Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
What your first grader should know before the first day of school
23 Plays29 minutes ago
Is your child really ready for first grade? The answer has a lot less to do with reading a whole book independently — and a lot more to do with whether the right foundational skills are in place.
In episode 95, Miss Beth breaks down the specific literacy skills rising first graders should be developing before the school year begins. We're talking about phonemic awareness, letter sounds, decoding, spelling, and sentence writing — not vague readiness checklists, reading levels, or memorized sight-word lists.
Your child does not need to know everything on the first day. The goal is to make sure the kindergarten foundation is secure enough for them to learn new first-grade skills without also trying to fill in old gaps at the same time.
In this episode:
- Why your child does not need to read independently before first grade
- The phonemic awareness skills that support successful decoding
- Which letter sounds and kindergarten spelling patterns should be familiar
- What it looks like to sound out a word instead of guessing
- The types of words and sentences rising first graders should be able to attempt
- How many heart words children actually need to know
- Realistic spelling, handwriting, and sentence-writing expectations
- The difference between normal beginning-reader behavior and a skill gap worth watching
- A simple 10-minute practice routine you can use before school starts
You'll walk away knowing:
- Exactly which skills to look for — and which ones aren't worth worrying about yet
- How to tell the difference between a normal early reader and a child who may need extra support
- What a realistic, low-pressure summer practice routine actually looks like
- Whether your child's kindergarten foundation is strong enough to build on in first grade
Links mentioned:
Back to School Bootcamp (Aug. 10-14th)
Kindergarten and First Grade Skills checklist
About the host
Beth Gaskill @BigCityReaders (Miss Beth) is a reading specialist, early childhood educator, and founder of Big City Readers. She helps parents support their children's literacy development through research-backed, science of reading strategies.
Topics
first grade readiness, phonemic awareness, letter sounds, decoding, heart words, sight words, kindergarten to first grade transition, spelling patterns, handwriting, sentence writing, science of reading, early literacy, structured literacy, back to school, rising first graders, reading readiness, parenting advice, first grade skills
Recommended
Transcript
What should first graders know on day one?
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, hello, and welcome back to the Play On Words podcast from Big City Readers. It's your host, Miss Beth, and today we are talking about a slightly controversial topic that has been um happening in my DMs on Instagram this week, and that is just what your first grader should know on the first day of school.
00:00:22
Speaker
So the reason it's slightly controversial is because some people have asked, what should my first grader know? Can you give me some more specific examples? And I think we cling to really specific examples, obviously, because it can be so vague to just have one first grader neighbor reading Harry Potter and one still sounding out words and knowing where your child should fall.
00:00:47
Speaker
in in that mix, and also knowing how much to hold on to that. Like, should we compare? What's what's the actual norm? And reading can be really vague and and big, so we want to hold on to to what we can specifically assess on. And as you know, if you've been here for a while, I would never say um assess them on sight word knowledge, But I think people really cling to that because is something that you can measure. um But it's not actually a good measurement of what your child understands in the
Teaching spelling and phonological skills
00:01:26
Speaker
reading process. So...
00:01:28
Speaker
I shared an example, and I will share this the same example here, but I shared a slide with some specific sentences that your child on the first day of first grade should be able to read and write.
00:01:43
Speaker
And a lot of you said, oh yeah, my child can read these no problem, but you mean write them phonetically, right? And the answer is no. I shared the spelling patterns, specific sentences with words containing spelling patterns that your rising first grader should know if your school or teacher or classroom is using a science-backed reading approach.
00:02:07
Speaker
um Does that mean huge panic if your child can't do it? No. But we don't just tell a child how to spell words and then expect them to know how to spell them. We hold them accountable for spelling patterns that they have been taught. They should have been taught these spelling patterns. So it doesn't mean your child is behind. it just means that it might mean that they haven't been taught these spelling rules. And so I'll tell you and sentences that I shared.
00:02:37
Speaker
And some of the some of the things that you can do to support your child if they are not quite able to write these sentences independently yet.
00:02:48
Speaker
We love that magical yet because it doesn't mean anything if they can't do it. It just means that they're still learning how to do it. And there's definitely no cause for alarm bells when um they haven't even been taught properly. So let's start with that, making sure that they've been taught these rules and that it makes sense to them and they understand the spelling rules and patterns. um and then And then we're going to hold them accountable.
00:03:14
Speaker
for spelling those words correctly. We're not going to expect them to know how to spell every word correctly because that would be ridiculous. But we want them to have a strong knowledge of spelling patterns and a certain amount of spelling patterns by the first day of first grade because first grade moves fast. It moves so fast after the holiday break. It just, it moves so much faster than kindergarten.
00:03:40
Speaker
And they are growing so much more and they they can grow do it. They can keep up. It's harder for you and i to understand all of this, but um they are just little sponges and they can understand and learn new spelling rules each week and retain them and master them and be held accountable for spelling these words correctly once they have learned these patterns.
Essential first-grade reading foundations
00:04:03
Speaker
So I will share the sentences that I said, but I want to tell you about a few other skills that are very important for the first day of school for your first grader. And one of those skills is phonological and phonemic awareness.
00:04:17
Speaker
Before looking at letters or words, can your child hear and work with the sounds in words? A rising first grader should be developing the ability to recognize and produce rhyming words. So obviously your rising first grader recognizes rhymes. Can they produce a word that rhymes with box or balloon?
00:04:39
Speaker
Can they produce that if you just ask them to tell you a word that rhymes with that word? Can they count the amount of syllables in a word? Can they identify the first and last sound in a word, like map?
00:04:53
Speaker
Can they tell you that P is the last sound in map? Can they blend spoken words? Like so if you said M-A-P, Slowly, can they say map? Can they segment a simple word like fish? That means can they say f-ish? Three sounds are in fish. And can they manipulate sounds?
00:05:14
Speaker
So if you say say stop without the s, can they say top? If you say can you say blue without the l, can they say boo? If you say say blue without the b, would they say lou um those that that that kind of manipulation of sounds so we want to make sure that they're hearing each of the sounds because if they're not hearing each of those sounds if they're not able to play with sounds they're not going to be able to transfer this skill to their writing so phonological and phonemic awareness is huge and
00:05:50
Speaker
A child may know every letter but still struggle to read if they cannot blend and segment sounds. So this is the part that they they can do this without looking at any letters because it doesn't really have a lot to do with being able to just memorize letters. This has a lot to do with just being able to hear each of the sounds.
00:06:07
Speaker
Your child should also be able to recognize uppercase and lowercase letters, all of them, and produce and write uppercase and lowercase letters at the start of first grade um and produce the most common sound for each consonant. They should also know short and long vowel sounds at this point.
00:06:26
Speaker
um And they should be able to sound connect the sound they hear to the letter they write. So shh. They should be able to write SH, and they should know that a lot of letters can work together to represent one sound, or a lot of letters um make multiple sounds at this point. So we've already learned QU, we've already learned SH, we've already learned CH, TH, WH, CK, NG,
00:06:51
Speaker
um these are common kindergarten patterns that they should have already learned. They should have learned open and closed syllables. So they should know um how to break apart the word hotel and know that that o in hotel is long because of where we break the syllables. That should have been taught in kindergarten already. So those kind of words, um multi-syllable words, they should be able to do those be if they have been taught a ah good science of reading-based curriculum.
00:07:22
Speaker
They should be able to decode simple words um like map, sit, hen, dog, son. Of course, probably a lot of you listening to this are like, of course they can do that. That was easy. and But they should be able to tap and stretch out sounds in words instead of guessing. They should not be guessing at words.
00:07:40
Speaker
um They should be able to read words with familiar digraphs like ship, chip, chat, fin, duck, um and beginning and ending blends like hand, milk, frog, truck, quick.
00:07:56
Speaker
And they should be able to this with real words and nonsense words. Nonsense words are when we use the pattern that they should know. Like, let's say the word is...
00:08:08
Speaker
Quinn. We would say Q-U-I-N. Have them read Qu-In. Obviously, that's a name, so they might be able to do that. But whether or not they've seen that word before, they should be able to use their skills and patterns that they've learned to decode what it should sound like.
00:08:27
Speaker
Nonsense words means that they have cracked the code, they're understanding the code, and they're not relying on memory or the shape of a word or a picture or guessing.
00:08:39
Speaker
They should have, on the first day of school, a good number of heart words mapped out. That means that they have rapid retrieval. They can withdraw and say those words and write those words. Like, the is a I, my, was, said, you, to, do, for example.
00:08:56
Speaker
If you are struggling with heart words, I am linking in the show notes our complete guide to kindergarten heart words. This will help you understand how to teach you irregular words, irregular parts, and how to actually make it stick. It's
Resources and courses for skill development
00:09:12
Speaker
called Sight Word Mastery because it's not memorizing. It is actually mastery.
00:09:17
Speaker
And this seems like a good pause to tell you that in, let's see, this is airing on Wednesday, in five days, we are starting the first grade reset, the back to school bootcamp. This is a five-day class where you're going to get one video a day for five days, 15-minute videos with a workbook that is just going to help you understand exactly how to help your child. This this is a course for your child, but it is going to be getting them back in to the the school mindset. They're going to be thinking, they're going to be refreshing all those reading and writing skills that they need. So all these things I'm mentioning are in the first grade reset. And it you only have a few days left to join. it will not be evergreen on our website. It is going to be, you're going to get those videos one a day for five days in a row, but you will have access to them for 30 days. So if you're traveling right now and you want to do it in like two weeks, or maybe you're on the East Coast and you're going back to school, for a couple more weeks, you can sign up and you will still get the videos and you can do it in a couple of weeks.
00:10:21
Speaker
Okay, some simple sentences that your first grader should be able to read and write include the spelling patterns that I mentioned earlier, like, Chip had a big lunch.
00:10:34
Speaker
Beth can shut the lid. The shark swam fast. Quick, get off my truck. My mom said no. So yes, they should be spelling those all of those patterns in all those sentences correctly if they have been taught these spelling patterns.
00:10:57
Speaker
If they haven't been taught, it's not their responsibility to know how to spell these words correctly, and you telling them how to spell them correctly is not going to help them. So if you give them these sentences and they cannot spell them with all the correct spelling patterns...
00:11:14
Speaker
Well, you can send me a message, but I think your first move is going to be sign up for the first grade reset. If they are missing, I would say 50% or more of the these patterns, then I would maybe do the kindergarten boot camp. um and then Or you could do both. You could do both backto back to back. Yeah.
00:11:38
Speaker
But the kindergarten might be a better fit because they might be missing some important foundations that we've mentioned. You know, those phonological awareness skills, the mapping of heart words, the letter and sound knowledge, not just knowing their ABCs, but knowing like QU is Q, NG is NG, CK is at the end of a one-syllable word with a short vowel that ends with K. It's spelled with CK. These are things that they should have learned in kindergarten. So if they are struggling with about 50% of the spelling in those sentences I just mentioned, then maybe maybe we do kindergarten first. um But of course, you can send me a message and ask, and I'm happy to help guide you um toward the right the right class for your child.
Addressing learning attitudes and potential issues
00:12:27
Speaker
So send me a message on Instagram at Big City Readers if you have any questions about that.
00:12:32
Speaker
So decode those sentences, read those unfamiliar words, not guessing, um noting basic punctuation. They should be able to do a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence, a period at the end.
00:12:46
Speaker
They should be able to check their own work and and make sure it sounds correct. um And they should be able to answer simple questions about what they just read. So if we give them a decodable passage, they should be able to read it independently and answer questions about it.
00:13:01
Speaker
um It's okay if their first reading of a decodable passage sounds a little slower or choppier. Accuracy usually comes before speed and expression. So I would never push...
00:13:14
Speaker
fluency drills before they have strong accuracy in the spelling patterns that they should have been taught at this point. So if you want to kind of quiz and see where your child is at, I will link our kindergarten and first grade skills in the show notes here. i will link our back-to-school boot camp um And I will link, oh, our heartword mastery. So those are the three places I would start to see if your first grader is on level or if you need to kind of do a little bit of ah tuning up before the school year starts to make them feel more confident.
00:13:53
Speaker
Here i will end with what your first grader does not need to know. Your first grader on the first day of school does not need to read independently for long stretches. They do not need to read at a particular level.
00:14:06
Speaker
They don't need to have memorized 200 sight words. They don't need to spell every word correctly. um They don't need to write a full paragraph independently. They don't need read level. They don't need to read quickly.
00:14:18
Speaker
um They don't need to guess words using pictures. That does not help. They don't need to know every vowel team or spelling rule. They're still going to learn a lot in first grade. And they don't need to look like that or be the strongest reader in class on day one. In fact, I love to tell kids all the time that it is so fun to still be getting to learn new things.
00:14:43
Speaker
And that is how you grow. And if you are done learning, how boring would school be? How boring would every day be if we knew how to do everything? So it is so special that they get to learn and grow. And we don't want them to get to school and have to go to eighth grade. They would miss so many fun things in all the grades in between. So it's so fun to learn.
00:15:04
Speaker
And it's exciting. So make sure your attitude is positive towards all of this and not just, oh, English is so hard. I don't get it. But you can be honest with them and say, this is new for me too. I love learning with you. Okay, and then let's talk about some red flags worth watching. One missed skill does not automatically mean there's a problem. So if you're listening to this and you're like, oh my gosh, they can't do that. They're not ready for first grade.
00:15:30
Speaker
It's just information. It's just a reminder to pay closer attention
Strengthening kindergarten foundations
00:15:34
Speaker
to what is going on. Some things to note. If your child consistently cannot remember common letter sounds that you have practiced a lot, that's some information. If your child has significant difficulty hearing the first sound in a word, that's some information. If your child cannot blend three spoken sounds into a word, so if you say m-a-p, what's the word, and they can't say map, something to note at the start of first grade.
00:16:02
Speaker
um If they're guessing mostly on words based on the first letter or picture, that's not great. we We want to make sure we're stopping that habit. If they can read a simple word correctly, but then can't recognize it or decode it just a few minutes later, like on the next page, that's some information. That's good information. If they avoid reading or writing altogether because it feels overwhelming or difficult,
00:16:25
Speaker
That's some information. There might be like more going on um in their brain when we when we go to practice reading and writing. And if they cannot spell simple words, even when they're encouraged to tap it out, like cat, dog, map, mom, dig, ah that's also some good information. And if they're if you are working hard with them and they're making very little progress, despite having clear, explicit instruction and practice,
00:16:52
Speaker
That is something to know. We want to see consistent progress, but they shouldn't be just growing if we're not also putting in an effort. So don't say, oh my gosh, they didn't grow at all or learn at all this summer, but also you didn't work with them. So that's not on them. That's not something to fear.
00:17:09
Speaker
That's okay if we took a little bit of time off. But it's not something to panic over if they didn't make progress because we were just having more fun this summer than than practicing reading and writing. So remember, keep it short, keep it frequent. Kids learn. Research shows us kids learn so much more with short, frequent practice than they do with long sessions. So make it about 10 minutes a day.
00:17:34
Speaker
hem a perfect ah first grade reset boot camp, 10 to 15 minute lessons, five days in a row. I promise this is the best setup to help your child. We're gonna need a lot of information in a short amount of time. And guess what? You could even watch it twice. You can watch it two weeks in a row. So two minutes is better than zero minutes. Three minutes of reading simple words and decodable sentences, great practice. It doesn't need to be have your child read aloud to you for 20 minutes. In fact, I don't recommend doing that. If your child is still learning to read, that's not that helpful.
00:18:05
Speaker
Instead, try three minutes of dictation where you give one or two sentences for them to write and practice their spelling patterns. Because if they can write it, they can read it. And we should be seeing that growth together. They should be able to write the same things that they can read. They should be able to read the same things that they can write.
00:18:23
Speaker
So the goal before first grade is not to race to the finish line. It is to strengthen the kindergarten foundation so your child can learn new first grade skills without also trying to fill all the gaps. So right now, your job is to not push them ahead, race to the finish line. It's to make sure that they have a super solid, strong foundation.
00:18:47
Speaker
If your child can hear sounds, connect many of those sounds to letters, blend simple words, write a basic sentence. They have important tools that they can build on.
00:18:59
Speaker
And if some of those skills are not secure yet, now you know exactly where to begin. So check out my back-to-school boot camp if you have a rising kindergartner or first grader. It is just five days of focused research-backed practice with the exact reading, spelling, and writing skills we discussed here today without overwhelming them or turning the final days of summer into school at home.
00:19:25
Speaker
You can put it on in the morning. You can put it on at night. put it on when you're having a meal and then go about your day. If they are still in summer camps, that's great. If you will only want to do it on the weekends, that is great.
00:19:36
Speaker
We made this so you can get it done in the very little amount of time that you have and get a lot of practice in that short amount of time. So grab it. I hope that you're listening to this in time and it's not too late. I'm sorry for just getting this episode up now. But um better late than never, right? I hope I see you in back to school boot camp next week, August 10th through the 14th. But remember, you have access to it for 30 days. So even if you are not joining us live, you can still grab it and watch it until mid-September if you are one of those lucky, lucky families that start school ah later in the in the fall. So
00:20:21
Speaker
Wow, later in the fall. That sounds crazy because that's only a month from now and that is when our baby is coming. So that just set me into a little bit of panic. But you know, I'm going to take my own advice. We're just going to do a couple minutes a day of what we can work on.
00:20:37
Speaker
And we're going to get there. We're going to get there together. So let me know if you have any questions. As always, if you found this episode helpful, please send it to a parent or teacher that you think would enjoy it. And like, rate, review, subscribe to this podcast wherever you you are listening from. It really helps us um know what you want to see or I guess hear more of um here on our on our Play on Words podcast. All right. That's all from me. I will see you next Wednesday.