Reading, writing, and communication are aspects of literacy learning that we focus on daily in our first grade classroom.


Some Things You Can Do At Home:

At home, you can continue to help your child by encouraging authentic writing (writing that has real-world application and which helps lend meaning and purpose to learning to read and write).

Examples: making shopping lists, journal/diary entries, writing a recipe for a favorite snack
with directions for how to make it, thank-you notes, letters to relatives or friends, birthday cards, etc.) whenever possible.

Since many parents ask, do not expect your child to spell every word correctly at this point, but instead encourage them to write the sounds they hear in the words they are spelling. You can write some of the words that they do not know how to spell correctly under their attempts when they are done. Often if you notice a common error in multiple words that your child writes (Ex: always leaving off a silent e, or substituting "ch" for "tr" in words like tree and try) it can provide a great opportunity for you to discuss these concepts and practice them more at home.  Of course always praise them for their efforts and whatever they get correct. At this point in your child's learning it is important to foster enjoyment of the writing process and help them feel confident about making attempts and doing their best, even if they are not always "correct".

When reading together, ask your child to make predictions about what will happen in the story. Then pause at opportune moments throughout the story and see if their predictions have changed. It is also very important that you extend the stories by asking your child to retell what they or you just read. Look to see if they include important details, like names of characters and places, and order the events correctly. If reading a nonfiction book, see if your child can retell three interesting facts from what was read. This is often much easier when someone else reads to a child, but it is important that children know they read for a reason, and that it is about more than simply speaking the words correctly...it is about learning and communicating.

Lastly, encourage your child to make connections to the text by asking them if the characters, events, or overall stories remind them of something they've seen, read, or experienced before. Often children are doing these things already when you read to them, but it is so much fun to discuss them and so interesting to hear what they have to say!

Last, but certainly not least, have fun!