The Second Semester of First Grade

Reading: The end of year minimum benchmark is an independent 16 (I) for promotion to 2nd grade. Many kids require extra help to reach this benchmark. Tutoring is available for those who need the extra support, contact your teacher for times and days. Your child also needs support from home reading every day. RAZ is the best tool for providing your child with leveled reading materials and comprehension practice. Please contact your teacher if you have misplaced your child’s log in information. Let your teacher know if you do not have computer access, and we will be happy to send home traditional paper books.

One of the biggest challenges for kids is comprehension. While many kids can “word call” a higher level of text, they struggle with explaining what they read. What exactly IS reading comprehension? Simply put, reading comprehension is the act of understanding what you are reading. While the definition can be simply stated the act is not simple to teach, learn or practice. Reading comprehension is an intentional, active, interactive process that occurs before, during and after a person reads a particular piece of writing. After reading a book, your child is expected to independently be able to; include all important events in sequence from the beginning, middle, and end, important details, key language and vocabulary from the text, and main characters by name. Your child also needs to be able to make a connection to the book, such as the book makes me think about…, or reminds me of when….

What parents can do to help at home (

  • Hold a conversation and discuss what your child has read. Ask your child probing questions about the book and connect the events to his or her own life. For example, say "I wonder why that girl did that?" or "How do you think he felt? Why?" and "So, what lesson can we learn here?"
  • Help your child make connections between what he or she reads and similar experiences he has felt, saw in a movie, or read in another book.
  • Help your child monitor his or her understanding. Teach her to continually ask herself whether she understands what she's reading.
  • Help your child go back to the text to support his or her answers.
  • Discuss the meanings of unknown words, both those he reads and those he hears.
  • Read material in short sections, making sure your child understands each step of the way.
  • Discuss what your child has learned from reading informational text such as a science or social studies book.

Another key element of reading is fluency. Fluency is defined as the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression. In order to understand what they read, children must be able to read fluently whether they are reading aloud or silently. When reading aloud, fluent readers read in phrases and add intonation appropriately. Their reading is smooth and has expression. Children who do not read with fluency sound choppy and awkward. Those students may have difficulty with decoding skills or they may just need more practice with speed and smoothness in reading. Fluency is also important for motivation; children who find reading laborious tend not to want read!

What parents can do to help at home

  • Support and encourage your child. Realize that he or she may be frustrated by reading.
  • If your child can decode words well, help him or her build speed and accuracy by:
  • Reading aloud and having your child match his voice to yours
  • Having your child practice reading the same list of words, phrase, or short passages several times
  • Reminding your child to pause between sentences and phrases
  • Read aloud to your child to provide an example of how fluent reading sounds.
  • Give your child books with predictable vocabulary and clear rhythmic patterns so the child can "hear" the sound of fluent reading as he or she reads the book aloud.
  • Use books on tapes; have the child follow along in the print copy.

Math expectations for the 2nd semester

  • Add and subtract within 20. Your child will need to practice math fact flash cards for both addition and subtraction to commit the facts to memory. There are also lots of great apps to help with this skill.
  • Counting. Your child will be expected to count to 120 forwards and backwards, in addition to skip counting by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s.
  • Money. Your child will be expected to identify by name and value a penny, nickel, dime, and quarter and exchange coins, for example, show 2 ways to make 10 cents.
  • Time. Your child is expected to read an analog clock to the hour and half hour.
  • Your child will also be expected to generate and solve addition and subtraction story problems.

Writing

Your child will be expected to be able to write a creative story with 10-12 sentences containing characters, setting, problem, and solution. We will continue to practice this in school. You can help at home by encouraging your child to tell imaginative stories aloud, then have him/her write down the story they told. Your child is also expected to use proper capitalization and punctuation.