writing lessons ks1

Writing instructions

I can write a simple instructions and commands.

Lesson details

Key learning points.

Instructions or commands tell someone what to do.
Giving an instruction to someone can be useful in teaching them something or giving them information.
Instructions mostly start with verbs, such as 'feed your cat twice a day' or 'give your cat a bowl of water'.
Instructions can come in a sequence using sequencing language, such as 'First, put a bed down for your cat.'.
A command can include a list, such as 'Give your cat water, food and love.'.

Common misconception

When writing a list of nouns, pupils may keep extending it or repeatedly use 'and'.

Tell the children to focus on three nouns only and explicitly model that 'and' is used before the last noun and the comma is used in between the others.

Command - a type of simple sentence that tells someone to do something and can end with an exclamation mark

Instruction - a direction or order

Verb - a doing or being word

Noun - a naming word for people, places or things

Comma - a punctuation mark used to separate nouns in a list

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited ( 2024 ), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Starter quiz

6 questions.

a naming word for people, places or things

adjective -

a word that describes a noun

a doing or being word

command -

a type of simple sentence that tells someone to do something

question -

a type of simple sentence that asks the reader for an answer

something that is known to be true or proved

The sun is hot.

Put on some sun cream.

Do you have a hat?

The Writing For Pleasure Centre

– promoting research-informed writing teaching

The Writing For Pleasure Centre’s Quick Guide To Teaching Writing: KS1

This quick guide to teaching writing in KS1 is exactly that. It will help you teach writing in a way that reflects the 14 principles of effective writing teaching (Young & Ferguson 2021 ). This includes:

How every child can be successful as a writer from their very first day.
How to set up a consistent routine for daily meaningful writing.
How to introduce successful class writing projects.
How to get your writing instruction just right.
How to offer supportive individualised instruction that moves children’s writing forward.
Tips on how to get your writers to talk about and share their work together.
How to use a writer’s process in the classroom that is developmentally appropriate.
Answers to those frequently asked questions.

or FREE for members

Photos for Writing

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Mighty Writer Blog

Make instruction writing fun in ks1, no teacher could deny that instructions are an artform..

…. Especially if you want your pupils to follow them.

Precise, concise and clear, your delivery of instructions is integral to whether a task will sink or swim. So, it’s fair to say that the majority of us perfect the craft early on – or risk some serious classroom chaos.

Instruction writing – or procedural writing – isn’t just an important skill for teaching, of course.

The children in your KS1 class must also learn the merits of writing specific, unambiguous, step-by-step descriptions. Generally covering how to make or do something, these instructions should be clear and easy to follow by the reader, allowing them to assess exactly what they need to do.

Instruction Writing Teaches Children to Think Carefully and Literally.

notepad with "today" written and underlined, with numbers underneath

Sequence cards

Rather than writing a list, try a touch of artwork to liven up the task.

Give the class some square cut-outs of paper, with room for both a drawing and some handwriting. Then, ask them to detail a simple activity, part by part.

To further instil the importance of clear instructions, you can turn the cards into a game – if you shuffle them, can a partner put them back into the correct order?

The Long and Short of it

In order for instructions to be clear, they need to be to-the-point.

Provide the class with a narrative which contains instructions that are bloated by other information – part of a larger story, perhaps.

Task the class with stripping away the wider information and producing clear instructions, which are easier to understand and follow than the original text. It’ll make the importance of clarity crystal clear!

Heading in the Right Direction

Instruction writing can still be creative!

If the class aren’t so keen on writing instructions for cake baking and tooth brushing, try something more adventurous.

How about directions to a fantasy land?

Turn left at the lollipops, straight past the dragon’s paddock and you’ll see the castle straight ahead!

Once the children have mastered the written structure, why not draw a marvellous map to match?

How Can Mighty Writer Help Make Writing Fun?

If you want to take your pupils' writing skills to the next level, consider using Mighty Writer. This innovative resource is designed to make writing fun and engaging for young learners, while also developing their core literacy skills. With Mighty Writer, your pupils will love writing and you'll love the results!

Want to learn more about the Mighty Writer resource? Download our free Teachers Guide by clicking the link below!

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HOME > Literacy > Writing and Letter Formation > Instructions Writing

Writing Instructions Display Banner (B5889)

A colourful banner for your ‘Writing Instructions’ classroom display.

Instructions/Following Instructions Display Banners (SB3110)

Colourful banners for a display on following instructions.

Writing Instructions Display Banners (SB10510)

Printable banners for your classroom Instructions writing display.

Writing Instructions Checklist Signs (SB1152)

A set of 7 printable colour signs to display in your classroom when children are writing instructions.

Instructions Word Mat (SB3600)

A printable word mat featuring useful words for writing a variety of types of instructions.

Cooking Word Cards (SB3841)

Printable word and picture cards linked to cooking. Ideal for creating a word bank when children are writing recipes.

Recipe Writing Frames (SB3874)

Printable recipe writing frames in colour and black and white.

Recipe Instruction Words Mat (SB6515)

A printable mat with imperative words linked to recipes. A usual desktop aid for children when writing recipe instructions.

‘How to...’ Instructions Writing Frames (SB3119)

A set of writing frames for children to write instructions. Including ‘How to cross the road safely’, ‘How to brush your teeth’, ‘How to make a delicious sandwich’ and more.

Imperative Verbs Word Cards (SB7144)

A large selection of imperative verbs presented on simple word cards with coloured borders.

Writing Template Set (SB438)

A very useful set of colour (and low- colour) A4 templates to aid and inspire your children when writing. The set includes printable templates for birthday and thank you cards, a recipe, postcard, letter, cafe menu and shopping list.

Fun Writing Activities for KS1

Looking for some ideas to engage children in writing? Check out some of our favourite, fun writing activities for KS1 children!

Salt Tray Fun

Salt trays are a great alternative to writing on the traditional pencil and paper and supports early writers in letter formation. Start by laying out some trays on a table, then line each tray with coloured paper and cover with a generous layer of salt.

Lay out letters or words on the table for children to choose and challenge them to write the words in their salt tray. These word cards could be linked to a particular subject or topic, or even tricky words that children need to practise.

An easy but fun activity that will get children active and moving around the classroom. Choose the words you would like children to find, these could be words that when used together can make a sentence or link to the genre of writing you are teaching at the time, such as time conjunctions for instruction writing.

Hide the words around the classroom and set children to work. Can they collect words and use them to form a sentence?

Story Dice

Give children different story dice to support them in writing their own story, including where the story is set and what characters they might come across.

Give children different settings such as the rainforest, Santa's grotto, a fairground or a swimming pool. Ask children to describe the scene and write what they would see, hear, smell, feel or touch in the setting. Children could be challenged to guess which setting the person next to them chose based on their senses description.

Character swap

What would happen if Winnie the Pooh entered the story of the Gruffalo? Or if Winnie the Witch entered the story of Peter Rabbit? Think of some stories that are familiar to the children and tell them that the characters have wandered into the wrong storylines! Can children write an alternative storyline for each character?

What would you do?

Give children a variety of scenarios and ask them to write a description of what they would do in each situation. What would you do if you found an alien under your bed? What would you do if your cat started talking to you? What would you do if you bumped into the Queen in Tesco?

Nonsense poems

Ask children to write a poem with rhyming words that make no sense.

I had a cat who ate a hat

upon a mat inside my flat

with my tall rat who swung a bat...

Ask children to think of their favourite book character. Challenge them to write an invitation asking them to come to tea. Children’s invitations should include when and where the tea party will take place, what they might eat and activities they might do together.

For more writing activities check out this FREE KS1 writing activity bundle !

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Sats results 2024: Slight rise overall

The proportion of Year 6 pupils reaching the expected standard in all three areas of reading, writing and maths has increased slightly but is still behind pre-Covid levels, according to government data .

Overall, 61 per cent of pupils taking this year’s key stage 2 Sats tests met the expected standard in all three areas, compared with 60 per cent last year.

This is still behind the pre-pandemic 2019 figure of 65 per cent.

Last year’s published figure was originally 59 per cent before being revised earlier this year.

KS2 Sats results 2024 expected standard overall

Reading and writing up but maths remains the same

This year, the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading attainment was 74 per cent - a slight increase from 73 per cent last year.

The proportion of pupils meeting the expected standard in writing was 72 per cent - also up from 71 per cent last year.

And the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in maths was 73 per cent, which is unchanged from 2023.

In grammar, punctuation and spelling (GPS), 72 per cent of pupils met the expected standard, also unchanged since 2023.

And in science, 81 per cent of pupils met the expected standard, a slight increase from 80 per cent last year.

This year’s Sats are the penultimate series to be delivered by Capita after they lost out to Pearson to run the exams from 2026.

KS2 Sats results 2024 expected standard by subject

Key stage 2 pass marks

The Department for Education also published the thresholds for reaching the expected standard for KS2 reading, maths and grammar, punctuation and spelling (GPS) tests this morning.

In maths, the pass mark has dropped to 54 out of 110, compared with 56 in 2023. This follows concern from primary leaders and experts that the paper was “deliberately tricky” .

In GPS, the pass threshold has also fallen slightly from 36 marks to 35 marks out of 70.

In the reading test, the threshold has increased from 24 to 27 marks out of 30. This is likely owing to standards levelling out after last year’s difficult reading paper , which left even the most able pupils “broken” and in tears , according to leaders.

A review of last year’s controversial reading paper found that lower-attaining pupils were likely to have found the test more difficult than previous tests since 2016.

Sats 2024: How did pupils find the tests this year?
2023 results: No rise towards pre-Covid levels
Unions: ‘Sats results should not be public for next two years’

Some leaders struggle to find results

Last year, school leaders were left frustrated as they tried to access their schools’ Sats results via the Primary Assessment Gateway (PAG).

Primary heads had reported being unable to access the site despite assurances from the STA that there would be no repeat of the issues that occurred in 2022.

This year, some primary teachers have been unable to see their results via the Primary Assessment Gateway this morning. Schools should be able to access their results through the “Available activity” section.

Has anyone else had difficulty with finding the results for Keystage 2 SATs on the gateway? Ours are not on their in the Available Activity section. #EduTwitter #SATs - Mr J Deacon 💙 (@Mr_J_Deacon) July 9, 2024

Markers concerned over pay

Tes is aware of concern being expressed by numerous markers this year over the pay that they have received for this exam series.

Speaking anonymously, some said that segment rates are lower than they were originally told, meaning many have been paid less than expected.

Sats exams are marked by segments, rather than the entire paper. A rate in pounds is given to each segment, which determines how much markers are paid.

However, Capita told Tes that it has had “no indication [that] there’s an issue with pay”.

Capita delayed marking last year following “technical issues” , with markers reporting they were locked out of training in the lead-up to exam marking.

How are Sats scores generated?

Pupils’ Sats marks are converted from a raw score (the total number of marks that a pupil received from their Sats tests) to something called a “scaled score” .

This means that the mark is processed to account for any variations in difficulty that have occurred between assessments year on year. This makes it possible to compare the performance of different cohorts of pupils across different years.

A scaled score of 100 or more means that the pupil has met the expected standard.

If a school believes that a pupil’s mark is incorrect, or that there has been a clerical error, it can apply for a review of marking.

For pupils who do not meet the expected standard in Year 6, a literacy and numeracy catch-up premium is given to state-funded schools (including special schools and alternative provision settings) to provide additional funding for support in reading and/or maths.

Calls for Sats reform

There have long been calls for Sats to be reformed or even scrapped, particularly since the pandemic, when the assessments were cancelled.

The heightened concern is partly borne out of a rise in children having mental health problems: a third of primary school leaders are more concerned about the mental wellbeing of their Year 6 pupils this year compared with their previous cohorts, according to a survey shared with Tes.

This year marked the first set of non-mandatory KS1 Sats, which the government decided to make optional in favour of using the baseline assessment of pupils in reception as the starting point for looking at progress at the end of KS2.

Despite this change, Tes revealed in April that over half of primary schools were still running the Year 2 assessments at some point this year.

Education minister Catherine McKinnell said: “Despite the brilliance of our teachers, these figures show there are far too many pupils who are not meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, and almost total stagnation in progress nationally over the past three years.”

“This government will give teachers and families the support their efforts deserve and make sure every child leaves primary school with strong foundations for future learning.”

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said that the fact results are still lower than pre-pandemic levels shows “the ongoing impact of the educational disruptions caused by Covid-19”.

“The learning loss experienced by some students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, was considerable,” he continued, highlighting “inadequate post-pandemic education recovery funding” and the end of National Tutoring Programme funding as “a step backwards” for support.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, warned that “the current high-stakes testing regime fails to value children as individuals, foster positive mental health, or encourage a broad and balanced curriculum”.

“We urge the new government to reconsider the value and purpose of statutory assessments. They are given disproportionate significance and pile pressure onto pupils and staff, causing unnecessary stress and, in some cases, harming their wellbeing.”

For the latest education news and analysis delivered directly to your inbox every weekday morning, sign up to the Tes Daily newsletter

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Sats results 2024: Slight rise overall
The proportion of Year 6 pupils reaching the expected standard in all three areas of reading, writing and maths has increased slightly but is still behind pre-Covid levels, according to government data.. Overall, 61 per cent of pupils taking this year's key stage 2 Sats tests met the expected standard in all three areas, compared with 60 per cent last year.