1st Grade

1st grade reading expectations

 

If your child is struggling, email me! I answer all questions for freejudithearaujo@gmail.com. Please also check out my Help! How do I teach my child to read? page. Follow the steps on that page, and your child will catch up!

 

Jump down to 1st grade guided reading expectations.

1. Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

Master phonological and phonemic awareness. These activities can be done with eyes shut—no print should be in front of the child. Print and follow this! If children cannot hear and manipulate sounds in their heads, they won’t be able to read and spell! Blending and segmenting are the most important phonemic awareness activities because they directly correlate to reading and spelling. You can find these activities by following this link, but you can blend and segment any word!

It would also be great to teach your child nursery rhymes. It is sad so many children no longer know these classics. Rhyming helps children experience the rhythm of language, recognize sounds in words, anticipate what is coming next, and more! There are many cute free online videos of nursery rhymes, and the library has beautiful nursery rhyme books.

2. Letter Names, Letter Sounds, and Letter Formation

Master letter names and sounds. Get a set of flashcards online, or here are free ones to print! These sets are good because the upper and lowercase letters are on separate cards.

Correct letter formation is important! All letters start from the top down. Not only are improperly formed letters messy, but improperly formed letters will slow children down when writing – impacting test-taking, creative writing, and note-taking… It will also impact their ability to learn cursive.

3. Phonics

Follow the Wilson Fundations Scope & Sequence for 1st grade.

My Wilson Fundations page will give you even more information! The Wilson Fundations Home Support Pack will support your child’s learning. 

For paper and pencil phonics, try Primary Phonics 1A Short Vowels. These stories go with it.  Here is another good free workbook!

Here is another first-grade phonics workbook.

Please check phonics by grade level and look at the grade 1 column.

 

3. Tapping, Blending, Spelling

Teach tapping out and blending 3 sounds to form consonant-short vowel-consonant words or CVC words, such as bat, bit, tub, pet, pot.

Here is an AMAZING activity! Watch the video clip below. (This is not my video.) Word lists are also below.

  • Say it
  • Stretch it
  • Spell it
  • Change it

 

Go DOWN the lists (below), changing 1 sound each time.
xxxx
Use these templates:

Word lists appropriate for 1st grade:

4. Read Decodable Texts – Tap and Blend to Figure Out Unknown Words!

Read, reread, reread, and reread free decodable and sight word stories. Talk about the stories as a quick comprehension check.

If your child can read these 1st Grade- Six Decodable Units, they are ready for grade 2!

Research shows decodable texts are the BEST way to learn to read!

Decodable text falls under the phonics approach of the science of reading. When students decode words, they break them down and figure out how to pronounce them. Teaching beginning readers how to sound out words is critical in reading and writing. 

Tips

  • Always have your child read each story 3x for fluency and accuracy.
  • Having your child point to each word with 1:1 correspondence is essential because students tend to guess or memorize these simpler texts.
  • Your child should figure out unknown words independently by SOUNDING OUT. Not all words can be perfectly sounded out, but most words have at least parts that can!

When reading any text…

  • No more than 10 errors per 100 words, including words you had to tell your child, are acceptable.
  • The child must also demonstrate comprehension. Grade 1 students should retell the story, make a connection to their life or another book, and tell their favorite part and why.
  • Reading at an appropriate rate (words per minute) is essential. When fluency is achieved, comprehension can occur.

Words Per Minute for Grade 1

To calculate rate – WPM: ___words in the book divided by ___SECONDS it took to read X 60 = __WPM

For example, say there are 207 words in a book. The child read it in 3 min. 25 seconds, which is 205 seconds. 207 divided by 205 is approximately 1.0 words per second x 60 = 60 WPM!

This table shows approximate percentile ranks for correct words per minute at 2 points during the school year. The average first grader should be reading 29 words correctly per minute in the winter and 60 words in the spring.

* WCPM = Words Correct Per Minute

5. Master Sight Words

Master a few sight words each day. First graders should know the Pre-primer (Pre-Kindergarten), Primer (Kindergarten), and Grade 1 sight words in isolation. These are best learned in context. They should read, reread, and reread:

Pre-primer (Pre-Kindergarten) Dolch Story

Primer (Kindergarten) Dolch Story

Grade One Dolch Story

For more practice, write each Pre-primer, Primer, and Grade 1 word in your own simple sentence for your child to practice reading.

Here are more sight word stories.

Your child must also know how to read and spell the Grade 1 Fundations Trick Words and the Kindergarten Fundations Trick Words.

6. Vocabulary for 1st Graders

1st graders must know the meaning of these words, taken from the Marzano list.

And 1st graders must know the meaning of these words, which were taken from  WORDS TO KNOW BY GRADE LEVEL.

7. Spelling

If you want to keep your child busy with a workbook, here is a first-grade spelling workbook. (If you want paper and pencil activities, I recommend this phonics workbook instead of the spelling workbook.)

8. Are you looking for a tech option?

Lexia Core 5 is a well-respected app used in many schools. It is available as a home version and costs $175 for a one-year subscription. My school uses it, and I highly recommend it!

Lexia Core 5 is a research-proven computer program that accelerates the development of literacy skills for students of all abilities, helping them make the critical shift from learning to read to reading to learn. It has 21 levels, spanning from preschool through grade 5. It is based on the science of reading. Each level has 5 areas and includes automaticity/fluency, comprehension, phonics, phonological awareness, and vocabulary. Each level should be completed within 5.5 to 9 hours.

9. Read Aloud or Listen to Online Texts – Put the Closed Captioning On

Read aloud more complex books to your child, or have your child listen to books online – not decodable texts – on topics they enjoy to instill a love of reading, improve listening comprehension, and grow vocabulary. 1st-grade reading and listening comprehension are based on:

Here are Grade 1 Common Core State Standards Question Stems you can use as discussion starters with your child, but make talking about books fun! However, the CCSS is used in the classroom.

We administer the FREE DIBELS 8 3x/year. Each are 1-minute tests:

  • Name letters. The upper and lower case are mixed up on a sheet of paper.
  • Segment individual sounds heard in a word; for example, “apple” is /a/ /p/ /l/ and “holes” is /h/ /o/ /l/ /z/. If the child can correctly segment apple and holes, that is 7 sounds.
  • Read 3-letter short vowel nonsense words. These can be sounded out ~ for example, “sil,” “tob,” “paj,” “zev,” “nud.” The goal is for the child to recognize these chunks automatically.
  • Read actual words – sight words.
  • Oral reading fluency ~ Can the child read x amount of words in a story with at least 96% accuracy?

The minimum scores to pass:

Here are other free literacy assessments if you want to assess your child!

 


Does your child’s school use guided reading?  🙁

Guided reading is NOT a good way to learn to read. Parents, if your school uses guided reading, please scroll to the top of this page and follow my “Grade 1 Expectations and Recommendations.” 

Guided reading falls under the Fountas and Pinnell cueing system method, which is now frowned upon. Students do NOT sound out words when they are stuck; instead, as students read, you ask them to figure out unknown words by looking at the picture, looking at the beginning letter sound, thinking about what would look right/sound right/make sense or skipping the tricky word/reading on/going back. This makes reading a guessing game.

To Meet the “Guided Reading” Benchmark, 1st-grade students should be instructional at Level G (independent F) by January and Level J (independent I) by June.

Therefore, a child on grade level, Meeting the Benchmark, may be at the following levels in the following months. Again, reading is developmental, and these are APPROXIMATE:

September ~ C      October ~ D      November ~ E     December ~ F

January ~  G         February ~ G/H       March ~ H/I        April ~ I

May ~ I/J             June ~ J

Get Level C-J books on Amazon or at the public library. Here is a book list! Again, I do not recommend these. Decodable books for beginning readers are best, NOT these predictable books!

AT LEVELS C – J, A CHILD’S READING LEVEL IS DETERMINED BY THE FOLLOWING:

These bullet points are based on the DRA2 assessment.

• Is the child reading with acceptable accuracy? No more than 10 errors/100 words.

• Starting at Level I, the child is timed. At least 40 Words Per Minute Meets the Benchmark for Level I and 45 WPM for Level J.

• Is the child figuring out unknown words by looking at the picture, looking at the beginning letter sound, thinking about what would look right/sound right/make sense, or skipping the tricky word/reading on/going back? (PLEASE use the “sounding out” method only. We want children to read the words, not guess.)

• Does the child recognize errors as they read and fix them?

• Does the child read in longer phrases?

• Before the child reads, the child does a “picture walk,” which means that the child looks at each picture before reading. Are they orally connecting with at least 3-4 critical events without prompting?

• After reading and with the book closed, the child retells. Are they referring to the characters by name and including all the essential details from the beginning, middle, and end in sequence?

• Does the child use the critical language and vocabulary from the text in the retelling?

• Can the child retell the story independently without prompts or questions?

• Can the child describe a favorite part and why? We are looking for a response that requires higher-level thinking, such as inferring the author’s message in the story or stating an action in the text with a personal connection.

• Can the child make a connection with this text? Does it remind the child of another text, a movie, a TV show, or something in their life? We are looking for connections that show a deeper understanding of the story. For example, in a fictional story about reusing objects, a connection could be made to the importance of recycling.

• If nonfiction, can the child quickly locate and use the nonfiction text features to answer questions? (timelines, maps, table of contents, glossary, captions, charts, etc.)

Nonfiction DRA2 options are available for Levels 16, 28, 38, 40, and 50.

**40 is listed 3x, and 50 is listed 2x. The goal is to become a stronger/higher scorer at each assessment point and allow the student to be assessed in fiction and nonfiction at 40 and 50.

Reading Survey

Your child will be asked who reads to or with them at home and to share a title and specific details about a favorite book. 

Another survey will be given asking the child:

  • What books have you finished lately?
  • What are you reading at school now?
  • What are you reading at home now?
  • What are 3 things you do well as a reader?
  • What are 3 things you need to work on to become a better reader?
. . . so make books at home part of your daily routine! 
 

 

No donations from my school, please! I am here to help you!  🙂

 $10 for the Grade 1 Reading Expectations document.

 

Copyright 05/04/2012

Edited on 03/17/2024

References

I did not write those wonderful blurbs of what advanced students look like at each grade level. They came from an unknown source.

DRA2 Teacher Manual from Pearson Publishing, 2006.

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