First Grade Student Skills
HOW PARENTS CAN HELP
- Encourage reading by having newspapers, magazines and books around your home.
- Read aloud to your child every day to build vocabulary and listening skills.
- Share and discuss books and stories at home to motivate your child to read.
- Give your child books and magazines as gifts.
- Ask your child to help you sort change (pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters).
- Take a walk and have your child observe the environment.
- Talk about the living and non living things he/she sees and hears.
- Discuss fire safety with your child. Make and practice an escape route from your house.
- Visit important buildings, statues or monuments in your area.
- Discover the history of these places and your community.
Help your child develop a personal calendar for marking and scheduling important dates, holidays and responsibilities.
Language Arts
The first grade student will:
Listening, Viewing and Speaking
- repeat three step oral directions and follow them in sequence
- answer questions about a story read aloud
- listen and respond to a variety of media (stories, audiotapes, videotapes)
- speak clearly and use appropriate volume in a variety of settings
- use appropriate language to ask questions, answer questions, convey
- message and carry on a basic conversation read aloud
- state the main idea after viewing nonprint media (pictures, video, dramatic presentation)
- interpret simple nonverbal cues (smiling, facial expressions, gesturing)
- identify types of mass media (radio, television, billboards, newspaper)
Phonological Awareness, Decoding and Vocabulary
- identify rhyming words
- produce the sounds in the beginning, middle and end of an orally presented word
- blend individual sounds into words
- identify the consonant that represents the initial or the final sound in a word
Identify words with long and short vowel sounds
- identify singular or plural forms of words
- identify compound words and contractions
- apply context clues to identify the meaning of words
- classify words using specific categories
Reading
- make predictions about a selection using illustrations and text
- recall specific details and information from literary and informational texts
- determine the sequence of events and identify the main idea
- recognize cause and effect relationships in literary texts
- draw conclusions and predict logical outcomes
- identify the setting, main characters, problems and solutions in literary texts
- select materials to read for pleasure
- use a variety of strategies to comprehend text (retelling stories, recalling details, rereading)
Reference
- use alphabetical order to locate information
- use appropriate resources to determine word meaning
- use reference material to obtain information
Writing
- generate and organize ideas for writing
- write about a single idea or topic
- use complete sentences in writing
- use descriptive words to convey ideas in writing
- reread personal writing to check for meaning
- revise writing by adding or substituting text
- write a story about experiences, people, objects or events
- write informational texts (instructions, observations)
- write for personal purposes (journal entries, reading response)
Grammar/Mechanics/Spelling/Handwriting
- use the present and past tense of the verb "to be"
- use capitalization and ending punctuation conventions
- spell frequently used words correctly
- write legibly in manuscript
Mathematics
The first grade student will:
Number Sense
- count objects in a set up to 100
- count by 2s, 5s and 10s to 100
- read and write numerals to 100
- represent the place value grouping of numbers to 100 using concrete materials, pictures or symbols
- compare and order whole numbers to 100
- recall basic addition and subtraction facts to 18
- find sums and differences of whole numbers with no more than two digits without regrouping
- solve word problems involving the addition and subtraction of whole numbers using a variety of strategies
- represent fractions (halves, thirds, fourths) as parts of a whole and parts of a set using concrete materials or drawings
- compare fractions in real world situations
Measurement
- identify appropriate standard tools for measuring length, weight, capacity and temperature
- identify the time shown on analog and digital clocks including hour and half hour intervals
- use a calendar to identify the date or day determine values of a set of coins to one dollar
- read and interpret the temperature shown on a thermometer
- estimate the quantity of a group of objects and explain the reasoning for the estimate
- use non standard, U.S. customary and metric units to measure a given length, weight or volume/capacity
Geometry
- use geometric vocabulary to describe two and three dimensional figures (vertices, edges)
- classify and compare two and three dimensional geometric figures using geometric vocabulary
- recognize lines of symmetry in two dimensional shapes
Algebraic Thinking
- identify, extend and create numerical, geometric and real world patterns
- write and solve simple number sentences
Data Analysis and Probability
- organize and display data into a concrete graph, pictograph or chart
- interpret information presented on a concrete graph, pictograph or chart
- predict the likelihood of given events (very likely, less likely, probable, impossible)
Problem Solving
- formulate problems from real world and mathematical situations
- apply a variety of strategies and methods, including logic, to solve real world problems
Science
The first grade student will:
The Nature of Matter
- classify matter as solids, liquids and gases and identify its properties
- classify objects according to their physical characteristics (shape, color, size)
Energy
- identify the sun as a source of heat and light energy
- describe how food is a source of energy
Force and Motion
- understand push, pull and lift as forces used to set objects in motion and how weight and friction affect motion
- understand that gravity is a kind of pull toward earth
- recognize various ways gravity affects the motion of objects
- compare and order objects by their relative speeds (snails, bicycles, cars)
- understand that vibrations cause sounds
Processes that Shape the Earth
- recognize that the surface of the earth is composed of a variety of solid materials (rocks, pebbles, dirt, sand)
- understand elements of weather (moving air, sun, water evaporation)
Earth and Space
- recognize that night and day are caused by rotation of the earth
- recognize elements seen in the day and night sky (clouds, sun, stars, moon, planets)
- identify the location of the sun and the moon in relation to the earth
Processes of Life
- identify some survival needs of living things (food, water, space, shelter)
- identify the main plant parts
- identify specific animals by their pictures and movements
Ecology
- identify plants and animals that live in a particular habitat
- recognize ways animals and plants are adapted for survival in different environments
- recognize how plants are used
- recognize how human beings impact the environment
The Nature of Science - record, compare and report data from a scientific investigation using a variety of strategies (graphs, pictures, written statements)
- make predictions based on data gathered from scientific investigations
- identify patterns in nature
Social Studies
The first grade student will:
Focusing Skills and Knowledge
- recognize and use language to describe locations
- identify terms used to describe distance (feet, yards, meters, miles, kilometers)
- locate information depicted on a simple map
- identify the locations of four hemispheres and selected countries
- interpret information on a simple graph, calendar and timeline
- develop personal and interactive skills for working cooperatively with others for the common good
- understand kinds of social structures in his/her life
- recognize factors that influence the environment (geographic, demographic)
- compare and contrast life in cities, towns and farms
Heritage
- recognize the art, music, dance, customs and/or holidays of different cultures
- describe people and events honored through commemorative holidays
- recognize selected American symbols that have emerged from past events, legends and historical accounts (the bald eagle, Liberty Bell, American flag)
History
- identify ways communities have changed over time
- recognize ways in which communication methods and transportation technology have changed and the effects of these changes
- respond to stories about the lives and accomplishments of selected scientists and inventors
Rules and Responsibilities
- identify qualities of a good citizen and some basic civic values (fair play, good sportsmanship, individual responsibility)
- describe the consequences of his/her own actions
- recognize examples of individual rights and responsibilities
Economics
- distinguish between basic needs and wants
- demonstrate ways in which people exchange goods and services
- identify different ways to save money