Rising First Grade Summer Learning

For students entering first grade in Fall 2024.

Dear Kindergarten Families,

We were so busy this year! We are proud of our kindergartners and what they've accomplished!  We can't wait to see what the future holds for this group. We hope everyone has a happy, healthy summer! 

Below are some ideas and resources for students to continue their learning over the summer. Here are your child's logins for the suggested programs. Along with these programs, please also find a variety of additional suggestions for summer activities. 

HANDWRITING

• We have left pages for your child to complete in the Handwriting Without Tears journal (it's the orange journal).  The book will be coming home at the end of the school year.  The children  have practiced all letters already.  Completing these pages would be a review. 

LITERACY

Literacy Activity Suggestions

• Continue practicing snap words with flash cards, games and also by using these words in writing. Your child's snap words have been emailed to you. 

• Here is a snap word memory game you might like to try:

Make two sets of identical word cards using the words from the list that is emailed to you. Make each set a different color so at the end of the game the sets can be easily separated. Play with 24 cards at a time, using two identical sets of 12 cards. Place each set of 12 cards in a grid face down, slightly apart from each other. Your child picks one card from each set and reads them. If your child needs help, just tell them the words. If they match, your child keeps them. If not, they are turned back over. Your turn next, but have your child do your reading also. Whoever has the most pairs at the end wins.

• You can have your child read and write sentences using their name, names of family and friends, some three letter words such as pat, run, dog, etc. and some snap words.

- Ex., Sam's hat is red.  Bill ran with the dog.  When writing, have your child write lower case letters (unless it's a person's name, name of a place, beginning of a sentence, etc.!) 

• Create your own summer writing journal.

You can have your child do “journal” style writing to tell stories about summer adventures and experiences! Encourage your child to draw an illustration about a special event and then come up with several written details to match the picture. Help your child stretch out the words to record the most prominent sounds and put spaces between the words. Feel free to tell your child how to spell common words (e.g. that, you, like) but don’t worry about correct spelling in general. You can help them edit for one or two spelling errors or help them make sure they are using upper and lower case letters in the correct spots and have a period at the end of a sentence.

•  Play rhyming, “word family” games. Use the vowels a, e, i, o, u, combined with a consonant such as at.  Help them think of as many rhyming words as they can that end in at or have them write at ten times down the side of a paper, putting any consonant in front of at. Your child says each word and underlines the ones that are real words. ex. at, fat, cat, mat, hat, gat, pat, jat, zat, etc.  Other word families might be an, am, ab, ad, ag, ap,ip, it, ig, in, im, ug, ut, un, ed, eg, eck, ell, em, en, ock, od, og, op, ot, ox.

• Continuing to read to your child is excellent for their literacy development!

Lexia is an online phonics, sight word, and comprehension program.  

To login go to: https://www.lexiacore5.com/ 

Your child's login is listed above. The first time you log in on a new device, first type in ekoeplin@gus.org.  Once your child logs in, if they have not already done so,  they will take an entry test that will place them. All of the Lexia content is based on time. It is important to remind children to not rush and to focus on the task at hand so that the program will move them along appropriately. You will be able to see your child's progress as they finish each section. They have the option to finish a whole section or move around to different activities. 

Raz-kids is an online library of leveled readers for your child.  To login go to: https://www.raz-kids.com/

When you get to the page, click Kids Login on the right hand side.  The teacher login is gusthoms. Your child's login will be an icon and then they will have to type in read for their password. Go to the reading room. Click Leveled Books from the menu at the top. There you will find a variety of books at the correct level for your child to choose from. For harder texts, in the level-up section, you can have the computer read the story to your child before they try to read it independently.  There are questions that can be accessed as well.  

MATH

• We suggest using a summer skills math workbook, which you can find here.  (We do not recommend the literacy workbook from this publisher. )

• We recommend buying a set of Cuisenaire Rods. Help your child practice remembering which rod stands for which number. They can line up the white unit rods next to each colored rod to determine the value. Have your child practice making numbers 1-49 with the rods and then write the numeral under the rods. You should do this in random order. Have your child practice writing addition equations and then solve them by using rods. 

• Write down simple (one digit) addition and subtraction equations for your child to solve. Have them use materials such as pennies, rather than fingers if the answer isn’t automatic. Write problems in several ways: 

     3+5= ____ 

       3

     +5  

     ___ = 3+5

• Tell your child a simple addition or subtraction word problem. Have them write an equation to go with it and then solve the problem. Feature numbers 1-10. 

Example: Meg had 10 bats in a bag. She gave Sam 1. How many are in the bag now? 10-1=9

Real life experiences, such as counting or weighing produce at a store, are always beneficial! 

IXL is an online site that is excellent for math review.  

To log in go to: https://www.ixl.com. In the upper right hand corner, type in your child's username and password. Click, "sign in." Click on the word "Learning" and from the drop down menu, go to "Math." You will come to a page of kindergarten math. Pick a topic! If the activities in a topic are completed by your child and more advanced work is necessary, try the first grade section of the same topic. 

Happy summer!

All the best,

Mrs. Koeplin and Mrs. Thoms