Year 1 English · Key Stage 1 · Reading – comprehension

Year 1 reading for pleasure: stories, rhymes and poems

In Year 1, children are still learning to read for themselves, so a large part of reading is listening. They hear many stories, traditional tales, poems and non-fiction books, often well above the level they could read alone. They join in with repeated phrases, retell familiar tales, learn rhymes by heart, link what they hear to their own lives and talk about what new words mean.

Enjoying stories, rhymes and poems, explained

The National Curriculum is clear that children should hear books read aloud that are beyond the level they can read independently. A six-year-old may be able to sound out “The cat sat on the mat”, but can understand and enjoy a story with far richer language. Listening to such stories builds vocabulary, a sense of how stories are put together and the motivation to read. In school this happens at story time, and the more it happens at home as well, the better.

Children get to know a core set of key stories, fairy stories and traditional tales well. Because the plots are familiar, children can retell them in their own words and begin to notice what is typical: things often happen in threes, characters are usually clearly good or bad, and many tales open with “Once upon a time” and end happily. Schools choose which tales to use, and the same tale can turn up in a few different versions.

Many stories contain predictable, repeated phrases, such as a refrain that comes back every few pages. Children love to chime in with these, and joining in is an early sign they are following the story. In the same spirit, children learn to appreciate rhymes and poems and to recite some of them by heart. Reciting is not for show: knowing a poem by heart gives children a store of rhythm and rhyme that later feeds their reading and writing.

Another strand is linking books to children’s own experiences. When a character loses a toy or feels nervous on the first day at school, children connect it to something they know, and that makes a story matter. Teachers also introduce some new word meanings before reading and talk about them afterwards, linking new words to ones the children already know: a “gigantic” door is a very, very big one. Non-fiction is part of the mix, too: listening to information books about animals or places lays foundations for history, geography and science.

Words your child will hear

Traditional tale: A story passed down over many years, such as a fairy story or folk tale.
Retell: Tell a story again in your own words, in the right order.
Character: A person, animal or creature in a story.
Rhyme: Words that end with the same sound, like “hen” and “ten”.
Poem: A piece of writing, often with rhythm or rhyme, arranged in lines.
Non-fiction: A book that gives true information, such as a book about owls.
Recite: Say a poem or rhyme aloud from memory.

What the National Curriculum says

In Year 1, pupils should be taught to:

Develop pleasure in reading, motivation to read, vocabulary and understanding by listening to and discussing a wide range of poems, stories and non-fiction at a level beyond that at which they can read independently
Develop pleasure in reading by being encouraged to link what they read or hear to their own experiences
Develop pleasure in reading by becoming very familiar with key stories, fairy stories and traditional tales, retelling them and considering their particular characteristics
Develop pleasure in reading by recognising and joining in with predictable phrases
Develop pleasure in reading by learning to appreciate rhymes and poems, and to recite some by heart
Develop vocabulary and understanding by discussing word meanings, linking new meanings to those already known

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: sharing a traditional tale

You are reading “The Three Little Pigs” with your child. How can you use it to build their love of stories and their language?

Read it aloud with plenty of expression, and invite them to join the repeated line when it comes: “I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down.” Pause just before the words so they can say them.
Link it to their own life. Ask “Have you ever built something that fell down?” or “How do you think the little pigs felt when the house blew away?” Children answer more fully when the question is about them.
Talk about a new word. If you read that the third house was “sturdy”, ask what it might mean, then link it to a word they know: “strong, like a wall that won’t fall over”. Use the word again later in the day.
Ask your child to retell it in order, with a beginning, a middle and an end. Help only if they get stuck: “What did the wolf do to the first house?” A set of three props, such as three toy bricks, can help with the order.
Notice what is typical of traditional tales: things come in threes, the wolf is the bad character and the story ends with the problem solved. Ask “What do you think happens in other stories with a wolf?”

A model retelling from a six-year-old: “First the wolf blew down the straw house. Then he blew down the sticks house. But he couldn’t blow down the bricks house, so the pigs were safe.”

Common mistakes and how to help

“My child should only read books they can read themselves”

It seems logical that easier books are better. But children who only meet words they can decode miss out on the rich language and ideas of more demanding stories.

What helps: Keep both going. Let your child read decodable books to practise reading, and read them richer stories, rhymes and non-fiction aloud to enjoy together.

Thinking a child who can’t retell the story hasn’t understood

Retelling is a skill in itself: it needs memory, ordering and sentence-building. Many children understand more than they can yet explain.

What helps: Prompt with simple questions (“What happened first?”) or use pictures or props. Accept short retellings and add the missing parts together.

Believing learning poems by heart is old-fashioned or just memory work

Reciting can seem like repetition for its own sake, so it is easy to drop in a busy week.

What helps: Pick short, fun poems and rhymes and say them in the car or at bath time. A child who knows a poem by heart has felt rhythm and rhyme from the inside.

Choosing only the same favourite book, or only stories

Children love familiar books, and parents worry that repeating them is limiting. Some children also prefer non-fiction and feel they aren’t reading properly.

What helps: Repetition builds familiarity, joining in and vocabulary, so enjoy it. Add variety gently alongside: a poem, a book of facts or a different version of a tale.

How to help at home

Make a daily story time. Ten minutes of reading aloud, ideally at the same time each day, is one of the most helpful things you can do. Let your child choose some of the books, and read them with funny voices.
Leave a gap and let them fill it. With books they know well, pause before a repeated phrase or a rhyme and let your child say it. It shows they are following and boosts confidence.
Learn one short rhyme a week. Choose a nursery rhyme, action rhyme or short poem and say it together during the week, perhaps at breakfast. Add actions to help them remember the order.
Retell with toys or drawings. After a story, act it out with soft toys or draw three pictures: beginning, middle and end. Children use story language like “first”, “then” and “in the end” without noticing.
Mix in non-fiction and library trips. Borrow a book about something your child is curious about, such as dinosaurs, diggers or space. Reading a fact together and saying “I didn’t know that” shows that books are for finding out, too.

Leads on to

Year 2: Stories, poems and non-fiction
Year 2: Favourite words and poems by heart
Year 2: Understanding what we read
Year 2: Discussing books and poems