I have been teaching for over 25 years and during those years, I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to teach all the grades from kindergarten to grade 7. Although each grade has its unique charm, teaching grade 1 has been the best for its magical qualities. It is not like the fairy godmother who was able to magically transform Cinderella from a servant to a beautiful young woman just so that Cinderella could attend the royal ball. Instead, it is magical because of the transformation that takes place in each student during the grade 1 year.

We began the school year learning the sounds of each letter (vowels and consonants) and moved onto learning the digraphs (ng, nk, all, sh, th, wh, ch, v tch, v dge, v ck), rules (zfsl Doubling, Magic e, 1-1-1 Doubling), and syllables (Closed Syllable, v-e Syllable, Open Syllable, Vowel Team Syllable). Together with the words of the day, the students began sounding out the words in the books they were reading and words they were writing. It is  magical how the students start grade 1 in September with some knowledge of the letters and the letter sounds, and  begin reading and writing with the phonemic awareness lessons they learn. This phonemic awareness skills they have acquired this year gives them the foundational skills that will help them in the years to come in being able to read and understand more complex books and stories. In addition, these foundational skills will help them begin writing more complex pieces as they progress onto the higher grades.

The basic foundations of math started with learning that our number system is a Base-10 system where the ten digits (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) are “recycled” over and over again to make bigger numbers. The numbers can be represented in many different ways such as numerals, words, tally marks, or pictures like dots. Counting the “groups of 2”, “groups of 5”, and “groups of 10” are the precursor to multiplication that they will learn in grade 3. They have also learned different symbols like +, -, =, and (a, b, c). Equating phonemic awareness as the basic foundations to future reading and writing, the basic math skills of learning numbers and some mathematical symbols in grade 1 helps prepare the students for more complex math concepts in the years to come. Having a solid understanding of the place value system gives the students the basics for future math concepts where regrouping occurs when using the four operations (+, -, x, /).

At the top of the home page of my blog, it says “Relationships are the key to learning”. It is important that the students relate the foundational skills that they have learned in grade 1 to the new things they will learn and to the world around them. If they are able to integrate their knowledge to what is happening around them, this shows that they have learned it by recognizing and understanding those relationships, as learning is the application of knowledge. The relationships they find between the materials they learn to their lives, and the relationships that they build between them and others will set them on a good path to becoming responsible learners. As I have mentioned previously, the skills the students acquire and the choices that parents make in the first 18 years of their child’s life have lasting implications into adulthood. By practicing at home as often as possible, children are strengthening their skills so that they can conquer new challenges in reading, writing, and math. It is important to remember that reading, writing, and math are not only in Language Arts and Math, but are also needed in other subject areas. Taking that thought to the next level, the basic skills learned in reading, writing, and math are used throughout our lives, and to think that it all started in grade 1.

If you are interested, the book How to Raise a Reader by Pamela Paul and Maria Russo has some great ideas for families of how to nurture readers from pre-birth to teenagers.