First Grade Learning

First grade learning will have a strong focus on reading which makes it very important for parents to incorporate reading as an integral part of the child’s day. In addition to using phonics for word recognition it is expected that children will learn to comprehend the words they are reading during this grade. Parents should provide the resource of picture books for a child at this age. A picture book helps the child to associate words with the pictures while at the same time being entertained by the story.

Teachers will concentrate on instructing children to write complete sentences using punctuation and capitalization during first grade learning. Students will learn to write simple sentences. Parents can promote writing by having their child keep a journal and write in it a few minutes each night.

Learning about math during the first grade will include a student learning to count from one to one hundred and to recognize and write each of these numbers. Addition of sums between one and ten will be a focus for students. Children will learn about more, less and the same on a basic level. Parents can build upon this learning by using household items to teach these basic math facts.

Other learning subjects are introduced in a general way during first grade learning. Subsequent school years introduce science, geography and social studies in more detail. During first grade children will learn about living and non living things. Information about the weather and seasons will be studied and children may learn to use graphs to track weather. History studies may focus on how children lived in the past. Children can learn to grasp historical facts by being told stories by parent and grandparents about the world they grew up in. To assist a child in first grade learning a parent could have the child complete a project on family history. This type of project would incorporate learning history, strengthen writing skills and promote reading.