Language Arts

Language arts has four parts – reading, writing, listening, and speaking. All
of these will be marked on the report card each six weeks.

ELI – this assessment is administered three times a year and will assess your
child’s progress
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Video by Mrs. Gandy, Reading Specialist
Reading

Guided Reading – your child will receive guided reading instruction in small
groups at his/her individual level

First graders enter at many different levels and are expected to end the
year on level J or higher.

Guided reading books will be brought home for homework. It is very
important that you listen to your child read his/her book(s) each evening.
The books have already been read in class, so the focus will be on building
fluency and comprehension.

In the 2nd and 3rd six weeks we focus on reading fiction, and retelling a
story in order.

Show or insert image of retelling strip

In the 4th and 5th six weeks we focus on reading non-fiction (expository)
texts. Students will learn to tell the main idea and supporting details or
facts from their book.
Ways to Help with Reading at Home

Listen to your child read each evening

If your child is having difficulty or gets stuck
o Ask “What can you try?”
o Encourage your child to think about what would make sense in the
story
o Look at the beginning and ending sound
o Use the pictures to help
o Blend and Stretch
o Look for a chunk or part to help
Word Work and Spelling

Each week we will focus on a specific set of word families or sounds.
Example (this week we are working on the an, am, ap families)

Your child needs to read the unit reading lesson each evening for homework.
This will help them practice their high frequency words, letter sounds, and
word families.

Reading Lesson Video

Your child will have a spelling test each Friday. It will be dictated sentences
using the week’s spelling words.

Students will be graded on spelling the words correctly, writing legibly,
spacing, and using appropriate capitalization and punctuation

Spelling is not marked on the report card but is an important part of
learning how to write!

When practicing with your child, encourage him/her to say the word slowly
and stretch out the sounds while writing the letters (rather than just
copying the words multiple times)
Writing

Your child will participate in a daily writer’s workshop this year. Students
will be writing about topics of their own choosing and will follow the writing
process.

Pre-writing, Draft, Editing, Revising, Final Copy

In the 2nd and 3rd six weeks we focus on recount narrative. Students will
write about an experience that they have had, and retell the events in order.
Examples might be “My Favorite Birthday” or “My Best Recess Ever!”

In the 4th and 5th six weeks we focus on expository writing. Students will
learn about a topic and then write to share information that they learned.
Topics that we learn about include ocean animals, Texas symbols, animal life
cycles.