First Grade

1st GRADE - SUMMER

Reading

  • Review letters and sounds, especially vowel teams (ai, ay, ee, ea, au, igh, ew, ue, ie, oi, oy,)          r controlled vowels (ar, er, ir, ur, or), digraphs (sh, th, ch, tch, wh)
  • Review this year’s spelling words  
  • If access to an iPad or iPhone Spelling Magic has some great free apps
  • Word games such as scrabble, boggle, and scramble

Websites:



  • Check out your local library for summer reading activities
  • Read aloud to a parent or sibling
  • Practice Dolch/sight Words- http://www.dolchword.net/dolch-word-games.html
  • Read your Bible
  • Check out these authors or series:
    • Daisy Meadows-Fairy Books
    • Dave Pilkey-Dog Man books
    • Barbara Park-Junie B. Jones Books
    • Arnold Lobel-Frog and Toad Books
    • Cynthia Rylant-Henry and Mudge
    • Peggy Parish-Amelia Bedelia
    • Mike Thaler-School from the Black Lagoon series
    • MagicTree House Series
    • Rebecca Elliott-Owl Diaries

Websites:

Language Arts

Here are some things you can do with your child to help reinforce the writing/handwriting lessons we had during the school year:


  • Practice upper and lower case letters along with numbers. Look at proper pencil grip and make sure they are starting at the top.         
  • Write a letter to a friend, family,  or your 1st grade teacher·
  • Write a list of things you want to learn        
  • Draw a picture and write a story about it·         
  • Keep a summer journal
  • Keep a prayer journal.  Write out your prayers to God           
  • Write a review about a movie, TV show you watched, or a book you have read           
  • Make a slideshow using pictures from a summer vacation


Websites:


Grammar/English Conventions


Here are some things you can do with your child to help reinforce the grammar lessons we had during the school year:

  • Make a list of your favorite nouns and draw a picture of each of them.
  • Make a list of all things God has blessed you with.
  • Make a list of action verbs, and then see if you can do them all.
  • Make sure you are using capitals at the beginning of sentences, along with proper nouns.
  • Make sure your sentences end with a period, question mark, or exclamation.
  • When keeping a journal write the date with month, day, and year, so they practice writing commas in dates.
  • Ask your child questions and have them answer using complete sentences.
  • Have them use adjectives when describing things to you either verbally or in writing.


Websites:

Math


Activities to focus on with first graders:


  1. Use addition and subtraction within 20
  2. Count by 10’s, 20’s, 25’s to 150
  3. Quickly using 20’s frames
  4. Using the number line to add and subtract within 20
  5. Apply the commutative property using addition and subtraction
  6. Understand the order of operations using addition and subtraction in word problems
  7. Fluently adding and subtracting number 1-20
  8. Counting backward and forward to 120
  9. Understand place value for tens and ones
  10. Compare two digit numbers with <,>, and =
  11. Subtract multiples of 10 in the range 10-90 from multiples
  12. Tell and write time, both with analog and digital clocks
  13. Interpret data on a chart or graph
  14. Reason with shapes and their attributes
  15. Understand the names and characteristics of 2D vs. 3D shapes
  16. Start using geometry to express parts of a whole: halves, fourths, and quarters


Resource: Applications for electronics


  • 10 Frame Fill- additive 10 families
  • Number Flash- Numbers 1-120
  • SplashMath – linked to US school math curriculum
  • Marble Math Jr. – shapes, money, time, sequencing, easy fractions
  • Number Pieces Basic – using number pieces to represent multi-digit numbers, regroup, add and subtract.
  • Kids Telling Time – using analog and digital clocks
  • Dinosaur Math Tower – practicing basic math facts in a fast paced game
  • Arithmetic Invaders Express – K-2 math facts to help defend the Solar System
  • Thinking Blocks – solving word problems in addition and subtraction


Pencil & Paper Resources:

  • 2nd grade math readiness section in the back the homework book
  • TPT- free math worksheets in specific math focus area
  • Summer Brain Quest Math Book (available on Amazon)

Social Studies


Activities to focus on with first graders:


  1. Students describe the rights and responsibilities of a citizen
  2. Students compare and contrast the absolute and relative locations
  3. Students know and understand the symbols, icons, and traditions of the United States
  4. Identify American landmarks and essential documents
  5. Examine structures of schools and communities of the past
  6. Understand differences of earlier technology and transportation
  7. Understand different culture’s principles, goals, and traditions and how we are all similar
  8. Learn about American Indians and immigrants have helped define Californian and American culture.
  9. Compare the beliefs, customs, ceremonies, traditions, and social practices of the varied cultures, drawing from folklore
  10. Understand the concept of exchange and the use of money to purchase goods and services.
  11. Identify the specialized work that people do to manufacture, transport, and market goods and services and the contributions of those who work in the home.

Resource: Applications for electronics


  • Kids World Atlas– games that teach geography, rivers, mountains, deserts,
  • Social Studies for Kids– cultures, history, geography

Local Museums and Historical Sites

Please consider taking your child to a museum that gives them valuable real world learning experiences, sparks deeper interest, and opens the imagination. Consider the following:


  • Children’s Museum of La Habra
  • Discovery Cube  - Santa Ana
  • Lyon Air Museum  - John Wayne Airport
  • Marconi Auto Museum  - Tustin
  • Heritage Museum of Orange County  - Santa Ana
  • Fullerton Museum Center  - history, science, art
  • Columbia Memorial Space Center -  Downey
  • Kidspace Children’s Museum- Pasadena
  • Skirball Cultural Center/Noah’s Ark  - Los Angeles
  • Mission San Juan Capistrano  - California History



Science

1st grade science is all about the world around them.  Here are a list of interesting places for them to explore and things they can do at home:


Outings


  • Tide pools at Corona Del Mar or Dana Point
  • Zoos
  • Long Beach Aquarium
  • Discovery Science Center
  • Beach
  • Fullerton Arboretum
  • Oak Canyon Nature Center
  • Tanaka Farms
  • Observatories

Activities

  • Plant any type of garden
  • Bake
  • Make mud pies
  • Watch Magic School Bus videos
  • Make homemade ice cream
  • Sort items by their state of matter
  • Sort animals by their type
  • Create a science experiment
  • Take apart things to see how they work (under parents supervision)

Websites:

https://www.abcya.com/grades/1

https://www.sciencemadesimple.com/

Time with Jesus

There are several things you can do this summer to deepen their faith and bring them closer to Jesus:


  • Start and end the day with them saying prayers
  • Have family devotions
  • Attend VBS at St. Paul’s or other local churches.
  • Have a Christian themed movie night
  • Read Bible stories
  • Show your love by serving others
  • Invite a friend to church