Literacy

=First Grade Literacy=

Ideas for activities/routines that get kids excited about books

//This is not meant to be followed exactly, month-by-month, but is just a picture of what reading instruction tends to look// //like in our first grade. It never looks the same from one year to the next, as it varies depending on the class, their interests, and new things we try.//

Many assignments have 2 or 3 versions, designed so that the whole class can work on the same assignment but at varying levels of difficulty. Worksheets are attached here electronically and/or are available in hard copies in the curriculum binders.

Year-long word study plan for first grade: [[file:first grade word study.doc]] (be sure to open this document with Excel)
First 5 weeks' detailed plan (07-08) Link to first 5 weeks' detailed plan (06-07)

Scheduling sheets
Fall Reader's Workshop Plan (07-08):

Routines (all together):

 * Independent Reading (browsing baskets): Building stamina, choosing books, what readers talk about
 * Sorting
 * Shared reading: Poems
 * Sight words: Make, mix, fix
 * Illustrating poems

Comprehension / Reading Strategies:

 * Concepts about print (predictable chart book): Tracking, directionality, one-to-one correspondence

Anticipated Phonics 07-08:

 * rhyming
 * letter names/sounds
 * syllable identification
 * beginning sounds

Phonics 06-07:

 * Consonant ID and sounds
 * Beginning sounds

Routines (begin centers):

 * Reading Journal
 * Begin centers:
 * Voice level
 * independent work
 * ask 3 then me
 * what to do when you finish
 * Begin guided reading groups
 * Introduce independent reading bags

Comprehension / Reading Strategies:

 * Tricky words: [[file:tricky word icons.doc]], [[file:tricky word worksheet.doc]]
 * Using picture cues ("look at the picture")
 * Using the first letter in the word ("get your mouth ready")
 * Text-to-self connections (just drawing, few words) [[file:text-to-self.doc]][[file:text-to-self2.doc]]
 * Wemberly Worried
 * Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse
 * Chrysanthemum
 * Chair for My Mother
 * Sheila Ray the Brave

Anticipated Phonics 07-08:

 * rhyming
 * blending sounds
 * segmenting
 * -ing
 * identifying onset/rime by listening
 * ending sounds including -ck
 * plurals

Phonics 06-07

 * Ending sounds
 * Stretching words to spell them
 * Blending/segmenting sounds in words
 * Short vowels: a

Routines:

 * Word wheels
 * Push it / Say it (table-top pocket charts)

Comprehension / Reading Strategies:

 * Tricky words
 * look for a part of the word you know / a small word inside a big word
 * chunk (syllables, spelling patterns/word families)
 * think about what makes sense
 * Text-to-self connections continued (Here are 2 versions of a worksheet you can adapt) [[file:text-to-self.doc]]
 * Owen
 * Arthur’s Tooth
 * Chester’s Way
 * Julius, Baby of the World
 * Text-to-text connections [[file:text-to-text.doc]]
 * Peter’s Chair
 * Baby Sister for Francis
 * Noisy Nora
 * I’ll Fix Anthony
 * The Pain and the Great One
 * Super, Completely, Totally the Greatest
 * My Rotten, Red-Headed Older Brother
 * Fiction vs. non-fiction: what’s the same and different [[file:Nonfiction Book what did you notice.doc]] [[file:Nonfiction Book what did you notice2.doc]]
 * Click, Clack, Moo, Cows That Type
 * Non-fiction farm books

Anticipated Phonics 07-08:

 * short vowels a,e, i, o, u [[file:short vowel images.doc]], [[file:vowel strips for families.doc]], [[file:vowel strips.doc]]
 * rhyming

Phonics 06-07:

 * Short vowels: a
 * Short vowels: o

Comprehension / Reading Strategies:

 * Tricky words
 * skip the word, go to the end of the sentence, then come back
 * stretch the word out sound-by-sound
 * go back and find the same word somewhere else
 * Re-telling: these assignments are done in two or three versions. Some children only sequence the pictures and write the transition word while other students also write a sentence or two to describe the picture.
 * Making vegetable soup [[file:Vege Soup sequencing v1.doc]] [[file:Vege Soup sequencing v2.doc]]
 * Stone Soup
 * Pancakes
 * Chicks hatching [[file:Chicks sequencing v1.doc]] [[file:Chicks sequencing v2.doc]]
 * Whistle for Willie
 * Napping House
 * Stella Luna
 * School Day [[file:At school sequencing v.1.doc]] [[file:At school sequencing v.2.doc]]
 * Fiction vs. non-fiction: what’s the same and different [[file:fiction v nonfiction.doc]]
 * Zinnia and Dot (revisit text-to-self connections)
 * Non-fiction chicken book

Anticipated Phonics 07-08:

 * onset/rime chunking in reading
 * beginning consonant blends (s-blends, l-blends, r-blends, and 3-letter blends)
 * -ed endings

Phonics 06-07:

 * Short vowels: i

Routines:

 * Review routines and expectations
 * Introduce sketching as a center
 * Phonics worksheets (Explode the Code)
 * Train Game

Comprehension / Reading Strategies:

 * Nonfiction text features: table of contents [[file:table of contents.doc]]
 * Seeds Get Around
 * Chickens
 * Physical science books, level F and basic apple books (for independent work)
 * Headings
 * Sunflower
 * Hooray for Beekeeping
 * Write your own heading for farm book pages
 * Captions
 * Hooray for Beekeeping
 * Write captions for the classroom of various classroom objects (like the calendar, the schedule, etc.) and attach them to the objects
 * Write your own caption for farm book pages [[file:captions for farm book.doc]]
 * Sample captions worksheets:
 * blank sheet that can be attached to photos, images, book pages, etc. [[file:caption practice blank.doc]]
 * example of a captions worksheet with photos of farm study group experiences [[file:caption practice.doc]]

Anticipated Phonics 07-08:

 * digraphs (ch-, sh-, th-, wh-)
 * ending blends

Phonics 06-07:

 * Beginning blends (s-blends and l-blends)

Routines:

 * Review train game (mixed vowel practice)

Comprehension / Reading Strategies:

 * Fluency: expression [[file:fluency_ expression.doc]], pacing [[file:fluency_ pacing.doc]], attending to punctuation [[file:fluency_ punctuation.doc]]
 * Familiar apple poem
 * Farm book pages
 * Farmworkers/activists study: reflecting, connecting (writing letters about what you learn, writing captions for photos from books about activists)
 * Dr. King video
 * My Brother Martin
 * Little blue Cesar Chavez book
 * comparing/contrasting [[file:Cesar_Martin same_different.doc]]

Anticipated Phonics 07-08:

 * ending blends cont.
 * magic e
 * contractions

Phonics 06-07:

 * Short vowels: u
 * Beginning blends: r-blends

Routines:

 * Picking your own sight words
 * New sight word homework: words that start the same
 * Look, say, cover, write, check
 * Buddy test

Comprehension / Reading Strategies:

 * Visualizing and imagery
 * Herman and Marguerite (oral story by Jay O’Callahan) [[file:Herman and Marguerite.doc]]
 * Poems: "Field Row, "After a Day in the Fields"
 * Dinosaur Day
 * Home
 * Synonyms
 * How Are You Peeling?
 * Descriptive Writing
 * In the Pond [[file:In the Pond imagery sheet.doc]]
 * June 29, 1999
 * Farmworker posters [[file:descriptive writing farmworker.doc]]
 * poems [click here for an example of a worksheet] [[file:Imagery, after a day in the fields.doc]]
 * Using 5 senses
 * Begin reading books about homelessness

Anticipated Phonics 07-08:

 * introduce buddy study routines
 * long vowel spelling patterns (ai, ay, a-e, ee, ea, e-e, -igh, ie, i-e, oa, ou, ow, o-e, u-e, ue) [[file:long vowel images.doc]], [[file:long vowel flashcards.doc]]

Phonics 06-07:

 * Short vowels: e

Comprehension / Reading Strategies:

 * Making predictions: Day 1 you read part of the story and students make predictions; Day 2 you finish the story and they write and draw about what actually happened [[file:prediction v actual sheet.doc]] [[file:prediction v actual lines .doc]]
 * Quiltmakers’ Story
 * The Seed and the Giant Saguaro
 * Two Old Potatoes
 * Questioning (students write questions on large sticky notes and stick them to their independent reading books, then see if they can find the answers); discuss "thick" vs. "thin" questions -- some really help you understand the book better and others don't [[file:thick thin.doc]]
 * Little Red Riding Hood
 * Fly Away Home

Anticipated Phonics 07-08:

 * r-controlled vowels

Phonics 06-07:

 * Long vowels: a

Routines

 * New homework sheet: words that end the same
 * Letter-writing

Comprehension / Reading Strategies

 * Review text-to-self and text-to-text
 * Liza Lou and the Yeller Belly Swamp
 * Flossie and the Fox
 * Review retelling
 * Bean life cycle [[file:bean plant life cycle.doc]]
 * Little Red Riding Hood
 * Stone Soup
 * Letter-writing [[file:t-s connection letter.doc]] [[file:t-s connection letter2.doc]]

Anticipated Phonics 07-08:

 * open/closed syllables
 * multisyllabic words
 * dipthongs

Phonics 06-07:

 * Long vowels: a, o, i
 * A-consonant-e
 * O-consonant-e
 * I-consonant-e
 * Ending blends: -nd, -nk, -ng, -ck

Comprehension / Reading Strategies

 * Letter-writing

Anticipated Phonics 07-08:

 * open/closed syllables cont.
 * multisyllabic words cont.
 * dipthongs cont.

Phonics 06-07:

 * Long vowels: u
 * U-consonant-e
 * b/d practice

What's missing:

 * summarizing?
 * story elements (setting, plot, character)
 * building stamina
 * fluency (Heidi Cook)
 * determining important/central ideas
 * vocabulary (3 words from each read-aloud)
 * Framing Your Thoughts