First Grade Program
Teacher Page:
Development of a First Grade Child
It is important to remember that each child is unique and that a wide range of individual differences will be apparent with any group of children. A child’s development is organized and directed. Age characteristics are broad guidelines to help us know what may be expected from children of a certain age.
The First Grade Child…
- has a lot of energy and is excited and motivated about anything new
- likes to be first – likes to win
- has a short attention span
Parents Can Help By…
- encouraging your child to accept responsibility
- providing unconditional acceptance
- volunteering at school
- reading to your child every day
- monitoring television watching
- ensuring your child eats healthy food and gets sufficient rest
- keeping in contact with your child’s teacher
Language Arts – Curriculum
The primary focus of language arts is for students to be able to communicate at home, in school and in the community through reading, writing, speaking, listening and “creative expression (plays, art projects, etc.)”. The Language Arts Grade Level Content Expectations (GLCE) are taught throughout the school year.
By the end of the first grade year, most students should be able to do the following:
Reading
- read stories and informational material
- view themselves as readers
- differentiate among letters, words and sentences
- identify upper and lower case letters
- know consonant sounds
- know beginning sounds
- know blends (fl, br, sm)
- know digraphs (ch, sh, th, wh)
- begin to understand short and long vowels
- understand compound words and contractions
- understand what is read
Writing
- communicate ideas in print
- write ideas in complete sentences
- use correct punctuation
Writing Process
- prewriting – planning their writing
- first draft – getting ideas down on paper
- editing – check spelling, make changes to improve their writing
- publishing – final copy
Listening and Speaking
- view themselves as effective communicators
- effectively listen and respond in a variety of situations
- speak fluently to express thoughts clearly
- apply knowledge and ideas drawn from text to own lives and the lives of others
- respond appropriately to questions
- ask questions to clarify or extend statements
Parents Can Help By . . .
- talking with and listening to your child
- showing an interest in your child’s school experiences
- encouraging your child to follow simple directions correctly
- model proper speech
- encouraging your child to be a courteous listener
- encouraging your child to use proper speech and appropriate language
- encouraging your child to follow simple and multi step directions correctly
Stages of Literacy
Children develop literacy through the integration of listening, speaking, reading, writing and viewing. They progress through a series of stages as they develop abilities to communicate ideas, thoughts and perceptions. Children may display characteristics of more than one stage at any given time.
By completion of the grade level indicated, most students will be reading and writing at these stages:
Reading
Pre-Emergent – listens to and retells familiar stories; pretend reads; reads a story logically from wordless picture books; recognizes own name and familiar signs or labels; shows interest in and recognizes some letters
Emergent – differentiates letters from words; uses picture clues to obtain meaning; matches some initial consonant letters with sounds; repeats familiar verses and stories; begins to recognize frequently used words; begins to recognize that print is read from left to right, top to bottom; identifies upper case letters; shows progress in identifying lower case letters; understands that print represents language
Early – uses phonetic and picture clues to decode words; reads predictable or familiar text; reads high frequency words in context; understands what is read and attempts to construct meaning; recognizes words that rhyme and creates rhymes
Transitional – understands that punctuation enhances meaning; monitors and checks own reading by applying a variety of strategies (predicting, pictorial clues, rereading, reading on, context clues, phonics, sentence structure); reads to others, recalls facts from informational books; reads unfamiliar text with support; reads for pleasure
Fluent – uses and applies punctuation to enhance meaning; confidently reads and understands familiar text; uses reading to acquire information; regularly applies reading strategies; continues to increase sight vocabulary; corrects own reading based on meaning
Writing
Writing Scribbling/pictorial – combines pictures and scribbles to represent writing; shows some evidence of over-all form (scribble lists look like lists); no recognizable letters
Pre-communicative – understands that ideas can be written down; strings together random letters (upper case) and letter-like forms; prints own name and occasionally copies words; begins to use letter/sound relationship with support
Semi-Phonetic – uses letter sound relationships; uses one beginning letter to write a word; separates words with dots, dashes, spaces; begins to write left to right; understands that print holds meaning
Phonetic – shows confidence in letter/sound relationships; spells well known words correctly; leaves spaces between words; writes a complete thought; uses both upper and lower case letters; includes some vowels; demonstrates a beginning knowledge of punctuation and its use
Transitional – correctly spells some high frequency words; demonstrates a beginning knowledge of punctuation and its use; appearance of silent ‘e’ (make, life), double consonants (mitt, cliff) and vowel combinations; writes longer sentences
Standard – correctly spells many high frequency words; writes longer passages; edits and revises written work; uses larger vocabulary; uses more complex sentence structure; uses correct punctuation
Mathematics
Singapore Math is designed to equip students with sound concept development, critical thinking and efficient problem-solving skills. In Primary Mathematics, concepts are presented in a clear and sequential way to facilitate understanding and confidence. Students in grade one continue to develop the concept of number, exploring numbers to 100.
The first grade students will learn to…
- work iwht ones and 10s in place value
- represent and estimate numbers and quantities
- compare and order larger numbers
- develop fluency with addition and subtraction facts
- continue to work with addition and subtraction
- investigate the concepts of multiplication and division
- continue work in geometric shapes and measurement
- understand fractions in halves and fourths
- continue to work with money and time
- collect and record data
