Grade 1

Curriculum

Classroom Links

Reading

Letter Sounds

Going through Letter Sound Flashcards. Every time your child gets a letter right, add a smiley face or sticker to that letter. Once a letter has 5 stickers, you can assume your child is consistently recognizing that letters sound, and it can be taken off the ring when your child consistently gets the letter and they can see their pile shrinking!

Writing

  • Each day, give your child a few words to practice sounding out. Please give them as little help as possible, so they are practicing doing it independently. Have your child come up with a sentence. Have them illustrate it and then help them sound out the words to record underneath.
  • Students are encouraged to journal about their day, or make up creative stories and write as independently as possible. Encouraging spelling words based on sounding them out helps your child develop phonetic knowledge

Sight Words

Using the list we have previously provided work on words your child has not yet mastered.

  • Sight Word Bingo http://www.abcya.com/dolch_sight_word_bingo.htm
  • Print sight words on index cards and place on a single binder ring.
  • Go through sight words ring. Every time your child gets a word right, add a smiley face or sticker to that word. Once a word has 5 stickers, you can assume your child has the word memorized.

Fun games to play with sight words:

  • Paper Plate Toss: Write sight words on paper plates. Use them like frisbees to throw after reading the word. Add in some additional fun by adding a target.
  • Flashlight Words: Turn off the lights. Tape words on the wall or ceiling. Use the flashlight to sine on the word, then have your child read it.
  • Go Fish: Make a duplicate set of word cards to play “Go Fish.” You can easily make your own cards out of index cards.
  • Stepping Stones: Place the word cards on the floor, making a fun stream going across the room. Have your child walk over the stream. As they step onto the stepping stone (word), have them say the word before they move on to get to the other side of the stream.
  • Tic-Tac-Toe: Write words in the tac-tac-toe spaces. Take turns selecting a space to read. If read correctly, an X or O is placed on the space until someone wins.
  • Word-O: This is played just like BINGO. Fill in a card with the words that you are working on. Call out the words and mark the spaces. The first one with a card covered calls out the word “WORDO!”
  • Word Hunt: Look for target words in books or in the newspaper. If using the newspaper your child can highlight or circle the words that she finds.
  • Word Jump: Write the sight words onto the driveway. Call out a word. Have your child jump their way to the sight word.
  • SNAP: You put the sight words you want them to practice on flash cards and put the flash cards into a jar. Also, you write the word SNAP on a few flash cards and put them in to the jar. The kids can play in partners or in a groups of 3 or 4 with siblings. They take turns pulling a card out of the jar. If they can say the word on the card automatically with no struggle, they get to keep the card. If they struggle, they have to put it back. If they pull out one of the cards that says SNAP, they have to put all of the card they’ve drawn back. The first person to 5 cards (or 10) wins!
  • Stair Chase: Place two sight word cards on each stair. Let them pick one sight word on the way up, saying the word and picking up the card when they get it correctly. Have them practice the other sight words on the way down.
  • Coin Toss: Put words on the floor. Children take turns tossing a coin onto a word and saying the word. If they get the word correctly, they keep the coin. If you like, first to 10 coins wins. Or see if they can collect all of the coins.
  • Concentration: Create two sets of word cards. Place the word cards face down. Have your child turn over two cards, trying to make a match. Continue until all of the words are matched.
  • Play who am I? Lay out the word cards. Then give the child clues to what the selected word is. For example, if the word was “red,” you could say – I rhyme with bed. I have three letters. I end with the letter D. Have the child locate the word.
  • Chalk Writing: Go outside and practice writing the sight words with chalk on the sidewalk.
  • Beat the Clock: See how many times your child can write a word in one minute. Or see how many flash cards your child can read in one minute.
  • Words You Can Eat: Write your words in whipped cream, peanut butter, carrots or anything you can eat.
  • Who has more? Give flash word cards to your child. If they read the word within 5 second, they get to keep the card. If not, you keep the card. If the child has more cards than you at the end, they win.
  • Salt Tray: Grab a tray or baking sheet with edges. Pour in salt. Write the word in salt. When your child says it correctly, they get to erase the word

MORE FUN WAYS TO PRACTICE SIGHT WORDS: WRITE THEM OUT. Having your child recite sight words isn’t the only way to have them practice sight words. Having them write them out in fun ways helps them learn the spelling, too. You can make words using:

  • Playdough
  • Stencils
  • Wiki sticks
  • Alphabet stamps
  • Scrabble tiles
  • Magnetic letters
  • Legos
  • Popsicle Sticks
  • Salt on a Tray
  • Sidewalk Chalk
  • Sticks (in sand or dirt)
  • Teachers Pay Teachers

YouTube has several excellent resources for learning letter sounds, sight words, etc.

Math Practice

Apps

  • Teaching number lines (Frog logo)
  • Math Bingo
  • Rocket Math
  • Prodigy
  • Splash Math
  • Motion Math

Teachers Pay Teachers

YouTube has several excellent resources for learning addition, subtraction, skip counting, etc.

  • For Health: Personal safety in school/home/community (continue to discuss these) Refer to Alberta Ed for additional health resources.
  • For Science: Continue to discuss seasonal changes, needs of plants and animals, and use our 5 senses to understand the world around us. Refer to Alberta Ed for additional science resources.
  • SciShow Kids on YouTube
  • For Social Studies: Continue to explore their role in school/home/community. Refer to Alberta Ed for additional social studies resources.
  • Teachers Pay Teachers

YouTube has several excellent resources for learning about different animals and their needs through the seasons.

  • Students can log onto GoNoodle for some active learning.

Land Acknowledgment

Rocky View Schools would like to acknowledge the land and recognize all the Indigenous Peoples whose footprints have marked these lands from time immemorial. Together, we can learn and honour the Ways of Knowing of Indigenous Peoples for all future generations.