May 2026 Learning Goals
Here’s an overview of our learning goals for May:
It is hard to believe we are in the second last month of Grade 1! This month will be very exciting, with our chicks hatching on May 11th. Our chicks will live in a brooder pen in our classroom until May 15th, when they will be picked up by the farmers that work for Agriculture in the Classroom. Later on this month we will be onto our next project - caterpillars!
Reading: We will continue to work on developing reading fluency by focusing on accuracy, pace and expression. Students will consolidate the skills they’ve learned in our literacy instruction this year to become fluent and flexible readers.
Writing: This month, we will be introducing opinion writing. Students will practice stating their opinion and backing it up with facts. We will explore this genre of writing through read-alouds, structured writing activities, and writing reviews of our favourite things.
Math: We will continue to work on subtraction over the next month. We’ll continue to master our subtraction strategies as well as extend student learning by practicing mixed operations, fact families and story problems. We will also begin to practice using mental math strategies. Later in the month, we will begin to explore measurement concepts such as area, mass and volume using non-standard units of measurement.
Health: We are continuing our new Kids in the Know personal safety education program. An information packet will be sent home in your child’s homework folder outlining this program. Lessons will include the following topics:
Feelings
Safe grown-ups to go to for help
Boundaries - how to be safe
Keep Secrets and Speak Secrets (this lessons includes naming body parts)
The Buddy System
Trust Your Instincts
What to do When Lost
Fundations Unit 11 & 12:
In Unit 11, students will learn about a new syllable type, vowel-consonant-e. This is a concept that they have been introduced to (we often call it “magic e”), and they will now get three weeks to practice it and extend their learning in Fundations. With “vowel-consonant-e”, the “e” at the end of the word is silent, but it changes the sound of the vowel in the word to the long vowel sound. For example: If we add an “e” to the word “hop”, it becomes “hope”. Students will learn the keywords and practice the long vowel sounds for each vowel.
In Unit 12, students will begin working with multisyllabic words. They will practice reading and writing words with more than one syllable. Students will learn to make words that have two closed syllables (ie: consist) and words that have one closed syllable and one v-e syllable (ie: inspire). If a word has 2 vowels that are separated by consonants, we need to divide the word into syllables. Students will practice identifying where to divide these words (ie: catnip = cat nip ).
Sight words: Beginning later this month, we will review previously taught concepts in a variety of words rather than having a particular set of sight words.
May 4th - 8th: afternoon, anyway, anyone, sometimes (compound words)
May 11th - 15th: R-controlled vowels
May 19th - 22nd: Vowel teams - long a (ai, ay)
May 25th - 29th: Vowel teams - long e (ea, ee)