Reading Contractions

PROCEDURAL

English›Phonics & Word Reading|Ages 5—6|ID: mt_t1JXeNgKcu

Read and understand contractions with apostrophes, knowing the apostrophe represents omitted letters

Mastery Evidence

Read common contractions in text (e.g. 'I'm', 'we'll', 'don't')
Match contractions to their expanded forms (e.g. 'I'm' = 'I am')
Explain that the apostrophe shows where letters are missing

Assessment Prompt

“Does [child] understand that 'can't' means 'cannot' and 'it's' means 'it is' — knowing the apostrophe stands for the missing letter or letters?”

Curriculum Standards1 alignment

Eng_Y1_RWR_07The national curriculum in England

Read contractions

Read words with contractions [for example, I’m, I’ll, we’ll], and understand that the apostrophe represents the omitted letter(s).

English · Key stage 1

Prerequisites1

Blending Sounds to Read Words
hardAges 4—7

Show full prerequisite tree

Blending Sounds to Read Words hard
Need blending to read contractions
- Single Letter Sounds hard
  Need GPC knowledge to blend
  - Knowing all letters hard
    Must recognise letters before learning their sounds
    - Understanding print hard
      Must understand print direction before letter identification matters
- Onsets & Rimes hard
  Phoneme awareness needed for blending
  - Rhyming words soft
    Rhyme awareness supports finer phoneme skills
  - Syllables soft
    Syllable awareness builds toward phoneme level

Unlocks1

Spelling Contracted Forms
hardAges 6—7