Year 1 Non-fiction Unit 1 – Labels, lists and captions
Complete teaching sequence
Note: Children working significantly above or below age-related expectations will need differentiated support, which may include tracking forward or back in terms of learning objectives. EAL learners should be expected to work within the overall expectations for their year group. For further advice see the progression strands and hyperlinks to useful sources of practical support.
Phase 1: Practical work; information finding; talk for writing (1 day)
Teaching content:
- Introduce this work in the context of setting up a classroom display, perhaps as part of the settling-in process at the beginning of term. Use the classroom environment by having one-word and longer labels and lists relating to classroom routines prominently displayed, and refer to them whenever possible. Encourage children to participate, for example by writing their own names under the headings School dinners or Packed lunches.
- Ask children to bring in objects for a classroom display (possibly linked to another curriculum area), for example on favourite toys or pictures of themselves as babies. Give time for general discussion of display and objects, building confidence and extending vocabulary. Record and display any good words for future reference.
Learning outcome:
- Children can say what the purposes of lists and labels in the classroom are.
Phase 2: Listening; reading; analysis and discussion (2 days)
Teaching content:
- Show children some objects or pictures for the display with captions already written, or pictures and captions in a book. Read and discuss. Show children how some captions just tell you what the object is while others give additional information. Demonstrate application of reading strategies and encourage children to count the number of words in the sentence and notice capital letters and full stops.
- Show children an object or picture for the display and ask them to discuss it in pairs or small groups. Ask them to give you a caption to describe the object, speaking in a sentence; support them if necessary in formulating a complete single sentence. Repeat the sentence counting the words. Repeat for other objects, giving children practice in thinking of a sentence caption, saying it to a partner and counting the words before trying it out on the whole class.
Learning outcome:
- Children can give a complete sentence as a caption for an object or picture.
Phase 3: Discussion; shared and guided writing; independent work (2 days)
Teaching content:
- Demonstrate how to write sentence captions, showing children how to rehearse them by saying them first and counting the words. Focus on checking that each sentence makes sense and is a complete thought. Emphasise the use of a capital letter to start and full stop to end. Make sure that some sentences extend over two lines so that children are clear about the difference between line and sentence. If appropriate, ask children to help you spell words phonetically when writing, but emphasis here should be on the concept of a sentence.
- Ask children to formulate and rehearse sentence captions with partners about their own objects or pictures. Listen and support where necessary. Scribe some examples, asking children to help with spellings and tell you where to put capitals and full stops. Give children whiteboards, ask them to write sentence captions and give feedback. Encourage more-able children to give extra information where appropriate.
Learning outcome:
- Children write a caption for an object or picture in a complete sentence with a capital letter and full stop.
- Previous:Teaching sequence phase 3
- Next:Assessment
