In first grade your child will become more independent and learn how to adapt to the school's routine. Donna Adkins our teacher consultant, explains: "First grade is probably the most critical period in your child's education. It is a pivotal grade in which the foundation for the rest of the primary grades is set. It is also a major transition from kindergarten."
Building Reading and Writing Skills
Most critical in first grade is the development of reading and writing skills. Your child will move from pre-reading skills to building crucial language skills in reading, spelling and writing. At home you can read stories aloud to your child often and ask questions such as "Who are the characters in the story?" "Where does the story take place?" "What happens in the beginning, middle and end of the story?"
Building Math Skills
In math your child will learn addition and subtraction facts, and how to tell time. She will count coins, and identify patterns in numbers and objects. To practice these skills at home, have your child find repeating patterns around them such as in the clothes they are wearing.
Becoming a "Big Kid"
If your child attended a half-day kindergarten, first grade will mean attending school for a longer day. Talk to your child about "big kid" issues like packing a healthy lunch and how to treat fellow students on the playground.
In first grade your child will learn to take responsibility and reinforce learning through homework. You'll want to prepare a quiet place and set aside time for your child to do homework everyday.
You can use the summer before first grade to teach your child responsibility for some simple chores. Donna Adkins explains "One responsibility fits all does not work for all children. Many children are more or less mature than other children their age. You know your child best. Choose a simple chore that that they can do without feeling overwhelmed. Start small and build. To raise a responsible child, it must be cultivated early and continually."
Children pass through a range of social, academic and developmental stages at their own pace. Below are rough guidelines for where your child should be at the end of kindergarten and what to look forward to in the year ahead.
By the end of kindergarten you can expect your child to:
- Follow class rules
- Separate from parent/caregiver with ease
- Take turns
- Cut on a line with scissors
- Establish left or right hand dominance
- Understand time concepts like yesterday, today and tomorrow
- Stand quietly in a line
- Follow directions agreeably and easily
- Pay attention for 15 to 20 minutes
- Hold a crayon and pencil correctly
- Share materials such as crayons and blocks
- Know all of the eight basic colors — red, yellow, blue, green, orange, black, white and pink
- Recognize and write all of the letters of the alphabet in upper and lowercase forms
- Know the relationship between the letters and the sounds they make
- Recognize sight words such as the and the read simple sentences
- Spell his first and last name
- Write consonant-vowel-consonant words such as bat and fan
- Retell a story that has been read aloud
- Identify numbers up to 20
- Count by ones, fives and 10s to 100
- Know the basic shapes such as a square, triangle, rectangle and circle
- Know her address and phone number
In first grade you can expect your child to:
- Listen for longer periods of time
- Work independently at her desk
- Listen to longer sets of directions
- Read directions off the board, some children may still have difficulty with this
- Complete homework and bring it back the next day
- Sit in a chair for a longer period of time
- Be able to see things from another person's point of view so you can reason with them and teach them empathy
- Relate experiences in greater detail and in a logical way
- Problem-solve disagreements
- Crave affection from parents and teachers
- Have some minor difficulties with friendships and working out problems with peers
- Distinguish left from right
- Be able to plan ahead
- Write words with letter combination patterns such as words with the silent e
- Read and write high-frequency words such as where and every
- Write complete sentences with correct capitalization and punctuation
- Read aloud first-grade books with accuracy and understanding
- Count change
- Tell time to the hour and half hour
- Quickly answer addition and subtraction facts for sums up to 20
- Complete two-digit addition and subtraction problems without regrouping
