This programme of study is suitable for KS1 (5-7 year olds).
How our Writing For Pleasure approach fulfils the KS1 objectives of The National Curriculum
Year One
Curriculum objective | How it is achieved |
Pupils should be taught how to write sentences. | Children are taught early into the year that a book should typically have a picture and a sentence(s) on each page. In addition, children are taught lessons from our Sentence-Level Instruction publication. Children are expected to use and apply what they’ve just been taught during that day’s book-making time. |
Pupils should be taught how to discuss what they have written with the teacher or other pupils. Pupils should be taught how to read aloud their writing clearly enough to be heard by their peers and the teacher. | Children are encouraged to talk with their teacher and friends during the book-making process. Teachers undertake daily Pupil-Conferencing with their pupils. At the end of each daily book-making session, time is devoted to Author’s Chair. This is an opportunity for children to share their books with their class. Children are taught that once they have published a book, they should find a friend to read it with. Children’s finished books are placed in the class library for others to read. In addition, opportunities for children to make books for people beyond their classroom are built into book-making projects. |
Pupils should be taught how to leave spaces between words. | This is regularly taught as a mini-lesson by teachers. Children are expected to use and apply what’s been taught as a mini-lesson during that day’s book-making time. In addition, children can be given a checklist to complete which can include this requirement. Examples of what these can look like are in our Class Writing Project material. |
Pupils should begin to punctuate sentences using a capital letter and end punctuation (full stop, question mark or exclamation mark). Pupils should develop their understanding of how writers use a capital letter for names of people, places, the days of the week, and the personal pronoun ‘I’. | Children are taught early into the year that a book should typically have a picture and a sentence(s) on each page. Children are taught lessons from our Sentence-Level Instruction publication. Children are expected to use and apply what they’ve just been taught during book-making time. Children are taught lessons from our Functional Grammar Lessons publication. Children are expected to use and apply what they’ve just been taught during book-making time. Multiple proof-reading sessions are planned for during Class Writing Projects. During these sessions, children systematically proof-read their books prior to publication using a process called CUPS. This includes sessions devoted to checking for capitalisation and end punctuation. |
Pupils should be taught to sit correctly at a table, holding a pencil comfortably and correctly; begin to form lower-case letters in the correct direction, starting and finishing in the right place, and form capital letters | Children should be provided with short but regular handwriting instruction. This is usually best done in conjunction with any phonics instruction. In addition, prior to publishing their books at the end of a Class Writing Project, children can be asked to pick a favourite page from their book to write up in their ‘best handwriting’. During these sessions, teachers should provide verbal feedback and individualised responsive handwriting instruction through Pupil-Conferencing. |
Additional inclusion made by the WfP Centre Write the date their book was ‘born’ on their front covers. E.g. 24/06/22 | Children are taught early that a book should have it’s ‘birth date’ on the front. Children should copy the date from the board and put it on the front of their books. E.g. ‘26/06/22’. |
Year Two
Curriculum objective | How it is achieved |
Pupils should be taught to write for different purposes including: narratives, personal narratives and poetry. | Our Class Writing Projects cover the major purposes for writing and come with both exemplar texts and suggested mentor trade texts. Every day throughout EYFS and KS1, children will make books like the books they see and read in the class library. They will make story, information, memoir and poetry books. |
Pupils should learn how to use expanded noun phrases to describe and specify. | Children are taught lessons about expanded noun phrases from our Functional Grammar Lessons publication. Children are expected to use and apply (independently) what they’ve just been taught during that day’s book-making time. |
Pupils should be taught how they can plan what they are going to write about. | As part of a Class Writing Project, sessions are planned which invite children to make their front covers. These are seen as important ‘planning’ sessions as children are being asked to focus on what their book is going to be about. In addition, children are taught to draw a picture on any new page before they begin writing. This helps children consider what they will write about on each page. Alternatively, sessions are planned where children can draw all the pictures for their different pages prior to writing. Again, these drawings help children consider what they will write about on each page. Finally, our Big Book Of Mini-Lessons provides teachers with a whole host of developmentally appropriate planning strategies for a range of genres. Children are expected to use and apply a taught mini-lesson during that day’s book-making time. |
Pupils should be taught how to encapsulate what they want to say, sentence by sentence. | At this stage, children have been taught for multiple years that a book should typically have a picture and a sentence(s) on each page. In addition, they will have internalised a variety of sentence-level strategies from our Sentence-Level Instruction publication. |
Pupils should be taught to read aloud what they have written with appropriate intonation to make the meaning clear. | For a number of years children have engaged in daily Author’s Chair. This is an opportunity for them to share their books with their classmates. Again, children will have internalised the expectation that once they have published a book, they should find a friend to read it with. |
Pupils should be taught how to make simple additions, revisions and corrections to their own writing by evaluating their writing with the teacher and other pupils. | Teachers should plan sessions where children are taught revision mini-lessons. Children are expected to use and apply a taught mini-lesson during that day’s book-making time. In addition, teachers should turn the Product Goals for a class writing project into a Revision Checklist for children to use. Children should ensure that their books include all the things on the checklist. Examples of what these checklists can look like are supplied in our Class Writing Project resources. Finally, teachers will regularly suggest how children could make revisions to their books through their daily Pupil-Conferencing. |
Pupils should learn how to use subordination and coordination. | Teachers teach lessons about coordinating and subordinating conjunctions using our Functional Grammar Lessons publication. Children are expected to use and apply (independently) what they’ve just been taught during book-making time. |
Pupils should be taught how to proof-read for errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation. | Multiple proof-reading sessions are planned for during Class Writing Projects. During these sessions, children systematically proof-read their books prior to publication using a process called CUPS. This includes sessions devoted to checking for capitalisation, use of vocabulary, punctuation and spelling. |
Pupils should be taught how to re-read their writing to ensure it makes sense and that verbs to indicate time are used correctly. Pupils should learn how to use the present and past tenses correctly and consistently including the progressive form. | When required, teachers will provide sessions for children to check their books to ensure their tense use is correct and consistent. A poster and other resources are supplied by the teacher to help children to be successful during these sessions. |
Pupils should be taught how to leave spaces between words. | This will have been taught regularly for a number of years and children will have produced countless books which required them to use finger spaces. In addition, children can be given a checklist to complete which can include this requirement. Examples of what these checklists can look like are supplied in our Class Writing Project materials. |
Pupils should develop their understanding of how writers use full stops, capital letters, exclamation marks, and question marks. | Teachers teach lessons about capitalisation and end punctuation using our Functional Grammar Lessons publication. Children are expected to use and apply (independently) what they’ve just been taught during that day’s book-making time. |
Pupils should develop their understanding of how writers use commas for lists and apostrophes for contracted forms and the possessive (singular). | Teachers teach lessons about commas for lists, apostrophes for contracted forms, and apostrophes for singular possession using our Functional Grammar Lessons publication. Children are expected to use and apply (independently) what they’ve just been taught during book-making time. |
Pupils should be taught to spell by segmenting spoken words into phonemes and representing these by graphemes. | For a number of years, children have been taught a variety of encoding strategies and how to write ‘sound spellings’. Teachers will use the lessons provided in our Big Book Of Writing Mini-Lessons. Children are expected to use and apply (independently) what they’ve been taught during book-making time. |
Pupils should learn new ways of spelling phonemes for which one or more spellings are already known, and learn some words with each spelling, including a few common homophones. | Multiple proof-reading sessions are planned for during Class Writing Projects. During these sessions, children systematically proof-read their books prior to publication using a process called CUPS. This includes sessions devoted to checking their spellings of common homophones. In addition, these homophones are on display for children to use during daily book-making time. |
Pupils should be taught to form lower-case letters of the correct size; start using some of the strokes needed to join letters; understand which letters are best left unjoined; write capital letters and digits correctly and use spacing between words. | Children should be provided with short but regular handwriting instruction. This is usually best done in conjunction with any phonics instruction. In addition, prior to publishing their books at the end of a Class Writing Project, children can be asked to pick a favourite page from their book to write up in their ‘best handwriting’. During these sessions, teachers should provide verbal feedback and individualised responsive handwriting instruction through Pupil Conferencing. |
Additional inclusion made by the WfP Centre Write the date their book was ‘born’ on their front covers. E.g. 24/06/22 | Children are taught early that a book should have it’s ‘birth date’ on the front. Children should copy the date from the board and put it on the front of their books. E.g. ‘26/06/22’. |