Developing Critical Thinking skills in Year 1

In the National Curriculum for England, Year 1 is arguably one of the most significant transition points in a child's primary education. It marks the shift from the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) which is largely play-based, into Key Stage 1 (KS1), where learning becomes more formal, subject-specific, and structured. The most immediate significance of Year 1 is the change in how children learn and so our Primary teachers are tasked with managing this transition whilst ensuring the children are also making suitable progress in their acquisition of knowledge and skills, whilst keeping things fun and engaging. This includes teaching Critical Thinking as part of our school-wide focus this academic year.

To some, this may sound daunting to think that their 5 year old will be starting ‘more formal’ school work, however, the transition is steady to ensure they hit those age appropriate milestones. In Year 1, they adopt the overarching theme of Traditional Tales, and so lessons are full of familiar characters such as The Three Little Pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk, Goldilocks and the Three Bears; in fact, the children were shocked to see the damage that Goldilocks left, after she broke a chair when visiting school!
 

This is called a topic or theme-based approach, with familiar elements appearing across subjects to help consolidate the pupils’ knowledge.

One of the teaching methods that has been adopted this year is the Talk 4 Writing framework. This is a great framework designed to help children build efficient and creative writing skills. Children design a “story board”, following a repetitive sentence structure that becomes memorised. This effectively reduces the cognitive load for pupils and frees up their brain power to focus on choosing the best vocabulary. It can also help pupils to spend more time critically thinking and coming up with their own ideas, in this case, their own characters and events into some much loved fairy tales. 
 

This is just an example of one of the ways we create engaged learners that grow, year on year. For a further insight into Year 1 teaching and learning, check out some of the posts below:

• Igniting Curiosity with a Touch of Magic
• Geography Vocabulary in Action

Written by:
Ms. Shellie Farrell
KS1 Phase Leader & Year 1 Teacher