English·Phonics & Word Reading·procedural
Reading Contractions
Read and understand contractions with apostrophes, knowing the apostrophe represents omitted letters
Suggested ages 5–6
Learning journey
Your child is building the foundation for reading — learning how letters and sounds work together, recognizing common words by sight, and developing the skills to sound out new words independently.
Evidence of understanding
- 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 Reading Contractions understand that 'can't' means 'cannot' and 'it's' means 'it is' — knowing the apostrophe stands for the missing letter or letters?
Standards alignment
Eng_Y1_RWR_07GB · uk-nc-2013
Read contractions
The national curriculum in England: Key stages 1 and 2 framework document · Key stage 1