What phonics skills should be taught in first grade?
Eleanor Gray
Updated on May 18, 2026
What phonics skills should be taught in first grade?
In first grade, phonics lessons start with the most common single-letter graphemes and digraphs (ch, sh, th, wh, and ck). Continue to practice words with short vowels and teach trigraphs (tch, dge). When students are proficient with earlier skills, teach consonant blends (such as tr, cl, and sp).
What is phonics for 1st grade?
Phonics and Decoding: Activities for Your First Grader. The goal of phonics instruction is to help children learn the alphabetic principle — the idea that letters represent the sounds of spoken language — and that there is an organized, logical, and predictable relationship between written letters and spoken sounds.
What are foundational skills in 1st grade?
In first grade, children develop phonological awareness, phonics knowledge, and decoding skill, all of which contribute to the development of fluent reading. These skills are a necessary foundation to reach the ultimate goal of reading: comprehension.
What reading skills should a first grader have?
What should a 1st grader be able to read?
- They should be able to recognize about 150 sight words or high-frequency words.
- They are able to distinguish between fiction and nonfiction texts.
- They should be able to recognize the parts of a sentence such as the first word, capitalization, and punctuation.
What are the sight words for Grade 1?
First Grade Sight Words List
| Sight Words for 1st Graders to be Able to Read by the End of 1st Grade | ||
|---|---|---|
| about | each | nice |
| after | every | now |
| again | find | old |
| also | first | only |
How do you teach phonics to 1st graders?
5 Best Ways to Teach Phonics to First Graders
- 1) Oral Language / Listening Activities.
- 2) Use Riddles.
- 3) Use Rhyming Words.
- 4) Dictation.
- 5) Write and Spell.
What is phonics and phonemic awareness?
Phonics involves the relationship between sounds and written symbols, whereas phonemic awareness involves sounds in spoken words. Phonemic awareness is the understanding that a word is made up of a series of discrete sounds. Without this insight, phonics instruction will not make sense to students.
What should a Grade 1 student know?
Key Takeaways
- Incoming first graders typically know the alphabet and can add and subtract numbers 1 through 10.
- There are fun ways to practice language and math skills to help your child get ready for first grade.
- If you have concerns about your child’s progress, talk to the teacher to come up with a game plan.
How do you teach a 1st grader to read?
10 Engaging First Grade Reading Comprehension Activities
- String up a retelling rope.
- Visualize the story.
- Make predictions.
- Make a beginning, middle, and end flip chart.
- Ask questions.
- Master the five finger retell.
- Summarize using simple signal words.
- Practice with story maps.
How can I improve my first grade writing skills?
14 Activities To Improve Kids’ Writing Skills
- Read Up. Regular reading is a stepping stone to better writing and helps kids’ strengthen their writing skills.
- Make it Fun!
- Create Writing Worksheets.
- Try Different Materials.
- Write Letters.
- Encourage Journalling.
- Create a Writing Space.
- Invest Time.
What do you learn in 1st grade?
A first grader can expect to learn about: Language arts: reading and writing basic sentences, the alphabet. Mathematics: addition, subtraction, graphing, clock and calendar time, money. Social studies: national history and patriotism, family relationships.
How to teach kids phonics?
Flash Cards. Flash cards are one of my favourite ways to introduce concepts to Little Miss A.
What your child should learn in first grade?
First-graders learn to sort objects by color, shape, and function and to recognize patterns. Your child should be able to sort a mixed group of blocks so that all the red blocks are in one group and all the blue ones are in another.
What are some first grade spelling words?
The spelling curriculum for first grade is to start with basic Consonant-Vowel-Consonant words. For example, a starting point for many first grade spelling lists are: DAD and MOM. Children then start to expand the list by working through “word families”. From DAD, they would cover BAD, SAD, HAD, and MAD.