First Grade

Prerequisites

It is expected that before first grade, a child already has the following skills:

  • Know and write the entire alphabet

  • Know and write numerals from 0-9

  • Know the basic sounds associated with all consonants

  • Know the basic sounds associated with all vowels (both long and short)

  • Know basic consonant blends — like st and rt.

  • The basics of reading

  • A basic understanding of how numerals correlate to objects

  • Count to 100 by ones, fives and tens

If the student doesn’t already have this, you’ll need to help him or her catch up! The curriculum materials provided for elementary study also cover this material.

First Grade Daily and Weekly Schedule

Every day the student should spend between 20 and 40 minutes on each of the following:

  • Phonics (including reading aloud)
  • Mathematics
  • Reading

Every day the student should spend no more than 20 minutes on the following:

  • Copywork (the strict time limit is to avoid repetitive motion injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome in youngsters)

In addition, each of the following subjects should get at least 20 to 40 minutes at some point during the week:

  • Art
  • Music
  • Handicrafts
  • Nature Study/Science/Health

You know your child best, and know when his or her attention span is waning. All of the above adds up to, at most, less than four hours per day; so to keep your child fresh and attentive (and also to enhance health!) don’t forget to allow sledding at some point in the winter or integrate some exercise with Nature Study. They should have a recess in the morning and afternoon, as well as lunch. It is entirely feasible (and perhaps preferable) to cover all of this in the morning so the child has the afternoon free.

Example Weekly Schedule

 MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday
Phonics and Reading Aloud10:00-10:3010:00-10:3010:00-10:3010:00-10:3010:00-10:30
Mathematics10:30-10:5010:30-10:5010:30-10:5010:30-10:5010:30-10:50
Recess10:50-11:1510:50-11:1510:50-11:1510:50-11:1510:50-11:15
Reading (primers) and/or Being read stories11:15-11:4511:15-11:4511:15-11:4511:15-11:4511:15-11:45
Lunch11:45-12:3011:45-12:3011:45-12:3011:45-12:3011:45-12:30
Copywork12:30-12:4512:30-12:4512:30-12:4512:30-12:4512:30-12:45
Art/Music/HandicraftsColoring 12:45-1:15Music, playing bongos
12:45-1:15		Looking through a book of pre-Raphaelite art 12:45-1:15Handicrafts, making and flying paper airplanes 12:45-1:15Coloring 12:45-1:15
Nature study/Science/Health1:15-1:451:15-1:451:15-1:451:15-1:451:15-1:45

Course Materials for Subjects

Phonics

Goals: 
Digraphs (e.g. ph, ch, gh, sh, th)
Diphthongs (e.g. ou in “mouse”)
Vowels controlled by “R” (Vowels sound different when followed by an “r.” E.g. “bird,” “her” and “fur” all contain the same vowel sound, albeit spelled differently.)
Beginnings and endings
Spelling (No more than 10 words per week from words used in first grade primers)
Parts of Speech:  Nouns, Verbs, Adverbs and Adjectives

We have included three complete phonics methods, including books that teach you, the parent-educator, how to teach reading and pronunciation. You should look these over, and decide which works best for you. You are not constrained to use only one method, of course. Every child is different, and a method that works great for one child might not work so well for another. Each of these methods is accompanied by primers suitable for kindergarten and first grade and early readers suitable for first and second grade. The primers and readers are largely interchangeable without regard to the method. We’ve also included Word Mastery, one of the most famously successful phonics programs ever developed.

Pollard’s Synthetic Method of Reading and Spelling

Teacher’s guide that explains how to use the method: Pollards Instructions for Teaching Phonics

For reading practice, you can include Pollards Synthetic Primer and Pollard’s First Book for Little Folks.

Sloan’s Method of Teaching Phonics

Sloan’s Primary Reader Plus Phonics

A complete course in phonics for grades 1-3: Word Mastery

There are thousands of free worksheets available on the Internet. Simply search google for “free phonics worksheets.”

Reading

There are several primers that are suitable for complementing the teaching of phonics. We’ve included a handful that you can review and choose from.

We went through this and adapted the copywork: McGuffeys-First-Eclectic Reader

Fifty Famous Stories is unique in the way it is written. Large words are divided up into syllables to assist with reading and pronunciation when they first appear in a story. These stories are ideal for assisted reading in grades 1 & 2.

First graders need to read themselves (especially aloud!), but also need to have books read to them. Suitable books for reading aloud to children include:

Aesop’s Fables
Just So Stories
A Jungle Book

Writing

At this level, children should be able to compose short stories with some assistance by the parent educator. Copywork — in which kids copy something that someone else has written — provides important practice with letter formation along with exposure to correct spelling, good grammar, and important ideas.

Practically anything suitable for reading at the child’s level is suitable for copywork. The length of the material should be suited to keep total time spent writing to less than 20 minutes. We’ve included a blank template — which is nothing more than an image of first grade writing paper onto which you can type — to help make it easier to create your own. The template is in Open Document format, which works with the free OpenOffice or LibreOffice suites.

You can find lots of free copywork online, but we’ve also included a handful of our own copywork exercises just to get you started!

Roman Proverb #2
Ablaze
Horace
Seneca
Arrow And Song
Land of Counterpane
The Daffodils
Ben Franklin #1
My Shadow
The Eagle
Ben Franklin #2
Puzzled Centipede
The Months
Virgil 1
Who Has Seen the Wind
Goethe
Roman Proverb 1

Mathematics

Goals:

  • Single integer addition, and single integer addition with carry
  • Single integer subtraction without borrowing

Arithmetic, Lower Book by Sutton and Bruce  covers first through sixth grade.

School Arithmetic covers everything for grades one through four.

We’d suggest using lessons as needed from both books.

Art/Handicrafts/Music

Art can serve a dual purpose — both artistic and educational.

Coloring books are a good idea, provided they can be found with sound content. Kids especially like coloring with their parents. There are a number of sites on the Internet that also offer free downloadable pictures to color, Karen Whimsey is among the best. From her site, we’ve compiled an EAU Coloring Book.

But don’t be limited to coloring! Get creative with collages, toilet paper and paper towel rolls, boxes, construction paper, water colors, scissors and glue!

Music is an important part of optimum brain development in children. Shakers, tambourines and bongo drums are appropriate for grades 1-4, after which more formalized study of particular instruments is a good idea. Find appropriate children’s music for kids to play (and sing!). Classic songs for European American children include “Home on the Range,” “America the Beautiful,” “Goober Peas,” “Erie Canal” and others.

Science

Nature study, science and health go together in many respects; so we cover them all under the heading of “science.” At the first grade level, formal materials aren’t required.

  • Classification: Living vs. non-living; plant vs. animal; insects, reptiles and animals
  • Classification: Liquids, solids and gases
  • Fire and temperature
  • Seeds, bulbs, flowers and plants
  • Safety: water safety, lightning safety, crossing the street, stranger danger, Eddie Eagle Gun Safety video
  • Manners, posture and cleanliness
  • Field trips should be incorporated, and these might include a spring walk to look at wildflowers (with the parent educator using a good wildflower guide book); bird watching and so forth.