1st Grade Skills

Our daughter has been bringing home lists of the 1st Grade skills that she needs to work on over the course of the year.

I thought it might be helpful to write down what's expected of her this year so I can always have a quick guide. Plus, I'm making an effort this year to not save every single scrap of paper the kids bring home.

Now that all three of them are in school, the papers pile up quickly. It's nice to have a virtual filing cabinet.

1st Grade Skills and Worksheets

For those of you with children that are nervous like ours, it might be nice for you to sit down with them and take a look at what they can expect to learn in the 1st Grade.

I'll be adding to this list as the teacher sends home more skills that we need to work on. I'm also going to see if I can dig up my son's old 1st grade skills list. I told you I used to save every scrap of paper.

First Grade Math

Over the 1st quarter of school, we'll be working on these skill sets. The links below will take you to worksheets and activities that will help your child better understand each concept:

Counting numbers by 1's, 5's, and 10's (up to 30)
Counting by 2's (to 20)
Reading/Writing numbers randomly (to 30)
Recognizing odd/even numbers (to 30)
Double facts - 2+2, 3+3, 4+4

1st Grade Spelling

We're starting off the quarter by working on these things:

Writing capital and lowercase letters
Learning word families: -at, -am, -an, -ad, -ag, -ap
Short 'a' sound - can, man, hat, cat
Short 'e' sound - beg, leg, net, sled
Short 'i' sound - bit, hit, miss, skip
Short 'o' sound - hop, top, lot, frog
Short 'u' sound - fun, run, cut, bug
Long 'e' sound - using /y/ and /ey/
Long 'i' sound - like, hide, twice, mice
Long 'o' sound - /oa/ow/oe/
Soft 'c' and 'g' - rice, nice, wage, hedge
H blends (sh/th/ph/wh) - fish, ship, this, sixth
L blends (black, blue, clip, glue)
R blends (bright, drain, grow)
S blends (skip, spill, step)
Making sentences using word families
Word Order - write/edit sentences that 'make sense'
End blends - nd, nk, st, ft

1st Grade Reading

Learn about character and setting
Main idea
Plot/Sequence
Classify/Categorize
Capitals to begin sentences
Correct punctuation
Visualize (create pictures in your mind)
Statements (create silly/real sentences)
Sight Words (popcorn words)
Nouns - person, place, thing
Singular/Plural nouns
Irregular plural nouns - man/men, goose/geese
Common & Proper nouns
Verbs
Past/Future Tense - /ed/ing/
Syllables
Contractions
Making predictions

I'll be adding more to this list as the teacher sends home new things to work on, so be sure to check back for new topics.

First Grade Skills Checklist

I've also created a skills checklist from the ones that the teacher sends home each quarter. It will give you a nice idea not only of what kind of things to expect in 1st grade, but when you can expect your child to start working on them.

Download your printable skills checklist by clicking on the pictures below: