One hour a day – Resources for teachers

General guidance

This guidance provides key information about how you can maximise student progress during dedicated reading, writing, and maths sessions.

See Materials that come with this resource to download:

• 60 min a day maths phase 1 (.pdf)
• 60 min a day maths phase 2 (.pdf)
• 60 min a day maths phase 3 (.pdf)
• 60 min a day reading phase 1 (.pdf)
• 60 min a day reading phase 2 (.pdf)
• 60 min a day reading phase 3 (.pdf)
• 60 minutes a day writing phase 1 (.pdf)
• 60 minutes a day writing phase 2 (.pdf)
• 60 minutes a day writing phase 3 (.pdf)

There is guidance for each phase of learning, and each one recommends how long students should spend, on average, in a dedicated reading, writing and maths session.  

Please note, during Phase 1 (years 0–3), the recommended length of each dedicated reading or writing session is 50 minutes, and for maths, it is 30 minutes. The difference in length is because:

• Phase 1 spans years 0–3, which covers a large range of social development 
• there are more opportunities for students to consolidate new maths ideas into their schema through their class routines (such as telling the time, counting out groups and resources, or using patterns in songs and waiata)
• early maths ideas are more easily incorporated into other learning (like games, physical fitness, art and drama)
• students learning to read and write in the early years require more dedicated time and support to learn these skills, before they can be integrated into other areas of learning.

The planning and reflection tool can help you to consider ways in which reading, writing and maths can be deliberately planned for and implemented in the classroom.

See Materials that come with this resource to download the Planning and reflection tool - Teacher resources (.pdf).