Year 1 to Year 6 and Beyond;

“I Can” Writing Descriptors

Year 1 to Year 6 and beyond;

Supporting the 2014 National Curriculum

EdisonLearning’s Precision Pedagogy

Based on research into current approaches in UK schools that have had proven impact on pupil progress

How to use my targets

These targets will help you to see just how much progress you are making in Writing. It is your target book, and you will use it all the way through school from Year 1 to Year 6.

There are lots of targets in this book. Each target is something that it will be really useful for you to learn. There are two types of target. These are the Foundational Targets and the Conceptual Targets. The reason for sorting them out this way is explained below:

You do not have to achieve all the targets in order! The numbering of the targets is to help your teacher plan for your learning, and you will learn in a different order to the target numbers. This is normal.

Foundational Targets

These targets are ones that you need to be fluent in. This means you can do them accurately and quickly. When you are fluent, your learning in more difficult tasks will become a lot easier. To achieve the target you need to be able to show two things.

1.  You are accurate – which means making no mistakes

2.  You are quick - which means in answering in one or two seconds.

When you are accurate and quick, you are really fluent. Well done!

Conceptual Targets

These targets are linked to learning about slightly more complicated ideas. They might need a bit of explanation, or the idea might need you to use some of your foundational knowledge to work out an answer and show your thinking. There are three stages to showing that you can do each Conceptual Target.

1.  You need a little bit of support (from your teacher or a classmate for example) to be able to show you understand

2.  You can accurately show your understanding without any help from someone else

3.  You understand it so well that you can explain how to do it to someone else in your class, and maybe support their learning.

Frequently Asked Questions

How will I use my Target Book?

You will work with your teacher and classmates. When you are doing a piece of work that can be assessed against a target your teacher will tell you. You will decide if you have achieved the target. Your classmates, or an adult in the class, might help you decide if you have met the target. Once you have decided that you have achieved the target, you will mark it off. If you’re not sure what to do, you can ask a classmate or you can ask your teacher.

How often will I use my Target Book?

Your Target Book is for you to keep a record of your progress. You will use it regularly. As you use it more often, you will begin to decide when to use the booklet for yourself. To start with, your teacher or another adult working with you might tell you that you need to have your booklet out.

By Year 5 and Year 6 you should be able to make decisions for yourself about your learning and assessing your learning. You will most probably realise you are doing something you can assess when the learning objective is shared with you in a lesson.

Who will look at my Target Book?

The book is for you. You are the main person who will look at it. Hopefully you will look at the book and decide on things you need to do to improve your learning. Your teacher is always able to help you decide on what target you need to work towards, but all the evidence shows that when you make that decision for yourself your learning improves more quickly.

Your teacher will look at your Target Book and the books of other children in your class. This will be to help make decisions about how to teach certain lessons, and to make sure the lesson is challenging enough to help you learn, but not so challenging or so easy that you can’t make progress.

You might show this book to your parents at a Termly Learning Conference, and use it to help your parents understand how much progress you have made and what your next targets are.

Where do the targets come from?

The targets are linked to the National Curriculum. This is the document that tells schools what must be taught, and which year group it is expected to be taught in. The Government publish the National Curriculum, and most schools in England have to follow the National Curriculum.

The National Curriculum has been written by teachers, headteachers and education experts who understand learning in each subject. It helps teachers decide on the best order to teach you the skills, knowledge and understanding that you will need as you get older.

What happens if I get stuck?

First of all, don’t worry. Getting stuck is a normal part of learning. It shows that you are learning something new, and that you need to put in a bit of effort to succeed. If you are prepared to put that effort in, then you will make progress. Your teacher will help you, and will give you different ways of learning to make sure you succeed. You can also talk to other people who have already achieved a target. They might be in your class, or they might be in a different year group. Don’t be afraid to ask – help is always at hand! If you do not get stuck, the learning is probably too easy.

Curriculum Codes

You will notice that each target has a code next to it, like this example below:

1F6 / h / I can write the digits 0-9
/
This is the curriculum code – which is explained in the table below. It helps you understand which element of the writing curriculum you are working towards
This is the Target reference, which is useful for your teacher

Use this table to help you understand the curriculum codes.

Code / What it means
h / Handwriting
This is the way your letters are formed and joined together to write words. It is important that you make progress with your handwriting skills because your writing must be legible to other people so that your writing can be understood. You need to be able to write quickly as well as legibly, so that you can make good use of the time available to write.
vgp / Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation
Your vocabulary choices mean that your writing is exciting to read, and the words match the purpose of your writing. When you make good and adventurous vocabulary choices people enjoy reading your work more, and will respond better to it.
Grammar is the way that you construct your sentences. This is important because using grammar in different ways can change the meaning of a sentence, e.g. Let’s eat, Dad; Let’s eat Dad. As you learn more complicated grammar structures your writing becomes more and more interesting to read. This is because you choose grammar structures appropriate to the type of writing that you are doing.
t / Transcription
This is the process of copying a piece of writing from one place to another. It is important to do this accurately or you may change the message if it is copied incorrectly.
c / Composition
This is the process of creating a sentence, and then a piece of writing. The composition includes making sure the ideas are in a good order, that they all make sense, and that a piece of writing flows from beginning to end. As your composition improves you are more likely to capture a reader with your writing and get your message across more clearly.
Foundational Writing Targets / I am
accurate / I am
quick / I can
apply it
1F1* / h / I can sit at a table and hold my pencil correctly
1F2* / h / I can write lower case letters the way my teacher has shown me
1F3* / h / I know which letters are formed in the same way (e.g. a,c,d,g,o,q)
1F4* / h / I write from left to right
1F5* / h / I can write capital letters
1F6* / h / I can write the digits 0-9
1F7* / t / I can write the letters of the alphabet in response to hearing the sounds
1F8* / t / I can write the sounds ‘-ff’,’-ll’ , ‘-ss’, ‘-zz’ ‘-ck’
1F9* / t / I can write the sounds ‘-nk’, ‘-ch’, ‘-ve’
1F10* / t / I can hear the syllables in words
1F11* / h / I can form 15 or more lower case letters the way my teacher has shown me
1F12* / h / I can write so that most people can read and understand my writing
1F13* / vgp / I can write most of my work in simple sentences
1F14 / vgp / I can use a capital letter to start my sentences when someone reminds me
1F15 / vgp / I can use a capital letter for names and for ‘I’ when someone reminds me
1F16 / vgp / I can use a full stop to end my sentences when someone reminds me
1F17 / vgp / I can use a question mark at the end of a sentence when someone reminds me
1F18 / vgp / I can use an exclamation mark at the end of a sentence when someone reminds me
1F19* / h / I can write with letters that are the same size and formed correctly
1F20* / t / I can spell the common exception words for Y1
(the, a, do, to, today, of, said, says, are, were, was, is, his, has, I, you, your, they, be, he, me, she, we, no, go, so, by, my, here, there, where, love, come, some, one, once, ask, friend, school, put, push, pull, full, house, our)
1F21 / t / I can write simple sentences dictated by the teacher
Conceptual Writing Targets / With support / By
myself / Supporting someone else
1C1* / c / I can say out loud what I am going to write about
1C2* / c / I can say a sentence before I write it
1C3* / c / I can write two or three sentences about the same topic
1C4* / c / I can read what I have written to check it makes sense
1C5* / c / I can talk about what I have written
1C6* / c / I can read my writing aloud so that I can be heard by my teacher and my friends
1C7* / t / I can add ‘-s’ or ‘-es’ to a word to make it plural
1C8* / c / I can write two or more phrases about an idea or event.
1C9* / vgp / I can use ‘and’ in a sentence or phrase.
1C10 / vgp / I can add different endings to verbs that don’t need to change (e.g. helping, helper, helped)
1C11 / vgp / I can add un- to the beginnings of words to change their meanings (e.g. unkind, undo, untie)
Foundational Writing Targets / I am
accurate / I am
quick / I can
apply it
2F1* / t / I can spell many words correctly by segmenting them
2F2* / t / I can spell some phonemes with different graphemes (e.g. ‘-ai’, ‘a-e’)
2F3* / vgp / I use capital letters to start my sentences
2F4* / vgp / I use capital letters for names and for ‘I’
2F5* / vgp / I write sentences that have a subject and a verb (e.g. The boy ran)
2F6* / h / I always leave spaces between words when I write
2F7* / t / I can write the letters of the alphabet in the correct order
2F8* / c / I can group my ideas together in logical sequence
2F9 / c / I can use time connective phrases e.g. after that, the next day, a little later
2F10 / t / I can make words ending in ‘-y’ into plurals (e.g. ‘baby’ ‘babies’, ‘fly’ ‘flies’)
2F11* / vgp / I can add a question mark at the end of a question
2F12 / vgp / I can add an exclamation mark at the end of a sentence
2F13 / vgp / I can usually use capital letters in the right places
2F14 / h / I form all my letters properly and make them the right size
2F15* / h / I can place letters properly on a line including ascending and descending letters
2F16 / vgp / I can make the correct choice between two homophones in my writing (e.g. ‘their’ and ‘there’, ‘hear’ and ‘here’)
2F17 / t / I can spell words with contracted forms (e.g. can’t, don’t, won’t, wouldn’t, I’ll)
2F18* / c / I can group my ideas together in sections[1]
2F19* / vgp / I can write in the third person and not get mixed up: she, he, it and they
2F20* / vgp / I can write in the past tense (e.g. He fell down the hole)
2F21* / vgp / I can write in the present tense (e.g They are jumping on the trampoline)
2F22* / vgp / I can use capital letters and full stops correctly nearly all the time
Foundational Writing Targets / I am
accurate / I am
quick / I can
apply it
2F23 / vgp / I am able to use question marks and exclamation marks correctly most of the time.
2F24 / vgp / I can use commas in a list
2F25 / h / I can join some letters when I write and I know which letters I don’t need to join
2F26 / vgp / I can add suffixes to spell longer words (e.g. ‘-ment’, ‘-ness’, ‘-ful’, ‘-less’, ‘-ly’)
2F27* / t / I can spell the common exception words for Y2
(door, floor, poor, because, find, kind, mind, behind, child, children*, wild, climb, most, only, both, old, cold, gold, hold, told, every, everybody, even, great, break, steak, pretty, beautiful, after, fast, last, past, father, class, grass, pass, plant, path, bath, hour, move, prove, improve, sure, sugar, eye, could, should, would, who, whole, any, many, clothes, busy, people, water, again, half, money, Mr, Mrs, parents, Christmas)
2F28 / vgp / I can use an apostrophe to show possession (e.g. the girl’s book)
2F29 / t / I can write simple sentences dictated by my teacher using the words and punctuation I have learnt
Conceptual Writing Targets / With support / By
myself / Supporting someone else
2C1 / c / I can write an account that has more than one idea in it
2C2 / c / I can write an account that has a good beginning
2C3 / vgp / I can use words to help me describe an object or person
2C4 / vgp / I can think of different words that might fit in a piece of writing and choose some that will be more interesting
2C5 / vgp / I can choose good describing words on my own to put into my sentences
2C6* / c / I can plan what I am going to write about by writing down ideas and important words