January/February 2026 Learning Goals
Here’s an overview of our learning goals for January/February:
We had a great start to 2026! We spent the first week of January getting back into classroom routines/expectations. January has been a fun outdoor month so far, with snow on the playgrounds. We plan to get outside on our school sleds at least once or twice over the next 2 months. In the classroom, we will continue to be busy learning new goals and celebrating each student’s accomplishments. Later in February, we will be busy assessing students as we prepare for our end-of-term report cards and parent-teacher interviews in March. Here is an overview of what we have been working on academically and what we will continue working on in February.
Reading: We will be reading and exploring the difference between Fiction and Non-Fiction texts. We will be doing Story Maps (where we identify Story Elements: Setting, Characters, Order of Events, Problem, and Solution) with some class read-alouds. We will do Non-Fiction read-alouds and learn a lot of new facts about various topics. We will discuss their text features. Examples of text features are: Headings, table of contents, glossary, labelling, etc). Also, we will continue working in small groups geared towards group skills during guided reading. We will continue building our reading strategies to support our decoding and comprehension skills. We will continue to build our reading fluency by reading in phrases, noticing punctuation, and matching our expression.
Writing: We recently finished up Small Moment writing in January, and now we are moving on to Procedural Writing. In this unit, we will teach our readers step-by-step instructions on how to do something or how to make something. Then, we will move into writing Non-Fiction (choosing a topic we know a lot about and teaching our readers facts about the topic). We have a variety of writing ideas planned (such as: choosing an animal and describing what it looks like, its’ habitat, its’ diet, etc; writing about the seasons, writing about a friend/family member, etc).
Math:
We will work on counting by 1’s within 0-100 forward and backward, beginning at any given number.
We started our Addition unit. In January we will focus on facts to 12 using a variety of strategies (first understanding part-part/whole, learning addition vocabulary and equality, adding using pictures, adding using manipulatives, adding with zero, adding using a number line, adding using the count on strategy (start at the bigger number and count on the smaller number), turn around facts (flip the addend does not change the sum), facts that make 10 and adding using doubles.
In February, we will extend our knowledge of addition with facts to 18 using the strategies listed above.
For continued practice, we will continue strengthening our skip counting by 2’s from 0-20 and by 5’s and 10’s from 0-100. We will count orally, as well as count objects in groups of 2, 5, and 10.
Science: We are tracking the weather in our January Weather booklets. The kids are having a lot of fun checking the weather each day and recording the temperature with and without the windchill; and whether it is cloudy, snowy, rainy, sunny, or partly sunny skies. At the end of the month, we will add up how many days it snowed, rained, or was a sunny day. We will do this again for the month of February.
Fundations:
Unit 7: (3 weeks in total). In Unit 7, students are learning EIGHT new glued sounds! Wow! There will be four new glued sounds ending with “ng” (ang, ing, ong, ung) and four ending with “nk” (ank, ink, onk, unk).
In Week 1, we learned the “ng” glued sounds.
In Week 2, we will learn the “nk” glued sounds.
In Week 3, we will add the suffix -s to these words.
Unit 8: (2 weeks total). In unit 8, students will learn:
Consonant blends (find the vowel in the word and look before and after it to find the consonant blend. The consonants blend, and you hear both sounds. (Example: flip, must. We mark blends by underlining each consonant.)
Digraph blends (find the vowel in the word and look before and after it to find the digraph consonant blend. They blend together and you hear both sounds. (Example: shred, munch). We mark by underlining the digraph and underlining the consonant.
We will also learn the R-controlled vowel sounds /er/ /ir/ /ur/, /or/, /ar/ to help us decode/read words that have R-controlled vowels (examples: over, her, shirt, surf, short, star).
Unit 9: (2 weeks total). In unit 9, students will learn:
We will learn the term closed syllables. A closed-syllable word has only one vowel, and the vowel is ‘closed in’; it is immediately followed by a consonant(s) or a digraph. Example: bat, bath, rush, sip. In closed-syllable words, the vowel says its’ short vowel sound. We mark closed syllable words by underlining the word, writing ‘c’ under it, and marking the short vowel sound with the short vowel symbol .
We will also learn vowel team sounds to help us decode/read words with vowel teams. Example: each, sweet, say, wait, boat.
Trick words/Sight words:
January:
Week 1 - her, after, other, over (words ending in the R-controlled /er/ sound)
Week 2 - why, by, my, try, very (y as a vowel. When /y/ is at the end of a one-syllable word, it makes the long /i/ sound; in two- syllable words, it makes the long /e/ sound.
Week 3 - put, two, too, also
Week 4 - about, our, how, now (words with vowel teams /ou/ and /ow/ sound)
February:
Week 1 - would, could, should, some
Week 2 - her, over, number (/er/ R-controlled vowel sound)
Week 3 - each, between, three, sleep (/ee/, /ea/ vowel team sounds. The first vowel says its’ long vowel sound.)
Week 4 - say, today, rain, wait (/ay/, /ai/ vowel team sounds. The first vowel says its’ long vowel sound.)
November 2025
Here’s on overview of our learning goals for November:
November is always a quick month as we head into Remembrance Day, the PEI Teachers’ Convention, and Parent-Teacher Conferences! We have lots of learning to pack into a short amount of time.
Reading: We will continue to master the reading strategies taught so far this year, as well as work in literacy centres to practice our sight/trick/heart words and Fundations skills. We will be working in small groups geared towards group skills during guided reading as well. Assessments aimed at evaluating decoding skills, sight/trick/heart word recognition and transferring these skills into reading have begun to prepare for learning reports.
Writing: This month we will begin our Small Moments unit of study. In this unit, students will tell true stories from their own lives. We will practice generating an idea, planning our writing sequentially, bringing our characters to life, and editing and revising.
Math: We will continue to solidify our understanding of the teen numbers 11-19 and representing numbers to 20 in a variety of ways. We will continue practicing subitizing (recognizing numbers at a glance). We will work on counting skills: counting forwards and backwards within 20, we will learn skip counting by 2’s from 0-20, and practice counting a set (one at a time, moving items/crossing off, last # said is how many in all). We will work on identifying the number that is 1 more/2 more, 1 less/2 less. We will also discuss equality and inequality when comparing numbers.
Fundations Units 4 and 5:
Unit 4: We will teach the bonus letter rule for letters -ff, -ss, and -ll. At the end of a one syllable word with a short vowel that ends in f, s, or l, you double that letter. We will also teach the glued sound -all. (-all, ball, all)
Unit 5: We will introduce the glued sounds -am (-am, ham, am) and -an (-an, fan, an).
Sight words:
Week 1 - do, all
Week 2 - they, one
Week 3 - said, are
Week 4 - from, have, does
October 2025
Here’s on overview of our learning goals for October:
We have a fun and busy October planned in grade 1! We have two field trips planned which will be fun and educational. As we get closer to Thanksgiving, we will discuss what we are thankful for and learn about gratitude and appreciation. At the end of October, there is Halloween! So nice that it lands on a Friday this year! We know this is a fun time for the kids and we will keep you posted with the school’s plan in regards to dressing up and our plans for celebrating in the grade one hallway!
Please note that there is no school Friday, October 10th-PD day, and Monday, October 13th-Thanksgiving.
Reading: We will continue to build our reading stamina and build reading strategies to support decoding new words. The strategies we will focus on are:
Pointing Porcupine (point under the first letter of each word as we read); Tapping Turtle and Blending Bear (use our fingers to tap the individual sounds in consonant/vowel/consonant words and blend them together to read the word). We will be encouraging and practicing reading CVC words quickly, as opposed to tapping, once the kids are ready. Reading these words will build automaticity which in turn increases reading fluency.
Read it Rabbit (re-read the sentence after they decode new words so their voice sounds smooth and fluent, just like talking).
We will continue to emphasize quick recall of Trick Words/Sight Words/Heart Words (we will continue practicing our weekly sight words in a variety of ways in our literacy centers and morning messages). The sight words all have a ‘hard’ part in which the letters have an irregular sound that we have to know by ‘heart’. We will be working in small groups geared towards group skills during guided reading as well.
Writing: This month, we will continue to develop independent work skills. We will encourage the students to sound out words on their own to spell new words. We will make some class books together with Fall as a theme and practice/review writing sentences. We will also complete “All About Me” books where they will share things about themselves (family, friends, etc).
Math: We will be working on the teen numbers 11-19 and representing these numbers in a variety of ways, counting forwards and backwards within 20, subitizing (recognizing numbers to 10 at a glance), and practice counting skills (counting a set by one at a time, moving items/crossing off, last number said is how many in all; as well as using the count on strategy to count sets/when subitizing).
Fundations Units 2, 3 and 4:
Unit 2: We will teach/review how to tap and blend consonant/vowel/consonant (CVC) words to read and spell. For example: sat (s-a-t)
Unit 3: We will teach the digraph sounds (letters that ‘stick together’ to form one sound (wh, ch, sh, th and ck). Even though they are two letters, they form one sound.
Unit 4 :We will teach the ff, ll, ss bonus letter rule. At the end of a one-syllable word, if the word has a short vowel sound and is immediately followed by an f, l, or s, at the end, then you double that consonant. Examples: miss, hill, puff. However; if the letter a is followed by double l , it does not have the expected short vowel sound. We will teach all as a glued sound. We mark words with the glued sound all by drawing a box around all. Example: ball, mall, fall
Sight words:
Week 1 - come, here, his, of
Week 2 - see, little, play, was
Week 3 - as/has, we/he/she/be/me
Week 4 - or/for, down, want, out
Week 5 - you, your, there, where
September 2025
Here’s on overview of our learning goals for September:
September is a big month in grade one! We will spend a lot of time getting to know each other, building relationships, learning expectations and rules, and reviewing academic skills learned in kindergarten. There are a lot of differences between kindergarten and grade one. We will be sure to include a lot of opportunities to play and learn in a variety of ways!
Reading: We will be exploring books, reviewing words, building stamina for reading and establishing readers’ workshop routines. Later this month, we will begin guided reading and strategy groups as well.
Writing: This month, we will work to establish Writer’s Workshop and independent work skills. We will make some class books together and practice/review writing sentences.
Math: We will be reviewing numbers 1-10, counting forwards and backwards, subitizing (recognizing numbers at a glance), and representing these numbers in a variety of ways.
Fundations Unit 1: This unit is a review of letter sounds (vowels and consonants) and letter formation.
Humanities: Zones of Regulation. Our feelings/emotions can be categorized into 4 colored zones: Green Zone- calm, ready to learn, happy; Yellow Zone- nervous, anxious, silly; Blue Zone- sad, tired, shy, slow moving; Red Zone- angry, frustrated, losing control. We will discuss these zones, learn to recognize and name our feelings and which zone they belong to, and strategies we can use to get our bodies back to the Green Zone. We will, also, learn about building positive friendships/peer relationships.
Sight words:
Week 1 - like, I, the, a
Week 2 - go, to, went, can
Week 3 - my, is, look, and