• The first grade year is a big year in reading for our students.  They are expected to go from a level 3(end of kindergarten benchmark) to a level 16(1st grade end of year benchmark).  The most important thing you can do, as a parent, to help this process is to read, read, read both to and with your child.  It is still important for you to read to your child at this stage.  You can read higher level books which require more comprehension skills to understand the story.  Comprehension will become the focus as your child reads more complex levels.  It also helps them to hear what "good reading" should sound like, as he/she probably still struggles with decoding making their own reading sound choppy.  As a bonus, this time with your child provides an opportunity to build strong relationships.  It was my favorite part of parenting when my own children were younger.
     
    Below is a list of resources for you to help your child be successful in 1st grade.
     
    Use these to make sure your child can identify upper and lower case letters and their sounds.
     
    Sight Word List  
    An important step to becoming a reader is to build a “sight” vocabulary of basic words that appear often in print. These frequently-used sight words are words that need to be recognized IMMEDIATELY upon seeing them.
    Make some flashcards and away you go!
     
    Here are some phonics reading rules and sounds.  Practice these rules and sounds with your child often and as you see them in the text you read together.  Recognizing these common rules will help your child become a more fluent reader.
     
    As your child begins to read higher level texts, comprehension becomes more and more important.  When you have finished a book, try asking these types of questions to improve comprehension.