Text progression
To support teachers with selecting appropriate texts for their year groups, each of the lists has been annotated to indicate suitability for year 1 or 2, year 3 or 4, year 5 or 6.
Teachers may find that earlier texts are more suitable for the beginning of the year while those towards the end of the lists are more complex in either language or concepts and therefore could be more appropriate towards the end of the year. Texts noted as good for a particular year are especially useful for teaching specific grammar objectives for that year group.
Please note, however, that all the sequences have been written to suit two years of the English curriculum (KS1 – year 3/4 or year 5/6) and are not intended to be taught in a set sequence.
In all cases, teachers need to make text choices based on the individual needs of their classes: almost all of these texts have been used successfully across two year groups in different contexts.
Sourcing texts that teach for remote learning
Our texts that teach lists have been updated and now indicate those whose publishers temporarily relaxed regulations during lockdown to enable teachers to share books with their classes remotely, for example, through recorded readings.
Also included are links to other online sources from which books can be accessed in full. Please read in conjunction with the School Library Service’s publisher permissions list.
Years 1 and 2
- Fiction texts that teach for years 1 and 2
- Non-fiction texts that teach for years 1 and 2
- Poetry texts that text for years 1 and 2
Years 3 and 4
- Fiction texts that teach for years 3 and 4
- Non-fiction texts that teach for years 3 and 4
- Poetry texts that text for years 3 and 4