Developing Strong Literacy Skills at Key Stage 1
Key Stage 1 is a crucial time for developing pupils’ literacy skills because it lays the foundation for their future learning. Between the ages of 5 and 7, there is a golden window of opportunity. The children are curious, enthusiastic and soaking up language at a rapid pace. It’s the perfect time to lay strong foundations that will support them not just through school but for life.
Why Key Stage 1 is so important
1) It’s a time of rapid development. Children in Key Stage 1 are incredibly receptive to language. They’re learning to decode sounds, build vocabulary and understand sentence structure. These are the building blocks of reading and writing, and early success boosts confidence and motivation.
2) Learning to read becomes reading to learn. In Reception and the early part of Key Stage 1, pupils are learning how to read, i.e., developing phonics knowledge and decoding skills. By the end of Key Stage 1, the majority will transition to reading for meaning and enjoyment. This is a pivotal shift, which opens the door to independent learning across the whole curriculum.
3) Writing skills begin to take shape. Key Stage 1 is where children begin to express their thoughts in writing. They start to understand how to structure sentences, use punctuation and organise their ideas. These early steps not only support academic progress but also nurture creativity and communication.
4) Speaking and listening are embedded in learning. Strong literacy isn’t just about reading and writing. It’s also about speaking and listening. Key Stage 1 classrooms are rich in storytelling, role play, discussion and questioning, all helping pupils to articulate their ideas clearly and develop a love for language.
In short, Key Stage 1 is where the magic begins. It’s where the children build their confidence, curiosity and essential skills, which will support them as they move forward. It’s a critical stage where they can begin to see themselves as readers and writers. It’s also a time when timely intervention and the right resources can help close gaps early, giving every child the best chance of long-term success.
How can Busy Things’ literacy activities help?
Busy Things offers a vibrant, engaging platform, which is packed with over 280 literacy activities for Year 1 and Year 2 alone. It supports children’s development in line with the Education Endowment Foundation’s key recommendations for improving literacy at Key Stage 1, including:
Let’s take a closer look at how Busy Things can help you supercharge literacy in your classroom:
Phonics
A strong start in phonics is vital and Busy Things shines here. With over 50 fun, interactive phonics activities, children can practise recognising graphemes and phonemes, then move on to segmenting and blending skills.
There’s a brilliant mix of flashcards (for teachers), games (for pupils) and customisable printable worksheets within the Resource Maker (for offline practice).
Whether you’re following Jolly Phonics, a Letters and Sounds-based scheme, or another phonics scheme, you can tailor content to suit your pupils’ needs, including print style (cursive, pre-cursive) and even regional accents.
Reading Comprehension
Reading for meaning is a key focus at this stage. Busy Things supports this with engaging book extracts accompanied by comprehension quizzes. These encourage children to:
- Make predictions
- Ask questions
- Clarify vocabulary
- Summarise content
They’re a brilliant way to move children beyond decoding and into real understanding.
One of these extracts is ‘The New Neighbours’ by Sarah McIntyre.
Read the extract here and complete the quiz.
Writing Practice
Helping children plan, structure and monitor their writing is essential. Busy Things includes a variety of writing projects that develop these skills through exciting formats:
- Fact files
- Letters and postcards
- Poems and stories
- Posters and summaries
Our Story summary activity is a real favourite. It gives children just 6 images and 12 short lines of text to retell their chosen tale.
It’s a fantastic way to encourage thoughtful word choices, sequencing and creativity.
Spelling
Busy Things makes spelling practice purposeful and fun.
The Education Endowment Foundation recommends the look-say-cover-check strategy, which works on the same premise as Busy Things’ spelling worksheets.
A perfect homework activity, teachers can generate worksheets using key word lists (common exception words, high frequency words, statutory spellings) or choose their own word selection.
There are also a number of games on Busy Things that the children can play that reinforce these same skills.
‘Advanced common word messy spelling’ is one such activity, which explores decodable and tricky words. It gives children the chance to reinforce their learning in a playful, memorable way.
Motivation and Engagement
Perhaps most importantly, Busy Things makes learning fun. It is undeniable that reading can be painstaking and challenging at the outset, as each phoneme is sounded out then and blended. Busy Things’ colourful design, friendly animations and gamified activities can help bridge this hurdle and turn reading and writing into something children genuinely want to do. As pupils play, explore and experiment, they develop in confidence and fluency, helping them find pleasure in reading and writing themselves.
Want to learn more about how gamification and learning through play can boost engagement? Read our blogs on the subjects here:
Gamification in Education: Why It Works and Its Benefits
Why Is Learning Through Play So Important
Summary
Busy Things is a brilliant all-round literacy resource for Key Stage 1. It supports phonics, comprehension, writing and spelling in line with best-practice guidance, all while keeping children motivated and engaged.
Boasting over 280 activities, there are games, activities and writing projects to meet a wide range of learning objectives. They offer children the opportunity to practice their reading, comprehension, writing and spelling skills so that they have firm foundations to build on in Key Stage 2, secondary school and beyond!
Try it for free!
As part of this blog, we’ve included links to some of our free-to-play activities in this blog so you can try them straight away on a tablet, computer or interactive whiteboard. These activities are: ‘The New Neighbours’ book extract and comprehension quiz, our Story summary writing project and our ‘Advanced common word messy spelling’ interactive worksheet. To play them, simply click on their link.
If you’d like to explore more, we’d love to offer you a 28-day free trial for your school. Click on the free trial link, and we can get you a login straight away. If you think a Zoom tutorial would be helpful, we’d love to show you around in person. Simply click here and we can arrange a suitable time!