Spelling
Spelling is a skill that will be incorporated into our daily curriculum through our reading program "Journey's" as well as our writing/phonics program "Fundations." There will not be a weekly spelling test. Our focus will be on blends, vowel pairing, CVC patterns, as well as tricky words to help your student be proficient in his/her reading and writing.
Sight Words
In addition to spelling, we will focus on sight words as well. By the end of first grade, your student will be able to recognize and use up to 220 new words. These words will be pulled from our "Journey's" reading program and focus on particular words from our weekly stories. We will review these throughout the week but in order to increase retention, your child will need to practice ALL sight words frequently. The idea of sight words is to not learn a word once for the week and then forget it, but be able to recognize it on sight without having to use a strategy. These words are common place words that your child will start to notice everywhere.
Below you will find a list of sight words for the year. I would highly recommend making flash cards and keeping them handy for your child to study often. This is a great thing to keep in the car or your "to go" bag that you take to sporting events, etc. There are many great apps available, both for purchase and free, that allow you to customize and then your student can play games with their sight words. Studying flash cards is difficult for some students so here are a few different ideas to help get started studying:
>Write words in chalk on the sidewalk
>Use pens, markers, etc. to write words
>Put words in balloons and have student sit on balloon to pop it and then read the word
>Play a game of memory
>Write words on the bathroom mirror with a bar of soap (wipes off easily and cleans your mirror!)
>Write words in shaving cream
>Write words on a piece of paper and have students "park" their cars, tractors, etc. on the word you call out
>Play Bingo
>Tape the words to the wall and have your child throw a ball or something soft at the word called out
>Play flashlight tag with sight words. Lay out words and turn off the light. Your child finds the word and then "tags" it with the flashlight.
>Many more great ideas available online!
>Write words in chalk on the sidewalk
>Use pens, markers, etc. to write words
>Put words in balloons and have student sit on balloon to pop it and then read the word
>Play a game of memory
>Write words on the bathroom mirror with a bar of soap (wipes off easily and cleans your mirror!)
>Write words in shaving cream
>Write words on a piece of paper and have students "park" their cars, tractors, etc. on the word you call out
>Play Bingo
>Tape the words to the wall and have your child throw a ball or something soft at the word called out
>Play flashlight tag with sight words. Lay out words and turn off the light. Your child finds the word and then "tags" it with the flashlight.
>Many more great ideas available online!