most
common words used in the English language are Common Exception
Words. Therefore, we send home with the children at the beginning
of the year a laminated list of the 1st 100 High Frequency Words for
you to practise with them at home. These words need a lot of
practising as the idea is that children will build up to recognising
them by sight and will then be able to read them quickly when they
encounter them in books.
It makes a huge difference to the speed at which children become
strong readers if they regularly read at home. We change the
children’s books 3 times a week. Should you require more than one
book at a time that is perfectly fine. Please just let the Class 1 staff
know. Please make sure you take time to discuss the book you have
read with your child, asking them questions about what has happened
or how they think a character may be feeling etc. This helps to
develop children’s comprehension skills, as their understanding of a
text is as important as the mechanics of reading the words. Please
record all that you do in the Home section of the Red Book.
Just as children tend to me more confident readers if they are able
to read regularly at home, those who do some writing at home tend
to be more confident writers. Reception children will tend to start
by practising writing their letters and build up to writing their own
words and sentences. It is fantastic to encourage your child with
their early attempts at writing (even if it looks like gobbledigook to
you!) as it will help build up their confidence and encourage them to
preserve.
Maths
In Reception, children will also begin to develop their early
mathematical skills. By the end of the year, the children will
hopefully be able to confidently work with numbers 1-20, to
recognise them, put them in order and begin to write them. During
Reception the children will also work on problems related to
measurement (weigh, length, capacity), time, money and position and
will begin to add and subtract using concrete objects. There is also a
focus on learning the names and properties of simple 2D and 3D
shapes.
Please follow the Working with Your Child link for lots of ideas of
how to help your child with their maths, as well as all other areas of
development.
Homework
In Reception the homework is mainly centred upon developing early
reading, writing and numeracy skills:
 Try to read with your child every day if possible and discuss
the book they are reading with them
 Go through your child’s High Frequency Words with them
regularly.
 Try to sing some counting rhymes with your child and practise
counting out loud. You could send your child to carry out little
tasks – e.g. “Please can you go and get me eight apples”. (See
link for other ideas).
 There is also one piece of homework set each half-term which
will be related to our topic and is very open-ended. The
children can make models, draw pictures, make fact books or
write a song to do with the topic (or use any other medium to
create their fabulous projects!)
Year 1
Phonics, Reading and Writing
During Year 1 the children will build upon the phonics, reading and
writing skills they have developed during their Reception year. They
will have completed Phase 1 and 2 in phonics and will start Year 1 on
Phase 3 (if not further along). Please see the Letters and Sounds
document link to see the order in which the sounds are learned and
also for ideas for games and activities.
The Year 1 children will have learned a number of Common Exception
Words (tricky words) in Reception and will begin to learn a wider
range in Year 1. The Year 1 children will know many of the First 100
High Frequency Words and will move on to learning the Next 200
High Frequency Words. Please see the Reception section entitled
‘Common Exception and High Frequency Words’ for more
information.
The Year 1 children will all take part in the Phonics Screening Check
at the end of the year. This check is statutory and is designed to
check whether children are able to phonetically decode confidently
when reading. The check involves the children reading 40 separate
words on flashcards. Some words are real words and the other
words are ‘nonsense words’ (the nonsense words are alien names and
are accompanied by pictures of aliens!) The children will practise the
sounds they will need to know for the test in phonics sessions.
If you wish to help your child at home with their phonics there are a
lot of great websites you can go on at home.
Useful Websites:
· www.bbc.co.uk/school/wordsandpictures
Games mainly aimed at year 1 and year 2 looking at sounds and high
frequency words. Some printable activities too particularly for the
phase 4 blends.
· www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize
Games to practice key skills such as rhyming, punctuation and
grammar.
· www.phonicsplay.co.uk/freeIndex
Lots of free games for each phase, especially good for reading nonwords. You can also subscribe to access more games.
· www.letters-and-sounds.com
Includes further information on each phase as well as printable
resources and links to online games.
· www.ictgames.com/literacy
Wide range of games for sounds, words and rhyming.
· www.topmarks.co.uk
Search engine designed for schools where you can find a wide range
of resources and activities with a phonics focus.
Spellings
Your child will also have weekly spellings in Year 1. They will be given
these spellings on a Friday and they will be tested on them the
following Friday. You will find your child’s spellings stuck into their
Red Books.
The children’s spellings will contain words using the sounds they have
been learning in phonics and Common Exception Words. The children
will also begin to learn spelling lists which have this year become a
statutory requirement in the New Curriculum, for example the days
of the week and numbers 1-20 in words.
Homework
In Year 1 the homework is mainly centred upon building upon the
children’s early reading, writing and numeracy skills:
 Try to read with your child every day if possible and discuss
the book they are reading with them
 Go through your child’s High Frequency Words with them
regularly.
 Please practise your child’s spellings with them on several
occasions throughout the week so that they are confident for
their spelling tests.
 There is also one piece of homework set each half-term which
will be related to our topic and is very open-ended. The
children can make models, draw pictures, make fact books or
write a song to do with the topic (or use any other medium to
create their fabulous projects!)