First Grade Reading

The First Graders have been growing as readers! When students come to a word they don't know -- or if they realize that something they read doesn't seem quite right -- this is the basic plan of what I teach them to do :

1. Ask What would make sense? (Ask yourself what would make sense in the sentence, keeping the events of the whole story in mind.)
2. Does it sound right? (Do people talk that way? For example, we wouldn't say, "Him is reading a book." That doesn't sound right!)
3. Does it look right? (Are those the sounds for the letters I see in the word?)

In First Grade, we don't "sound out" the words because that doesn't work for so many words we read. Instead, we look at the beginning, middle, and end of the word, and then we re-read, to make sure that the word works in the sentence.

Our Cross-Check Poster -- The blue sticky notes show the actions we use to help us remember the steps.

We have also been working on retelling stories. A bookmark like this came home in your child's take-home folder. It can stay at home, so your child can use it to practice retelling the story after reading each night. 

A Retelling Bookmark