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First Grade Reading Program - Curriculum Standards, Lessons, Activities, Printable Worksheets

A first grade reading program should be taught using a system of first grade reading lesson plans including interactive activities, learning games, printable worksheets, assessments, and positive reinforcement. Guided reading is a vital part of a first grade reading program.

A good first grade reading program curriculum relies on many learning tools - first grade reading worksheets, reading activities, reading games, reinforcement exercises, and assessments. And first grade language arts lessons should cover all English language arts strands. The major language arts strands for a first grade reading program are vocabulary development, reading comprehension, literature, writing strategies, writing applications, English language conventions, listening and speaking. While these language arts strands might surprise you, they are all critical lessons for a first grade reading program.

First grade reading lesson plans, reading worksheets, and reading activities teach reading skills covering all the language arts strands. First grade reading activities provide an opportunity for children to get a basic understanding of reading skill, decoding, and phonics. These very young children learn through guided reading, reading worksheets, language arts games, and many creative methods that make the first grade reading program fun for them.

First Grade Reading Program - What are the Standards and Curriculum?

Time4Learning teaches a comprehensive first grade reading curriculum using fun, first grade reading activities to build a solid reading foundation. Help your child excel in reading, learn more about Time4Learning's first grade reading lessons, curriculum, activities and worksheets.

First Grade Reading Program and Curriculum Standards: Vocabulary Development
- Language Arts Lesson Plans, Guided Reading, Building Reading Skill

A first grade reading program helps children learn the basic features of reading skill. First grade children learn to translate letter patterns into spoken language using phonics, syllabication, and word parts. They apply this knowledge to achieve fluent oral and silent reading skill.

At this reading level children identify letters, words, and sentences. They match oral words to printed words and during guided reading, the reading teacher asks children to identify the author and title of each reading selection. Children classify reading level appropriate categories of words (for example, colors, foods, animals).

Phonics are important in a first grade reading program. Reading skill develops as children learn to decode elements of words using phonics. Language arts lesson plans emphasize initial, medial, and final sounds in single-syllable words; create and state series of rhyming words, include consonant blends; add, delete, or change target sounds to change words (for example, change met to get or cat to sat); blend two to four phonemes into recognizable words (for example, /b/ i/ g/ = big; /k/ i/ t/ e/ = kite); and segment single-syllable words into their components (for example, /d/ o/ g/ = dog; /r/ i/ ch/ = rich).

The reading teacher shows children how to blend sounds into recognizable words. At this reading level children learn to use consonant blends and long-and short-vowel patterns. They develop the reading skill of using vowel digraphs and r- controlled letter-sound associations.

Language arts lesson plans help children read common, irregular sight words. The reading program explains compound words and contractions, root words, inflectional forms, and common word families. By the end of the school year the reading teacher expects that through guided reading, children will be able to read aloud with fluency in a manner that sounds like natural speech.

First Grade Reading Program and Curriculum Standards: Reading Comprehension
- Language Arts Lesson Plans, Guided Reading, Building Reading Skill

A first grade reading program uses guided reading to help students understand reading level appropriate literature. Language arts lesson plans test comprehension by asking children to respond to questions, make predictions, and compare information from several sources. The reading teacher exposes first grade reading program children to narrative and expository text, classic and contemporary literature, magazines, newspapers, and online information, thus encouraging reading skill during language arts lessons.

During guided reading, children identify text that uses sequence or other logical order. First grade language arts lesson plans ask children to respond to who, what, when, where, and how questions. During the first grade reading program, the reading teacher asks students to follow one-step written instructions and to use context to resolve ambiguities about word and sentence meanings.

While demonstrating their reading skill, first grade reading program students confirm predictions about what will happen next in a text by identifying key words. They will relate prior knowledge to textual information. The reading teacher also asks student to discuss central ideas of simple expository or narrative passages.

First Grade Reading Program and Curriculum Standards: Literary Response
- Language Arts Lesson Plans, Guided Reading, Building Reading Skill

A first grade reading program offers children guided reading experience with children's literature appropriate to the first grade reading level. The reading teacher explains literary terms such as theme, plot, setting, and characters, distinguishing these from structural features of the text. First grade language arts lesson plans help children develop reading skill by describing elements of plot and setting, identifying characters, and discussing each story's beginning, middle, and end.

The reading teacher encourages children enrolled in a first grade reading program to recollect, discuss, and write about books they've read. English language arts teachers ask children to describe the roles of authors and illustrators, and to understand their contributions to children's literature.

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*Reading Standards are defined by each state. Time4Learning bases its use of first grade reading standards on the national bodies that recommend curriculum and standards and the interpretations of it by a sampling of states notably Florida, Texas, and California.