Class 1 Poutama | Learning Steps

Form Drawing

• Identify where straight and curved lines are found 

• Draw a straight line, accurately 

• Draw a curved line, accurately 

• Draw combinations of straight and curved lines, accurately 

• Describe the characteristics of various forms 

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English-Writing

The Class 1 child will develop the correct posture and pencil grip for writing. They will learn to respond to their teacher’s feedback, which will improve their writing, develop the confidence to enjoy their writing and share it with others. This is the beginning of establishing sound writing practices.

Concepts of Print - Develops letters and handwriting 

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• forms individual capital and lower-case letters of the alphabet, correctly and legibly (as specified by the individual school curriculum).

• forms individual numerals, correctly and legibly

• maintains the correct size of letters 

• maintains spacing between letters 

• writes with a steady pace as letter formation becomes increasingly automatic

• copies accurately from the board or model text 

• Sits comfortably, applies a comfortable amount of pressure, and uses of functional writing tool grip independently

Spelling and encoding - uses knowledge of sounds

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• generates individual letters when provided with individual sounds (expectation all letters) 

• encodes three-letter CVC words (e.g. cat, dog) 

• writes consonant digraphs (sh, th, ch)

• writes rhyming words for spoken words (e.g. cat/mat/fat; dog/log/frog)

• Use letter sounds to build CVC words with no pictures

• spells unfamiliar words using developing phoneme-grapheme awareness

• writes personal, basic sight words and high-frequency words (NZ spelling list 1)

• CVCC, CCVCC orally segments and applies phoneme-to-grapheme knowledge

• maps graphemes to phonemes for the five short vowels, all single-letter consonants and some consonant digraphs

• Spells 5 or more words that are high frequency in their oral vocabulary and contain irregular phoneme-grapheme correspondences (e.g., the, was, of, said, is, what)

Punctuation Writes capital letters and full stops

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• writes capital letters and full stops correctly with some support

Content - Contributes ideas to shared writing

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• Generates own simple writing (e.g. from drawings, stories told)

• Understands audience and purpose of writing and can plan and write with this in mind, e.g. A Card for a purpose.

• Understands simple sentence structure

• Contributes to class discussion about how to plan a piece of writing. 

• Writes one or more sequential sentences - co-constructed with teacher and class.

• Together introduces simple language features such as onomatopoeia (The bee did buzz), rhyme (The fat cat sat on the mat), and alliteration (Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers). 

• Write one or more sentences each day.

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English-Reading

In Class 1, the children enjoy listening to stories, reading together as a class, and growing their individual ability to read their own writing. The children learn to read the letters and letter sounds; read and sound basic sight words; and finally, how to read a copied sentence and understand its form – beginning with a capital letter and ending with a full stop. When reading as a class, intonation helps to build comprehension of the written form.

Concepts of print - Recognises that print carries a message, follows reading along a line, and moves from one line to the next

• follows words from left to right and from top to bottom on the printed page 

• has control over one-to-one word matching 

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Concepts of Sound/Phonological-awareness – identifies sounds and associated letters, knows that words are made up of sounds

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• provides the associated sound for each letter (e.g. c – cat; c – circle) 

• recognises lower case letters (localised – inclusion determined according to individual school’s preference) 

• recognises upper-case letters 

• identifies letters by name 

• matches uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet (lowercase letters: localised – individual school’s preference) 

• uses consonant sounds, e.g. s, t, p to decode words 

• uses short vowel sounds to decode words  

• uses developing phonemic awareness to aurally identify and distinguish individual phonemes within words (e.g. man is m/a/n) 

• uses knowledge of sounds to decode unfamiliar CVC words (e.g. cat, mat fat, tin pin fin, hot, rot, cot) 

• distinguishes words from letters (e.g. stars between words) 

Decoding - Recognises a sentence as made up of separate words and symbols (from chalkboard, poems, Main Lesson books, shared writing)

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• recognises high-frequency words and basic sight words

• recognises capital letters and full stops and exclamation marks 

• recognises that sentences in print are made up of separate words 

• matches spoken words to printed words

• reads writing aloud with class and teacher  (e.g. from board, main lesson book, poems)  - grapheme-phoneme correspondences with growing automaticity

• reads words with learned grapheme-phoneme correspondences accurately and with automaticity e.g. mad, pot, pat, tin, sit etc

• decodes two-syllable words with a closed syllable pattern (e.g., ratbag and picnic) using their phonics knowledge

• reads most common high-frequency words in decodable texts at their class level

• self-corrects their decoding attempts using grapheme-phoneme knowledge

Comprehension: Reads and understands what they have written within a shared writing context.

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• reads with the class and understands what they have written

• discusses how words can describe a character or event e.g. (The old man limped down the road).

• responds to, shares opinions and makes connections to texts by drawing on their knowledge of topics, their experiences, and their knowledge of the world.

• responds to questions (how or why) and open-ended prompts about texts.

• as a class check that each sentence they have read makes sense (building their own understanding)

• Identifies key details from a text in a prompt context (e.g., who and what)

• activates prior knowledge to predict what might happen next in a text

• distinguishes between different types of text that entertain (e.g poem, stories)

• notices and discusses features of texts, including setting e.g. castle, character (king), and main events in stories (galloped his horse).

• Identifies the  use of sound in poetry (e.g alliteration (buzzing bees) and rhyme (Fat cat sits with fat rat.)

• asks questions about unfamiliar words and uses context clues from the text to identify the meaning of those words, when the text is being read to them

• reads and comprehends both extended simple and compound sentences

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Handwork

• Make slip knots and finger-knit

• Thread a large needle, basic stitching (tuck away ends, anchor stitch, running stitch, over stitch etc), 

• Sew up their own pieces of work. 

• Knit plain (and purl as an extension for students as needed). 

• Cast on and cast off

• Count stitches and rows

• Change the colour and join a new ball of wool.

• Plan, work on and complete projects

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Handwriting

• Sitting upright and straight at desk/table 

• Draw a line and draw a curve 

• Correct uppercase letters 

• Correct lowercase letters

• Writing letters top to bottom, left to right 

• Correct pencil grip 

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Maths: Class 1 Maths Learning Steps

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Science & Geography

• Identify different types of weather connected with the seasons ​​​

• Identify clothing appropriate to the season 

• Identify seasonal activities, including festivals

• Identify differences and relationships between the four elements 

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He Reo Puawai

• Develop relationships with simple vocabulary by using gestures and phrases.  

• Sing in unison using te reo Māori, a number of waiata

• Participate using appropriate actions in waiata-a-ringa

• Participate in unison in karakia

• Participate in cultural practices such as pōwhiri, mihi whakatau

• Respond to simple commands and basic questions

• Count in reo from 1-10

• Recite simple introduction mihi - their name and name of parents.

• Use simple greetings and farewells.

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Morning Circle/Movement

• Move rhythms comfortably: stepping, stamping, hopping, skipping, jumping, clapping, etc. 

• Cross their vertical midline in a range of activities 

• Control their gross-motor movements in a range of activities: e.g., tiptoeing, crawling, walking like an elephant, leaping like a frog, adjusting steps to fairy or giant size, climbing a tower to rescue the princess 

• Control the passing and throwing of a beanbag in a range of activities  

• Throw and catch a large ball 

• Skip with a rope  

• Turn a skipping rope  

• Move accurately in concentration exercises 

• Change direction while in movement  

• Work with numbers while in movement  

• Demonstrate controlled movement big to small  

• Demonstrate controlled movement from small to big  

• Respond appropriately in movement to imaginative pictures 

• Control their fine-motor movements: e.g., finger games, string games, flute playing, crayon/paintbrush grip 

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Music

• Play simple tunes in unison on a recorder by ear

• Hold a tune

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​Science and Geography

• different types of weather connected with the seasons ​​​ 

• clothing appropriate to the season 

• seasonal activities, including festivals

• differences and relationships between the four elements 

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The Arts

• Use colour appropriately within given contexts 

• Use crayons to follow a teacher-guided picture accurately 

• Use crayons to create their own pictures

• apply watercolour paints with purpose 

• sculpt forms in beeswax or other suitable medium