Here are some essential literacy skills our reading department has identified to help reading develop in first grade. First grade is a complex learning year developmentally. Remember when your child took their first steps? They were developmentally ready. As parents, we could encourage, support, and give our child all the tools they needed to walk on their own, but developmentally, that did not happen until it was "time" for your child. First grade is similar to learning to walk. Stages of literacy development are dependent upon the child's development. The same Kindergarten foundational skills need to be fully developed in order to build our remaining skills to mastery.
By this time in the school year, students should know the ABC's, without having to sing them, they must know letter sounds (vowel sounds and consonant sounds), know the difference between vowels and consonants, know correct letter formation when writing, be able to read and write three or four letter words by sounding them out, and be able to play with words and sounds to make new words.
Over-learn the alphabet
Word Reading
Sight words (also called Star words) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWtMmRZDY-4
Blending consonant - vowel - consonant (CVC) words https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDVAhDyHZaA
Word families https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaSRUZVWRSg
By this time in the school year, students should know the ABC's, without having to sing them, they must know letter sounds (vowel sounds and consonant sounds), know the difference between vowels and consonants, know correct letter formation when writing, be able to read and write three or four letter words by sounding them out, and be able to play with words and sounds to make new words.
Over-learn the alphabet
- Practice writing your child's first and last name
- Practice writing the uppercase and lowercase letters with correct letter formation. Developmentally writing "b" for "d" or "p" for "q" is still acceptable, but it is time to work practicing the correct direction.
- Practice identifying which letters are vowels and which letters are consonants. Know both the long and the short sound for vowels.
- Put magnetic letters in order and then say letters of the of the alphabet by pointing to each one so that the letter name matches what is being said - LMNO is not one letter. Singing the ABC song to know the alphabet should no longer be needed.
- Sing the alphabet song to a different common tune like "Mary had a Little Lamb."
- Time students to see how many random letters they can name correctly in one minute
- Time students to see how many random sounds they can name correctly in one minute
- Phonological Development
Phonology is a fancy word for understanding the sound structures in words. Types of activities that are fun and easy to do include: - Rhyming fun https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4zsLZzU5xE
- Reading nursery rhymes
- Read Rhyming Books for example Dr. Seuss books
- Counting words in sentences that are spoken
- Clap syllables in words www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlBc703kYMg (especially big words!)
- Onset rime https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyRwuV0SPzA
- Add, delete, or change the sounds at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the word one at a time to create a new word.
- Sound blending https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIBjAWkPzNA
- Letter sound correspondence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyKdUpJQBTY
- Trying singing the ABC song with just sounds of the letters
- Phoneme segmenting
- Knowing two consonants together can make one sound (like: th, ch, sh) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWtMmRZDY-4
- Knowing vowels make a long vowel sound and short vowel sound https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TjcT7Gto3U
- The bossy "r" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp8arskkcXg
Word Reading
Sight words (also called Star words) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWtMmRZDY-4
Blending consonant - vowel - consonant (CVC) words https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDVAhDyHZaA
Word families https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaSRUZVWRSg