Year 1 Looking after pets: reading and writing worksheet

“Clues in the pictures” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 1 English unit “Looking after pets: reading and writing”, for children aged 5 to 6, and takes about 20 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 23 to 25 of the year, 10 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Clues in the pictures

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 1 · English · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can look at pictures to make a clever guess about a story.

A Look back3 min

1.
Look at the word cat. Circle the first sound.
cat
2.
Which mark ends this sentence: The cat sat on the mat
.?!
3.
cat + s =
catscatcatz

B Watch me, then you4 min

Ben has a book with a kite on the cover. What might the story be about?

A windy green hill with a red kite flying above it

Watch me

Look at the picture first.

A kite and a windy hill are clues.

My clever guess: the story is about flying a kite.

Now you

1.
Mia’s book has a boat on a lake on the cover. What might the story be about? Write your guess.

C Your turn8 min

Read what each picture shows. Use the clues to circle the best guess.

A dog playing with a red ball on green grass

1.
The cover shows a dog with a red ball. What is the story probably about?
a dog and a balla train ridea lost sock
2.
The first picture shows a duck by a pond. What might happen next?
The duck swimsThe duck flies to spaceThe duck bakes a cake
3.
A picture shows a cat with a new bowl. What is the story probably about?
a bus tripa cat getting a new homea snowy hill
4.
A picture shows a bird sitting on a nest with eggs. What might happen next?
A bird drives a carEggs hatch into chicksA fish climbs a tree

Say it out loud: Which picture clue helped you most? Tell your grown-up.

D Spot the mistake3 min

A rabbit peeking out from behind a tree in a garden

Ravi says: “The pictures in a book are just decoration. We never need to look at them.”

1.
Write one reason Ravi is wrong.

E Think deeper4 min

A garden shed door left open with a cat looking out

1.
Look at the picture. Write one sentence to say what might happen next. Start with: I think

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Clues in the pictures · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. c your child may have circled a, the middle sound. Say cat slowly and ask which sound comes first.

2. . your child may have chosen a question mark. Ask: is this sentence asking something, or telling us something?

3. cats your child may have written catz. Say the word with s on the end and listen to the sound.

B

1. Look for: A guess that uses the cover clues, such as a boat trip, sailing or a day on the lake.

C

1. a dog and a ball your child may have picked the train. Ask: what is in the picture? Find the animal first.

2. The duck swims

3. a cat getting a new home

4. Eggs hatch into chicks

D

1. Look for: Pictures can give clues about the story, a character or the place where it happens. your child may only say the pictures are pretty. Ask: what can you see in this rabbit picture that helps you guess?

E

1. Look for: A sentence that starts with I think, makes a guess about what might happen next, and ends with a full stop.

Words to use

Say“What do you see first in the picture? What do you think might happen next?”

Instead of“Just read the words and skip the pictures.”

After the sheet

Choose a picture book at home. Look at the pictures only and guess the story together. Then read it and check your guess.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

9 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Lulu and her new cat(with a plan)
Big ideas in stories(with a plan)
Think like Lulu(with a plan)
Cat facts from books(with a plan)
Fiction or non-fiction?(with a plan)
Writing cat facts(with a plan)
Writing cat care steps(with a plan)
Parts of an information page(with a plan)
Commands and order(with a plan)

Every Year 1 English worksheet

The worksheets plan opens a printable sheet for every lesson in Years 1 to 6, each with its answers on a separate page for you. It costs £6.99 a month or £59 a year for the whole family, with no free trial.

The full StudyDen plan adds the lessons themselves, marked as your child works, with the worksheets included. It is 7 days free, then £29.99 a month.

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