Reading-Writing Skills For Kid

by Dana Sullivan

During 1st grade your child will learn to express herself with words, both spoken and written. She'll continue to read (or hear the teacher read) fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, but this year she'll be asked open-ended questions about the material to improve reading comprehension. Here are some specific reading and writing milestones you can expect your first grader to reach. Keep in mind that educational standards vary from state to state (even from one school district to the next) and that children develop at different rates, so your child may not do everything on this list.

• Print uppercase and lowercase letters accurately
• Print from left to right and to work from the top to the bottom of a page
• Print her first and last name, with correct capitalization
• Write clear and coherent sentences and paragraphs that develop an idea
• Use adjectives when writing a sentence. ("The big brown dog chased my mom's car.")
• Write several sentences about a specific experience, such as the best thing that happened to her over the weekend
• Read about 100 words, especially common ones such as "have," "go," "said," "give," and "the"• Ask questions about something she's read
• Recognize the difference between singular and plural nouns
• Sound out unfamiliar words
• Understand the difference between words, sentences, and paragraphs
• Add, remove, or change sounds to change words — for example, changing "sun" to "run" and "cat" to "bat"
• Read contractions, such as "don't," and some compound words, such as "rowboat"
• Respond to "who," "what," "where," and "how" questions
• Follow one-step written instructions
• Figure out what unfamiliar words mean by thinking about the story in which it appears or the words around it
• Use basic punctuation — for example, writing a sentence with the first letter of the first word capitalized and a period, exclamation point, or question mark at the end
• Pronounce all the consonant and vowel sounds
• Sound out consonant blends, such as cl and br, and digraphs like sh, ch, and th. (These skills will develop toward the end of the school year.)
• Predict the subject of a book based on the cover illustration
• Identify the main character, setting, and events after reading or hearing a story
• Distinguish between truth and make-believe in a story
• Read and explain her own writing and drawing
• Read different types of literature such as fiction, nonfiction, and poetry
• Identify ways in which stories she reads relate to her own life

The teacher will ask your first grader to spend a big chunk of her reading time reading out loud. This gives her plenty of practice making consonant and vowel sounds. During reading periods the teacher will probably ask open-ended questions about the stories to help your child develop comprehension skills. She may try to bring the stories to life, too, by cooking a batch of green eggs and ham, for instance, on the day the class is reading the Dr. Seuss favorite.When your child starts to write complete sentences, the teacher might have her do "fill in the blank" exercises, such as completing the phrase "I feel happy when..." Some teachers encourage writing skills by asking students to keep a journal or to write down new words they've learned in class or at home.Quick reading comprehension testTo see if your first grader is moving from "learning to read" to "reading to learn," try this exercise from the U.S. Department of Education. Ask your child to read the following excerpt from Franklin Is Bossy by Paulette Bourgeois. Then test her comprehension by asking her questions such as "What did Franklin do in his room?"In his room, Franklin built a castle. He made a cape to be brave in. He made shields and swords and suits of armor. He drew pictures. He played house. He read stories. He played by himself for one whole hour, and then he didn't know what to do. So, Franklin went looking for company. His friends were in the river, cooling off.