1. Writing at Year 1

2. Writing is a very complex activity.
Your child has to deal with many skills simultaneously
Thinking about what to write
Letter formation and legibility
Sounding out unfamiliar words
Remembering familiar words
Capital letters, full stops, finger spaces
Type of writing (instructions, narrative)

3. Even skilled and talented writers find it impossible to control all of these aspects simultaneously. Children cannot manage all the demands of writing at the same time.

4. Foundations to learning
In year 1 we build from the foundations that have been formed in Early Years and aim to refine letter and sounds recognition.
As the children mature they are able to gradually fine tune their writing skills such as capital letters, full stops, spaces, sitting letters on the line and reducing the size.

5. We progress from basic sentence structure e.g. I can run.
To more complex sentence structure e.g. I can run because it is fun.
Extend sentences with and, but, so and because. These help the children to think carefully in order to extend vocabulary.

6. Describing words and WOW words!
We also encourage children to use describing words as often as possible to make their writing more interesting.
Later we encourage the use of WOW words such as amazing, extraordinary, unbelievable etc.

7. Punctuation
We encourage the children to become more familiar with other types of punctuation such as; speech marks, question marks, commas etc.

8. Continuous provision
Having a rich and creative continuous provision aids opportunities to consolidate learning and practise retelling and acting out stories and other concepts.
These opportunities help develop speech and language, expression and confidence.

9. Drama into writing
Drama is an integral part of the primary classroom and lends itself as a starting point in developing imagination, speech and then writing.

10. In Year 1 we have 6 topics which have Literacy lessons planned into them.
These lessons use drama activities as a stimulus to engage the children and to bring the topics alive.

11. The Three Billy Goats Gruff

12. House of straw and sticks

13. House of bricks

14. Drama into writing
Talking partners is also a strategy used in literacy lessons to enhance and develop ideas for writing.
Gives the child the chance to express themselves and bounce ideas off their peers.
If a child is given opportunities to discuss ideas, create own spin on things, take ownership and express opinions then their writing will be more inspiring, interesting and more imaginative for the reader.

15. Other strategies
Mind mapping is a way to stimulate ideas for writing where the children conjure up their own ideas based around a common theme.
We encourage children to find the words they need by using a word bank. This way children also see words spelt correctly instead of emergent writing.