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Mayville Primary School

A Parent’s Guide to

Literacy Guidance for

Home Learning

Working together in the pursuit of excellence for all

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Content page

School intent......................................................................................Page3

English in Early Years….......................................................................Page 3

English in Year 1……………………………....................................................Page 3

English in Year 2…...............................................................................Page 5

English in Years 3 and 4.......................................................................Page 7

English in Years 5 and 6……………………..................................................Page 10

Appendix 1 – Spelling Word List for Years 3 and 4 ...............................Page 13

Appendix 2a – Suffix Word Mat ...........................................................Page 14

Appendix 2b – Prefix Word Mat ..........................................................Page 15

Appendix 3 – Spelling Word List for Years 5 and 6................................Page 16

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School intent

We have put this guide together to help you with supporting your child with their home

learning. The guide will give you insight into the how literacy is taught in each year group or

phase, as well as guide you on the skills your child should be focusing on.

English in Early Years

During the early years of compulsory schooling, much of the focus is to develop confident

readers, mainly using the phonics approach. Phonics is the relationship between printed

letters and the sounds they make. Children will first learn the most common letter sounds,

and then look at more difficult patterns such as recognising that ‘ow’ sounds different in

‘cow’ than in ‘low’, or that both ‘ai’ and ‘ay’ make the same sound in different words.

We follow the Read Write Inc phonics programme, and your child’s year group will have

many Read Write Inc support materials available to support you at home which include play,

games and songs. Our teachers have recorded many phonic videos to assist you and you can

also access more parent guidance on the RWI website:

https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/.

English in Year 1

Our children continue to follow the Read Write Inc Programme to give them a solid

foundation in reading which will enable them to become some confident, independent

writers. All of the writing activities are linked to the sounds they are learning so that they

can apply their reading skills into their writing:

Focuses include:

• Listen and respond to adults and other children. Listen to how your child responds to you

and others. Can they respond to the topic? Do they ask relevant questions?

• Ask questions to extend their understanding. After reading a text, take time to ask

questions about what they have read and make connections with similar stories or

characters they know about.

• Learn new vocabulary related to topics or daily life. Try introducing a new word every

week, and find different ways to practice it and use it in sentence.

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Writing Skills

• Hold a pen or pencil in the correct and comfortable way. Use can find lots of practice

examples online to practice this with your child.

• Name the letters of the alphabet in order. Songs are a great way to embed this.

• Write lower-case letters starting and ending in the right place. Your child’s teacher will

provide examples and ways to practice. We use cursive joined up handwriting at Mayville.

You can find additional support online through clips such as

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NQ6uS8blwY

• Write capital letters, and the digits 0 to 9 (Use capital letters accurately). Use these at the

start of sentences, names, proper nouns – EG. Specific people, things and places: Joe,

London, Venus, Tuesday, Titanic, Easter, The Bible, Taj Mahal

• Spell simple words containing the main sounds they’ve learned in reading. Refer to your

phonics – Read Write Inc guides which will be provided by the class teacher.

• Spell the days of the week. Make sure your child includes a capital letters for these.

• Learn to write words with common endings, such as –ed, –ing, –er and –est

• Plan out sentences aloud before writing them. Discuss and practice them out loud before

you write.

• Write simple sentences, and those using joining words such as ‘and’. For example:

Goldilocks fell onto the soft bed and fell asleep.

• Begin to use full stops and capital letters for sentences. See above.

• Combine some sentences to make short descriptions or stories. For example: The boy was

sad because the game had ended. I saw the stars twinkling and I was amazed.

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English in Year 2

Our year 2 children move onto our ‘Read in to Writing’ programme where they build on

their writing skills through reading. Writing tasks are embedded within the reading

experience, so the children’s deep reading knowledge and understanding are crucial to the

success of the writing. We believe that talk is the foundation of writing so progressive, open

questioning and strategic pupil talk is how learning is achieved.

To support your child at home focus on these skills:

Speaking and Listening:

• Articulate and justify answers and opinions. If your child is describing the character as

lonely then ask them how they know that/ What evidence is there to suggest that in the

text? Are there other words they could use to describe that feeling as well?

• Give well-structured explanations and narratives, for example in show-and-tell activities.

Modelling how to explain and narrate is extremely important so that the child has

examples to follow. My turn, your turn is a great way to achieve this.

Writing Skills:

• Form letters of the appropriate size, using capital letters where appropriate. Your child’s

teacher will provide examples and ways to practice. We use cursive joined up handwriting

at Mayville. You can find additional support online through clips such as

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NQ6uS8blwY

• Use appropriate spaces between words when writing. See above.

• Begin to use joins between letters where needed. See above.

• Spell longer words by breaking them into their sound parts. Ensure your child sounds out

words to identify syllables. For example: Dif-fer-ent has 3 syllables. This will help to avoid

errors such as writing difrent.

• Learn to spell some common homophones, recognising the difference between them.

These are words that sound the same but are spelled differently. sea/see, where/wear,

there/their.

• Use the possessive apostrophe in simple phrases. For example, ‘The children’s book’ and

‘The boys’ changing room’. A possessive apostrophe can be used to show that one

thing belongs to or is connected to something. This link gives more examples:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zvwwxnb/articles/zx9ydxs

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• Write about real events and personal experiences. Describe something special that has

happened or an event they have learned about in history.

• Plan out writing in advance, including by writing down key words. Think about the

different parts of the story, and the purpose of the writing. You can then link vocabulary

this way. (Beginning, build up, climax, ending)

• Re-read writing to check that it makes sense and to make corrections, including

punctuation. This is an important skill. Can your child identify missing words, capital letter,

spelling and full stop errors?

• Use question marks, exclamation marks, apostrophes and commas in lists. You can learn

more about KS1 punctuation here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z8x6cj6

• Use the present and past tenses correctly in writing. This can be tricky and needs lots of

practice. Games are a great way to practice tense. Hold the ball and say a present tense

word, ‘Today I sing’, throw the ball and when they catch it they repeat using the past

tense, ‘Yesterday I sang’. Practice both ways.

• Begin to write longer sentences by using conjunctions, such as ‘and’,’ but’, ‘if’ or ‘because’.

These add more detail about the subject of the sentence. Try to encourage them not to

veer off onto a different subject. For example: Suddenly, the volunteers rushed towards

the cathedral because the fire was spreading rapidly.

• Write homophones correctly. These are words which sound the same, such as ‘blue’ and

‘blew’, or ‘one’ and ‘won’

Parent Tip: Don’t forget to get your child to read their own writing aloud, attempting to add

expression appropriate to the sentence. This will help to build confidence and enable them

to notice errors they may have made.

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English in Year 3 and Year 4

In lower Key Stage 2, your child will build on their work from KS1 to become more

independent in both their reading and their writing. They will begin to meet a wider range

of writing contexts, including both fiction and non-fiction styles and genres. They continue

to learn through our ‘Read in to Writing’ programme where they build on their writing skills

through reading. Writing tasks are embedded within the reading experience, so the

children’s deep reading knowledge and understanding are crucial to the success of the

writing. We believe that talk is the foundation of writing so progressive, open questioning

and strategic pupil talk is how learning is achieved.

To support your child at home focus on these skills:

Speaking and Listening:

• Use discussion and conversation to explore and speculate about new ideas.

• Participation in performances plays and debates. These can still be explored at home.

Children learn much through play so any opportunities to use role play to reinforce

learning is ideal.

• Explain thinking and feeling in well-structured statements and responses. Modelling how

to do this is extremely important so that the child has examples to follow. My turn, your

turn is a great way to achieve this.

Writing skills:

• Write with joined handwriting, making appropriate join choices. Your child’s teacher will

provide examples and ways to practice. We use cursive joined up handwriting at Mayville.

You can find additional support online through clips such as

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NQ6uS8blwY

• Spell some commonly misspelt words correctly, taken from the Y3/4 list. See Appendix 1.

• Spell words that include prefixes and suffixes, such as anticlockwise. Learn more about

these here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2Z4p0au1yk&feature=emb_title Also

see Appendix 2.

• Use a dictionary to check spellings.

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• Use possessive apostrophes correctly in regular and irregular plurals. For example, ‘The

children’s book’ and ‘The boys’ changing room’. A possessive apostrophe can be used to

show that one thing belongs to or is connected to something. This link gives more

examples: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zvwwxnb/articles/zx9ydxs

• Use examples of writing to help them to structure their own similar texts. Children need

to see models of good writing so that they can discuss what skills have been used and why

it is engaging. Try to use texts that have been targeted towards your child’s age group or

those suggested by your child’s teacher.

• Plan out sentences orally to select adventurous vocabulary. Children should be able to

improve their vocabulary by using synonyms. For example, instead of using ‘a dangerous

journey’ they could use ‘a perilous journey’, or a ‘treacherous journey’.

• Use paragraphs to organise ideas. These should be based around a setting or a key part

of the story. As the setting etc move on, a new paragraph should begin.

• Use description and detail to develop characters and settings in story-writing. Use

examples from books to help model this.

• Write interesting narratives in stories. Discuss model texts and books at home. What

makes them interesting and exciting?

• In non-fiction writing, use features such as sub-headings and bullet points. Look at model

non-fiction text examples such as information reports and fact files. Discuss how they are

set out differently to a story and how this helps inform the reader.

• Review their own work to make improvements, including editing for spelling errors. This is

an important skill. Can your child identify errors including mistakes? Can they improve

some of their vocabulary choices, openers or add conjunctions to include more detail in a

sentence?

• Read others’ writing and suggest possible improvements.

• Read aloud work that they’ve written to be clearly understood. This helps build

confidence and also builds skill in identifying grammar mistakes.

• Extend sentences using a wider range of conjunctions, including subordinating

conjunctions. Why not look at this online resource to learn more about how to use these

with your child. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zwwp8mn/articles/zqk37p3

• Use the present perfect verb tense. This is a tense formed using the verb ‘have’ and a

participle, to indicate that an action has been completed at an unspecified time, e.g. The

girl has eaten her ice-cream. Songs are a great way to help your child with this.

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• Use nouns and pronouns with care to avoid repetition. Lucy crept cautiously through the

moonlit garden, as she wondered what lay behind the creaking door. Young children have

a tendency to repeat nouns or pronouns, leading to several sentences containing ‘He’ or

‘They’. They can use alternatives to make writing more interesting. For example,

alternatives for describing an individual character might include: he, the burglar, Mr

Smith, John, the criminal, the villain, etc.

• Use fronted adverbials. These are words or a phrase which describes the time, place or

manner of an action, which is placed at the start of the sentence, e.g. “Before breakfast,...”

or “Carrying a heavy bag,...”. Children can also add information to a sentence about its

location, children might use conjunctions (“Although it was still early...”), adverbs (“Early

that morning...”) or prepositions (“At about six-thirty that morning...”). Often these

techniques allow children to write more complex sentences.

• Use direct speech, with correct punctuation. These are words quoted direct using

inverted commas, as opposed to being reported in a sentence. “We need to get out here,”

screamed Lucy.

Parent Tip:

When children are writing outside of school – or when you are looking at school work with

them – why not discuss their choices of vocabulary? Some common words, such as ‘went’

and ‘said’ can often be replaced by more specific words that give a sense of the action, such

as ‘raced’ or ‘yelled’. You can also take opportunities to look at words like this that crop up

in books you read with your child, considering how the choice of word affects your

understanding of a story

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English in Year 5 and Year 6

In upper Key Stage 2, your child will increasingly meet a wider range of texts and types of

writing, and will be encouraged to use their skills in a broader range of contexts. They

continue with our ‘Read in to Writing’ programme where they build on their writing skills

through reading. Writing tasks are embedded within the reading experience, so the

children’s deep reading knowledge and understanding are crucial to the success of the

writing. We believe that talk is the foundation of writing so progressive, open questioning

and strategic pupil talk is how learning is achieved.

To support your child at home focus on these skills:

Speaking and Listening:

• Speak clearly in a range of contexts, using Standard English where appropriate. Learn

more about Standard English here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zp9jkty

• Consider different viewpoints, listening to others and responding with relevant views.

• Use appropriate language, tone and vocabulary for different purposes. This can be

practiced through reading formal and informal text examples or the tone needed to

persuade a reader.

Writing Skills:

• Write with increasing speed, maintaining legibility and style. Your child’s teacher will

provide examples and ways to practice. We use cursive joined up handwriting at Mayville.

• Spell some words with silent letters, such as knight and solemn.

• Recognise and use spellings for homophones and other often-confused words from the

Y5/6 list. See Appendix 3.

• Use a dictionary to check spelling and meaning. There will be more than one meaning for

most words in the dictionary. Make sure your child finds the meaning which is correct for

the context the word is being used. For example: ‘The grass was green’ compared to ‘She

was green with envy’.

• Identify the audience and purpose before writing, and adapt accordingly. Not all writing is

the same; children should know how to adapt their writing if they are preparing a

newspaper report compared to a story. You will find more examples here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zgvs6g8

• Select appropriate grammar and vocabulary to change or enhance meaning.

• Develop setting, atmosphere and character, including through dialogue. Use model texts

and books to find great examples of this. For example, ‘As the sun set, the darkness

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devoured the light’ – the writer is developing the setting and creating a sense of fear by

using the phrase ‘the darkness devoured’.

• Write a summary of longer passages of writing. This is a great skill and can be fun to

practice. Read a story/chapter or paragraph and try to summarise using the key parts or

information.

• Use a range of cohesive devices including grammatical connections and adverbials for

cohesion. Cohesive devices are words or phrases used to link different parts of writing

together. These may be pronouns such as ‘he’ or ‘it’ to avoid repeating a name, or phrases

such as ‘After that...’ or ‘Meanwhile’ to guide the reader through the text.

• Use advanced organisational and presentational devices, such as bullet points. Children

should be able to engage their readers by using a range of devices such as images,

captions, fact files, labelled diagrams etc

• Use the correct tense consistently throughout a piece of writing. This includes past,

present and future tense.

• Ensure correct subject and verb agreement. Generally, subjects and verbs

must AGREE with one another in number (singular or plural). Thus, if a subject is singular,

its verb must also be singular; if a subject is plural, its verb must also be plural. For

example, the dog’s (dog is singular) bone (bone is singular) / the children’s (children is

plural) lunches (lunches is plural.

• Use a thesaurus. Children should be able to find appropriate synonyms that can be used

in context EG. Danger might have a synonym of perilous which could be used in context of

a journey. But not used to describe a dangerous item.

• Use expanded noun phrases to convey complicated information concisely. Noun phrase: a

group of words which takes the place of a single noun. Example: The big brown dog with

the fluffy ears.

• Use modal verbs or adverbs to indicate degrees of possibility. Modal verb: a verb that

indicates possibility. These are often used alongside other verbs. Example: will, may,

should, can.

• Use relative clauses – Relative clause: a clause which adds extra information or detail.

Example: The boy who was holding the golden ticket won the prize. For example: As the

engineers, who had been working on the jet for months, walked towards the pilot – using

who, which, when, that, where, whose, whom – set between commas to add more detail

about the subject EG. The engineers

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• Use passive verbs to affect the presentation of information. Passive verb: a form of verb

that implies an action being done to, rather than by, the subject. Example: The boy was

bitten by the dog.

• Use the perfect form of verbs to mark relationships of time and cause. Perfect form: a

form of verb that implies that an action is completed. Example: The boy has walked home.

• Recognise the difference in informal and formal language. Your child should be able to

identify when to use which. Ask them the purpose of their writing and who the audience

is? We speak/write more formally in more professional situations and informally when in

a more relaxed context. Find out more about some of the different skills used between

both you could look at a website such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWyGx2-

xiiQ

• Use ellipses, commas, brackets, dashes and hyphens in writing. Use the videos, games and

information here to learn more about these skills.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zvwwxnb

• Use semi-colons, colons and dashes between independent clauses. This is an important

skill for year 5 and 6 writers. Find out more about each element here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zvjgf82

• Use a colon to introduce a list. Things to purchase: a glass jar, fresh kidney beans,

colourful spices and a handful of nuts.

Parent Tip:

As children get older, they will increasingly take responsibility for their own work and tasks.

That’s not to say that parents can’t help though. Encourage your child to work

independently on their work, but also take the opportunity to discuss it with them and to

have them explain their understanding to you.

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APPENDIX 1

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APPENDIX 2a

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APPENDIX 2b

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APPENDIX 3