Your First-Grader and Reading
First-graders are becoming independent readers. They learn new strategies to decode words and get meaning from what is read.
In Your Child's Classroom
An independent reader In first grade, your child is becoming an independent reader. Your first-grader is learning strategies to decode unknown words. He typically has many opportunities to read — independently, in groups, with a partner — and listen to books being read aloud. He will also reread stories to increase his speed and understanding. He will learn that there are different purposes for reading: for pleasure, to get directions and to gather information.
Books and print
First-graders are exposed to many different kinds of texts — such as fiction, nonfiction, poetry and songs — to foster a love of reading, and experience the rhyme and rhythm of language. Your first-grader will learn to identify the title, author and illustrator of a book. She should be able to recognize the parts of a book, such as the cover, title page and table of contents. She will recognize that sentences begin with capital letters and end with punctuation.
The letter-sound relationship
Your first-grader is getting repeated practice working with letters and their sounds. He is learning how to decode new words by applying the letter-sound relationship for single letters, pairs of letters, such as sh or er, and short and long vowel patterns, such as the silent e. He may sort objects and pictures by the beginning sounds he has studied. He practices blending sounds together to make words, perhaps by playing a game to blend s-a-t to make the word sat. He practices breaking words into separate sounds such as breaking hop into h-o-p. He will replace sounds in words, such as substituting the s in sat with c to make cat. He will clap out the syllables in words. First-graders read books that include the letter-sound relationship they are learning as well as frequently used words that they have been taught.
Reading for meaning
Your first-grader is learning to derive meaning from what is read to her and what she reads. You can expect her to recognize the sequence of events in a story, and their cause and effect, as well as to anticipate the possible outcome. She is learning to retell familiar stories, summarizing the main ideas and plot, and identifying the characters and settings. She is able to use illustrations, text and her own prior knowledge to grasp the meaning of the story.
Your first-grader is likely to be using diagrams or pictures to organize and show understanding of the information she has read. She may fill in a diagram that sequences the main events from a story. A Venn diagram, made up of two overlapping circles, may be used to compare similarities and differences in characters and stories.
Reading aloud
Listening to books read aloud gives first-graders models of fluent reading and helps them develop a positive attitude toward books. It also helps them understand vocabulary and language patterns in texts. Books read aloud are often discussed before, during and after the reading to increase involvement and understanding. Your child should also have opportunities to read aloud in a group or with a partner to help build his reading fluency.
Shared reading experience
Your first-grader may take part in shared reading, an interactive reading experience. Your child joins in the reading of a big book, one with enlarged text that the whole class can see, guided by his teacher. During the reading, children are actively involved. The teacher may pause in the reading to introduce print conventions, teach vocabulary, introduce a reading skill, encourage the students to predict what comes next, and more. The book is typically read multiple times over several days.
Guided reading groups
In first grade your child may take part in guided reading, a practice in which the teacher interacts with small groups of students as they read books. The teacher introduces reading strategies, tailoring the instruction to the needs of the students. As students read, the teacher provides support as needed. "At all grade levels, teachers should use flexible grouping rather than fixed reading groups. This allows each child to progress when ready, in developmentally appropriate material," explains reading specialist, Jennifer Thompson.
By the end of first grade you can expect your child to be able to do the following:
- Name and recognize all the letters of the alphabet in order
- Identify beginning, middle and ending sounds
- Use reading and writing strategies for various purposes on their own initiative such as rereading, predicting, questioning and making connections when comprehension breaks down
- Read and retell familiar stories
- Read orally with reasonable fluency
- Use letter-sound associations, word parts and context to identify new words
- Identify short vowel and long vowel sounds
- Match consonant sounds to their appropriate letters
- Recognize and produce rhyming words
- Read simple one- and two-syllable words such as cat
- Read high-frequency words such as was and the
- Recognize that words are separated by spaces
- Read aloud first-grade books with accuracy and understanding
- Begin to read aloud with expression and pausing at appropriate spots in the text
- Use two-letter consonant blends to decode and spell single-syllable words such as sh and bl
- Use word patterns to decode unfamiliar words
- Identify characters, setting and events of a story
What to Look for When You Visit
- Decodable books, which have the phonics elements and high-frequency words that your child has been taught in class
- Leveled books, which are books organized in levels of difficulty from the easy ones for a beginning reader to longer, more complex books for advanced readers. The leveling of texts allows teachers to match books with an individual student's reading ability.
- A reading area with a class library of books and a place for students to sit comfortably and read
- A listening center with a tape recorder, earphones, tapes of stories and multiple copies of the accompanying text. Listening to the tapes provides a model for fluent reading
- A word wall, which is a list of words displayed in alphabetical order on a bulletin board, used for reference and to reinforce vocabulary words
Reading specialist Jennifer Thompson recommends these books on reading:
Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever, by Mem Fox (Harvest Books, 2001).
The Read Aloud Handbook, by Jim Trelease (Penguin, 5th edition August, 2001).
Read to Me 2000: Raising Kids Who Love to Read, by Bernice E. Cullinan (Cartwheel, August, 2000).
Updated March 2008
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