Skills

Grade One Skills Checklist

READING
When listening to your child read, make sure they:

*Speak slowly and clearly when reading aloud
*Pause for punctuation, in between words & sentences
*Change their voices to reflect punctuation (exclamation mark, question mark, etc.)

When trying to figure out an unfamiliar word, make sure your child:

*Uses picture clues found on the page
*Uses the rest of the words in the sentence to see if the unfamiliar word makes sense
*Uses letter sounds (Phonics)
*Makes words smaller by reading chunks (parts) and then putting the chunks together to decode

PHONICS
Make sure your child can:

*Sound out unfamiliar words using letter sounds, letter blends, chunks, words inside words
*Distinguish between long and short vowels
HINT: general rule: words with one vowel, the vowel is usually short (ex: kit)
words with 2 vowels, the first vowel is usually long, the second is (usually) silent (ex: kite)

PRINTING
Make sure your child:

*Puts spaces between words
*Uses upper case/lower case letters when appropriate
*Writes neatly and legibly
*Holds a pencil correctly
*Forms letters correctly

LANGUAGE
Make sure your child can:

*Finish a thought (When I see a puppy I feel…)
*Write a complete sentence using correct punctuation
*Know that a sentence is a group of words that makes sense and is a complete thought
*End a sentence with an appropriate punctuation mark (period, exclamation mark or question mark)
*Begin a sentence with an upper case letter
*Recognize nouns in a sentence: knowing a noun is a person, place, animal or thing.
*Recognize verbs in a sentence: knowing a verb is an action word.

MATH
Make sure your child:

*Knows how to count by 1′s to 100
*Knows how to count by 2′s to 100
*Knows how to count by 5′s to 100
*Knows how to count by 10′s to 100
*Recognizes numerals to 100
*Knows time by hour, half-hour, quarter-hour
*Can use a calculator to perform simple operations: addition & subtraction
*Knows the days of the week
*Knows the months of the year
*Recognizes solid shapes: cube, cylinder, sphere, cone and box
*Can measure to 1 metre using centimeters and decimeters
*Can measure an object using standard or non-standard units (ex.: paper clip)
*Knows the value of quarter, dime, nickel and penny
*Can count a pocketful of change correctly (starting with coin of the highest value)
*Can add numbers to 10(October), 12 (January), 18 (March)
*Can read a graph we made in class
*Can read a glyph they made
*Can “read” a Math problem
*Can read & write a Math equation horizontally as well as vertically

BASIC INFORMATION & SKILLS
Your child should:

*Know their street address and be able to say aloud and write it
*Know their phone number including area code
*Know the basic 10 colors: red, blue, yellow, green, purple, orange, brown, black, white
*Recognize and write numerals to 100
*Recognize 2D shapes: triangle, square, rectangle, circle, oval, diamond and heart.
*Be able to tie their shoes independently.

Make sure your child is proficient at these skills by approximately Easter of grade one to ensure their greatest success in grade two!

Things Your Child Will Be Expected To Do in Grade Two (coming soon!)