First Grade Goals
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 r-controlled vowels
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 read and spell words. For example the sounds /c/ /a/ /p/ = the word cap and the sounds /c/ /a/ /p/ /e/ = make the word cape.
High Frequency Words - are frequently found words in text that can be phonetically or irregularly spelled. These words must be practiced repeatedly to develop automaticity for reading and spelling. HFW (high frequency 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 HFWs and some suggested ways to practice them here on our website.
WAYS TO PRACTICE HFWs 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
main idea- what was the story mostly about
fiction (fake) / nonfiction (not fake)
retelling the story- story events in the beginning, middle and end
text features - captions, table of contents, glossary, bold words, heading
Writing
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 write the sounds they hear in the words not getting hung up on it being spelled perfectly. This is valuable phonemic and phonetic practice for students where they are practicing segmenting words into their individual sounds and then matching them with the appropriate letters. As students learn new sounds the spelling patterns will be learned that will allow their spelling to grow for example students who are segmenting words will commonly spell words such as home > hom or play > pla. 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. Ramona was wrong because she hurt Susan when she pulled her curls.), 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. Dinosaurs lived on Earth a long time ago. Some dinosaurs were bigger than people are today…), and, as in an opinion piece, offers some sense of conclusion.
Writing a narrative is like writing a story, and your child’s story may be inspired by books, experiences, or imagination. Your first grader’s story should describe two or more events, include some details about what happened, and use sentence order, verb tense, and words to put the events in order (e.g. Then Goldilocks tries the second bowl of porridge. Next she eats the third bowl of porridge.) and give some sense of the story coming to an end — not only by writing “The End,” although that’s a good start.
Math
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.