1st Grade Goals

What will we be learning this year?

Reading Foundational Skills:

Phonemic Awareness - is the understanding that spoken words are made up of individual sounds, called phonemes. Phonemic awareness is an oral and auditory skill done "in your head",  the focus is on what we hear, the sounds, in words. 

• Phonemes (individual letter sounds) - There are 44 sounds in the English language.  We will be focusing on all consonants, short & long vowels, blends (ie: bl-, st, -nd ), digraphs (ie: ch, sh, th, ck, wh, -ng), and introducing r-controlled vowels (/ir/, /er/, /ar/, /or/) 

• Segmenting words into their individual phonemes (sounds) for example:  web > /w/ /e/ /b/   or dish  > /d/ /i/ /sh/

• Blending phonemes for example:  /s/ /t/ /o/ /p/ > stop   /m/ /o/ /p/ > mop 

• Manipulating phonemes for example:  /t/ /o/ /p/ /s/  >  /s/ /t/ /o/ /p/

• Rhyming -  identifying, recalling, and producing rhyming words - cat / hat,   stand / band

Phonics - is the explicit instruction of letter-sound relationships.  This is where print comes in as students match graphemes (letters) to phonemes (individual sounds) they hear in words, applying the phonemic awareness skills of blending, segmenting and manipulating phonemes to decode (read) and encode (spell) words.   For example the sounds /c/ /a/ /p/ = cap and the sounds /c/ /a/ /p/ /e/ = cape.   We will introduce a new spelling pattern every 7 days.  Students will received decodable books with the current spelling pattern each week to practice reading and spelling at home.  

Heart Words - are frequently found words in text that can be phonetically or irregularly spelled.  Most of the sounds in these words can be sounded or tapped out however, there is usually a part that can not be and must be remembered by "heart".   These words should be practiced repeatedly to develop automaticity for reading and spelling.  Your child will come home with 4-5 new Heart Words to practice each week.  Heart Words are best practiced daily a few words at a time until mastery is developed.  There are many engaging and kinesthetic ways to practices these words.  You can find the list of our 1st grade Heart Words and some suggested ways to practice them here on our website.  

1st Grade Heart Words 

(click link to view words)

WAYS TO PRACTICE Heart Words AT HOME  

• -arm tap each letter 

      -for the word the (tap your shoulder and say t, elbow and say h and wrist and say e, then swipe down your entire arm and say the)

• -clap out the height of the words 

  -for the word the (clap above your head for t because it's tall, clap above your head for h and in front of your body for e, then clap and say the)

• -skywrite

  -cross your body with your non-dominant hand and touch the bone in your back. Write and spell the words out loud and underline it & say the word

• -say, spell, read, write - could be done with chalk or markers or sand to make it more engaging

• -put hair gel or finger paint in a ziplock bag and write the word

• -use flash cards to quickly read/identify the words

• - use flash cards to play memory or swat (using a spatula call out a word and have your child swat the word.)

• -use the words in sentences (orally and written)

ELA - Reader's Workshop

Story Elements: 

listening comprehension skills

setting

characters

problem and solution

Plot- story events in the beginning, middle and end

main idea- what was the story mostly about

fiction  / nonfiction 

text features - captions, table of contents, glossary, bold words, heading

First graders will practice and learn three kinds of writing: opinion, informative, and narrative.   In class,  students are taught not to ask "how do I spell _____?" , instead we encourage them to slowly say the word listening for the individual sounds and then write the corresponding letter to what they hear in the word.  This is valuable phonemic and phonetic practice for students where they are practicing segmenting words into their individual sounds (phonemes) and then matching them with the appropriate letters (graphemes).  As students learn new sounds and spelling patterns, their spelling will grow.  Phonetic or "inventive" spelling is part of the development process when students are spelling words such as sick > sic or play > pla.   Students are writing the sounds and matching letter correspondence for the spelling patterns they have learned.   The goal for 1st grade writing is for students to develop stamina with writing (it's hard work!), get their ideas on to paper, practice writing what they hear, spell those HFWs correctly, and to practice those writing conventions (spacing, capitalizations, and punctuation). 

3 types of writing in first grade 

In an opinion piece, your child introduces the book or topic he or she is writing about, state their opinion, gives a reason or two to support their opinion (e.g. Summer is the best season because it is warm and we can go swimming.), and then offers some sort of conclusion to complete their writing.

In an informative piece, your child names what they are writing about and gives some information, facts, or details about it (e.g. Seahorses use their tails to hold on to plants because they are slow swimmers…), and, as in an opinion piece, offers some sense of conclusion.

Personal narrative and narratives are stories either about something that has happened to your child, or a story your child created that was inspired by books, experiences, or imagination. Your first grader’s story should have a Beginning, Middle and End, setting, characters and some dialogue (e.g. One day I went outside to get on the bus and I saw a baby deer in my yard....) 

In Math, we focus on 4 important areas:

Operations and Algebraic Thinking

Represent and solve problems involving addition and subtraction.

Understand and apply properties of operations and the relationship between addition and subtraction.

Add and subtract within 20.

Work with addition and subtraction equations and word problems

Number and Operations in Base Ten

Extend the counting sequence.

Understand place value.

Use place value understanding and properties of operations to add and subtract.

Measurement and Data

Measure lengths indirectly and by iterating length units.

Tell and write time.

Represent and interpret data.

Geometry

Reason with shapes and their attributes.