Using fiction and nonfiction compositions, the first grade students explore text to develop letter/sound associations, learn sight words, and develop comprehension strategies to respond to literature through both oral responses and written responses.
Through author studies, we use literature to cook, sew, and sing. Phonological skills are introduced. These include identifying beginning, medial, and ending consonant sounds, short and long vowel sounds, blends, verb endings, and contractions.
Through daily writing, language mechanics are reinforced to write poems, stories, letters, informational writing, and journal entries. At the end of the year, the students publish an All About Me book using the writing process.