1st and 2nd graders are now required to start English lessons in many schools that have special projects. The good part is that it gives children a head start in basic English literacy and numeracy. The bad part is that teachers are often just thrown into a room with no clear guidance about learning objectives or curriculum benchmarks. Teachers need the flexibility of having limited objectives because children at this age do no exhibit clearly distinguishable patterns of normal or abnormal learning. However, teachers still need a road map to get the students to the right learning mindset to start regular EFL lessons in 3rd grade, and begin to identify special learning needs along the way. I personally plan out every lesson, but seldom adhere to a plan completely because of various issues and student needs. The curriculum guidelines at my school for 1st and 2nd graders are:
Know the alphabet
Students can say/sing the alphabet
Students can write the alphabet (big and small)
Students can recall common vocabulary representing the alphabet
Know their English names
Students will respond when they hear their English names
Students can write their English names
Our school also insists on using a textbook for the 1st-2nd graders. I agree. The textbook has been invaluable in providing structure and routine to the lessons. We use HESS Go Magic 1-2 (1st graders) and Go Magic 3-4 (2nd graders). We keep a set of textbooks for reference that are unmarked, but we buy new workbooks regularly. The workbooks are the best resource for giving the little ones quiet focus time. After using the books and seeing the students' progress, I have also added a few more objectives of my own below.
Know common classroom commands
Students should be able to respond appropriately when they hear stand up, sit down, quiet hands, quiet feet, ears open, eyes open, etc.
Phonetic decoding skills
Students should become familiar with CVC words as sight words and develop skill in decoding/discriminating between vowel sounds (e.g. bed/bad, ant/ink, etc.)
Students should become familiar with long vowel sounds and know that they are spelled by combining 2 vowels.
Students should be able to discriminate between short and long vowels (e.g. cap/cape)
In order to meet these learning objectives I use a variety of materials and websites which are linked below.
Make printable puzzle sheets
Another site for puzzles and worksheets. The most useful sheets for kiddos at this age are the handwriting practice sheets and word shapes puzzles. Students can notice the tall, short, and lower-hanging letters. Training with lined handwriting sheets and word shapes can get the kids to write inside the lines and avoid the "fly away" letters.
Former elementary teacher is homeschooling her kids. She has lots of free materials and more links for homeschooling parents, distance teachers, and teachers working at school.
Early childhood writing worksheets can be downloaded with free membership.
You can find a very useful pdf printable pack of activities related to the classic Brown Bear and links to materials for other Eric Carle books.
You can find a very useful pdf printable pack of activities related to the classic Hungry Caterpillar and links to materials for other Eric Carle books.
Another homeschooling blog site with an immense amount of printable packs for young learners. Don't let the wonky arithmetic name throw you off. This material is good for sight word building and alphabet learning.
Good stuff made by a Special Ed. and mother team. Early literacy and phonics learning worksheets are available for download. Also a blog section with lesson ideas.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear Matching Game
I recommend copying the share link into a new tab and resizing to 150%-175% for larger pictures.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Matching Game (below)
I recommend copying the share link into a new tab and resizing to 150%-175% for larger pictures.
These are sentences from the Hess Go Magic textbooks' alphabet chants. Kids are willing to chant along, but sometimes they confuse "This is a.../ I have a .../ I see a ...." so I created a bilingual Quizlet flashcard set to help kids remember the meaning of what they are chanting.