Y1 Support at Home

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Maths

By the end of Year 1, we aim for children to recognise their numbers to 100. As we lead up to this, our main goal is for children to form their digits correctly and recognise number bonds. When necessary, please encourage your child to practice writing their numbers to 10, helping them form these the correct way round. Learning their number bonds to 10/20 at this stage is also key. A simple recall always helps e.g. "What does 8 need to make 10/20?".

Children can count anything! Pennies, buttons, pasta, trees, cars, building bricks, sweets, berries– encourage them to count things wherever they are! Give them mini-tasks at the supermarket, e.g. putting 6 potatoes in a bag; 3 tins of peas, etc.

Try playing number games with cards, dominos and board games – try to encourage them by joining in yourself! They could even have fun creating their own games.

Let children sort the washing! Matching and counting pairs of socks is a great way of practising odd and even numbers, counting in twos and the 2 times table and means it is one less job for you!

Look at the pattern of house numbers as you walk along – are they odd or even numbers? What house number will be next?

In Year 1 and 2, the children begin to learn their 2x, 5x and 10x tables. Food can be a very motivating way of learning their times tables and the corresponding division facts! For example, sweets can be grouped and counted, children can count the biscuits in a packet in twos as they put them in the biscuit barrel, chunks on a bar of chocolate can be counted in pairs, and so on. Pose questions such as; There are five people in our family. If we have 2 biscuits each, how many will we eat altogether? I have 15 sweets. If I share them between you and your two friends, how many will you get each?

Money can also be very motivating! The real stuff is the best! Give your children a jar of coins to sort by the different value coins.

• Find the biggest coin. Is it worth the most?

• Find the smallest coin. Is it worth the least?

• Put them in order of value.

Use 2p, 5p and 10p coins to support learning the times tables.

Other ideas:

Create a shop! Allow children to make price tags for different items around the home and use real money to play at being the shop keeper! I’d like a teddy for 12p and a tin of beans for 10p – how much will that cost? If I give you 50p, how much change will I get?
Practise fractions by cutting pizza or sandwiches into halves and quarters. Is there a different way that I could cut my sandwich into quarters?
Let your child borrow your watch. Can you tell me when it is 2 o’clock? Can you tell me how long it takes for us to walk from our house to grandma’s? You can play on the computer for 30 minutes. Can you tell me when the 30 minutes are up? Play games like: ‘What’s the Time Mr Wolf’?
Buy your child a pocket diary or calendar and help them plan out a daily timetable for their week. Write in the times of activities on the days of the week. How many days/ weeks until your birthday/ Christmas/ our holiday?
Play ‘I’m thinking of a Number’. Begin by giving clues such as “My number is more than 50 but less than 100; it is an odd number; It is two more than 37, etc” As your child becomes more confident, they can try to find out by asking questions eg. Is it odd or even? A multiple of 5? More or less than 30? Etc. This can be done anywhere! Driving in the car, walking to school…
Look for shapes all around you and encourage your child to name and describe them. Can you find any objects that are squares? cubes? How many circles can you see in this room?

Reading

Supporting your child with reading and their Little Wandle Journey

Although your child will be taught to read at school, you can have a huge impact on their reading journey by continuing their practice at home.

There are two types of reading book that your child may bring home:

A reading practice book. This will be at the correct phonic stage for your child. They should be able to read this fluently and independently.

A reading for pleasure book. Your child will not be able to read this on their own. This book is for you both to read and enjoy together.

Reading practice book

This book has been carefully matched to your child’s current reading level. If your child is reading it with little help, please don’t worry that it’s too easy – your child needs to develop fluency and confidence in reading.

Listen to them read the book. Remember to give them lots of praise – celebrate their success! If they can’t read a word, read it to them. After they have finished, talk about the book together.

Reading for pleasure book

In order to encourage your child to become a lifelong reader, it is important that they learn to read for pleasure. This book is a book they have chosen for you to share and enjoy together.

Please remember that you shouldn’t expect your child to read this alone. Read it to or with them. Discuss the pictures, enjoy the story, predict what might happen next, use different voices for the characters, explore the facts in a non-fiction book. The main thing is that you have fun!

Other ways to support your child:

1. Build reading into your child's daily routine

Find a regular time for reading so that they can begin to expect it as part of their routine. This can be any time of day. Some children enjoy reading before bed, but others can just be too tired. It might be better for some children to read just after dinner, or in the morning after breakfast when they have more energy.

2. Read every day
Regular reading at home provides children with the practice they need to become great readers. Reading at home reinforces a positive attitude around reading— they will start to enjoy reading!

3. Make a special reading area
Designating a special reading spot for children to read with their adults is not only fun, but is also a great way to create an area where they can focus. The reading spot should be rid of any noise, toys, etc. Some cosy pillows or a comfy chair in the corner of a room and surrounding the area with books is a great way to go.

4. Encourage your child to follow their interests

Let your children choose books they read for pleasure. You can do this by keeping books on a shelf they have frequent access to, or presenting them with a few books and allowing them them to choose. Let them read the same book, or same genre of reading material (such as magazines!), over and over again. All reading is good reading!

5. Surround your child with books.
When children have access to books in their home, they become familiar with books and the act of reading, which in turn gives them them a head start in learning. Just interacting with books on a regular basis makes a huge difference in a child’s development.

6. Bring books everywhere.
Incorporating books into everyday activities will continue to help children become more familiar with books and will encourage everyday reading. Place books in every room of the house, in the car, and take books wherever you can.

7. Take breaks while reading

Your child doesn’t have to read an entire book in one go. Any time spent sharing or talking about a book is beneficial, even if it’s just a couple of minutes at a time. If they have to close the book early because it’s time for tea, or they’re just losing interest, that’s absolutely fine.

How to be a great reading partner:

Be patient and encouraging.
Read aloud and track the words with your finger as you are reading.
Read the same stories over and over. Try reading the same stories in different ways, with different voices to make it fun and interesting.
Ask questions about the story while you’re reading to gauge comprehension.
Pick books that are at the right level for your young reader—5+ mistakes on one page is too hard. No mistakes or only one mistake per page is too easy.
Gently correct mistakes and re-read the entire sentence.
Give positive feedback and tell the reader he or she is doing a great job.

Phonics

Phonics is a key component of early literacy development. By focusing on the sounds that letters and combinations of letters make, children learn to read words accurately and fluently. This not only boosts their reading confidence but also enhances their comprehension skills and overall enjoyment of reading.

https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

The above link will lead you to the Little Wandle website. Here you will find lots of useful information and videos that demonstrate how we teach phonics.

In Year 1 we introduce Phase 5, which is a range of new and alternate sounds to the phase 3 sounds taught in EYFS.

Each week we update our Weekly Learning page with the sounds we will be introducing/recapping that week.

So, you can:

Revise sounds your child already knows.
Recap the new sounds they have learnt that week along with its spelling.
Use the new sound in a word and ask your child to repeat the sound back to you.
Show your child how to blend, or sound out, words which use the new sound. For example, if your new sound is long i spelled ‘igh’, you would sound out the separate sounds, and then blend the sounds together to form the word, like this: ‘n – igh – t’ … ‘night’.
Follow up by reading books which practise the new sound.

how to say the phase 5 sounds september 2022 1 .pdf