Year 1

Age 5-6 Key Stage 1

10 subjects taught in this year group. 49 lesson planners available.

Learner Profile

Reading Level

Most children are in phonics stages 2–5. Cannot decode independently. All content must be supported by audio.

Scaffolding

maximum

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What "Expected" Looks Like

Examples of what children working at the expected level can do in Year 1.

Spoken Language

Listening skills

Listening attentively to longer contributions and responding with relevant comments or questions.

Example task:

Listen to the visitor talk about their job. Afterwards, ask one question about something they said.

Reading - Word Reading

Phoneme

Accurately identifying all phonemes in words with digraphs, trigraphs and adjacent consonants without support.

Example task:

Say each sound in the word 'string'. How many phonemes does it have?

Number and Place Value

Counting forwards and backwards to 100

Counting forwards and backwards within 100 from any given number, including across decade boundaries, without support.

Example task:

Start at 77. Count forwards to 85. Now start at 43 and count backwards to 36.

Addition and Subtraction

Number bonds within 20

Instant recall of all addition and subtraction bonds within 20, including relating addition bonds to their subtraction inverses.

Example task:

What is 8 + 6? What is 14 – 6?

Working Scientifically

Asking Scientific Questions

Asking questions that lead to a simple test or comparison, using stems like 'What would happen if...?' and 'Which one is best for...?'

Example task:

We have three different paper towels. Think of a question we could test about them.

Plants

Plant Identification

Confidently naming a range of common wild plants, garden plants and trees, describing distinguishing features such as leaf shape, flower structure and bark texture.

Example task:

Use a simple identification guide to identify these four pressed leaves. Name the tree each one came from and explain how you know.

Making and Creating

Materials and Making

Experimenting with how materials can be changed, combined and manipulated to create specific visual or tactile effects, making deliberate creative choices.

Example task:

Create a mixed-media piece that shows a stormy sea. Choose and combine materials to show the movement and power of the water.

Visual Elements and Techniques

Visual Elements: Colour, Pattern, Texture, Line, Shape, Form and Space

Using all the visual elements (colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form, space) to create artwork with specific intentions, explaining their choices.

Example task:

Create a piece of artwork that makes the viewer feel calm. Explain which visual elements you used and why.

Computer Science: Algorithms and Programming (KS1)

Debugging and Logical Reasoning

Systematically debugging programs by testing, identifying errors, hypothesising causes, making changes and retesting.

Example task:

This game program has two bugs: the score doesn't increase when you collect a coin, and the character can walk through walls. Find and fix both bugs.

Computer Science: Algorithms and Programming (KS2)

Algorithms

Designing algorithms to solve problems, comparing different approaches and evaluating their efficiency.

Example task:

Write two different algorithms for sorting five numbered cards into order. Which is more efficient?

Design

Iterative Design Process

Using the design-make-evaluate cycle independently, making purposeful changes during making based on testing, and evaluating against the original design criteria.

Example task:

Design, make and evaluate a container that holds at least five pencils and stands up by itself. Test it during making and improve if needed.

Make

Tools, Equipment and Safe Making

Using a range of tools with increasing accuracy and control, measuring and marking before cutting, and maintaining a safe and organised workspace.

Example task:

Measure and cut a piece of card that is exactly 15cm by 10cm. Mark it out first using a ruler and pencil.

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