Today, I’m excited to share a look inside my Grade One Literacy Curriculum!
If you’re not familiar with my resources, let me give you a brief introduction before we dive into Grade One Literacy.
I am a big believer in quality over quantity, which is reflected in all of my homeschool resources. Children do not need to be sitting at a desk for hours upon hours each day, and if your little ones are anything like mine, they certainly don’t want to be either! Children need time to be children—to play and explore, to laugh and be silly, to climb trees and jump in puddles.
That is why, when creating my Math & Literacy Curriculum, I removed the “fluff” and boiled the core skills down to just one page a day.
Yep, you read that right! One page a day is all it takes to build a rock-solid foundation.
The rest of your days can be spent playing, exploring, learning about fascinating new topics through hands-on family unit studies, and spending quality time together.
Sound amazing? It truly is.
Currently, I have a Math & Literacy Curriculum for Grades One, Two, and Three available in the shop. Grade Four is receiving its finishing touches and will be released this year, followed by each grade all the way up to Grade Eight!
For today, I’m going to focus on the Grade One Literacy Curriculum so you can see how easy it is to give your little one a solid foundation through one page a day.
Grade One Literacy Curriculum
Here’s what we’ll cover in this review of How Wee Learn’s Grade One Literacy Curriculum:
- First up, I’ll give you an overview of the skills covered in the curriculum.
- Next, I’ll show you how each week is structured.
- Then, I’ll give you a few tips and tricks to help you on your journey.
- And finally, at the end of this post, you can download a Free Sample so you can see just how easy it all is!
Grade One Literacy Curriculum Overview
In Grade One Literacy, skills are taught in a circulatory nature. Each week, we work on reading, reading strategies, comprehension, writing, word families, sight words, and media literacy—again and again, in slightly different ways.
This gives children time to develop these skills with exposure and practice, bit by bit, deepening their understanding and abilities as they progress through the coursebook.
Grade One Literacy covers the following core skills:
- Reading development and comprehension using word families, sight words, and comprehension questions. By the end of the coursebook, your child will have learned 36 word families and the first 100 sight words.
- Writing development, phonetic spelling, and recall using extension questions and journal prompts.
- Media literacy, building an awareness of the advertising world, and how items are marketed to persuade people to take action.
Your child will also build many other skills by learning about and writing:
- different types of poetry,
- recipes,
- advertising materials,
- fiction and nonfiction writing pieces,
- comics, and
- a culminating final activity of writing and illustrating a story.
So, how are all of these skills taught in just one page a day? Let’s take a look at the weekly flow so you can see how these skills fit together and progress in a weekly rhythm.
Grade One Literacy Curriculum Weekly Flow
Monday: Weekly Focus
Monday starts with your Weekly Focus. This is a special blend, digraph, or skill that will assist your child on their reading and writing journey.
For example, in the first week, your child will learn about the -th digraph. Throughout the week, your child will add words with the ‘th’ sound to a list.
Monday also includes an introduction to the week’s word family and sight words, plus a hands-on way to practice those words.
These words can also be added to your Word Wall. I’ll share more about what a Word Wall is and how to incorporate one into your homeschooling under Grade One Literacy Tips and Tricks a bit further down.
Tuesday: Short Story
Tuesday involves a short reading, which includes all of that week’s word family and sight words.
To begin, read this short story to your child. Next, read it again, but this time, let your child read the word family and sight words. As your child’s reading skills progress, encourage them to read more of the short stories on their own.
Tuesday also includes three reading comprehension questions to ensure your child is actively listening and understanding what they are reading.
Wednesday: Short Story Sight Word Practice
Wednesday includes the same short story from Tuesday, but this time, all of the sight words are missing! Encourage your child to read the short story on their own as much as possible, printing the missing word family words in the blanks.
At first, you will need to assist with the reading, but in time, your child will be able to do much of the reading on their own.
Thursday: Literacy Exploration Activity
Thursday involves a fun literacy learning experience! Your child will progress through various activities, including poetry writing, fiction and non-fiction exploration, media literacy, and becoming an author.
Friday: Journal Writing
Friday is journal writing day. Each week, a journal prompt is offered to spark some writing, but your child is welcome to write about anything at all on this day.
Encourage your child to write without concern for spelling at first. This is called phonetic spelling (I’ll share more about phonetic spelling under Grade One Literacy Tips and Tricks below). As words are added to your Word Wall, your child will begin to spell those words properly, and phonetic spelling will no longer be needed.
Also, encourage your child to form letters properly and leave spaces between words. A Letter Formation Guide is included with the curriculum, but you can grab a Free Letter Formation Printable right here.
Grade One Literacy Tips and Tricks
Now it’s time for those tips and tricks that I promised you!
Encourage Phonetic Spelling
As your child begins to write, I highly recommend encouraging phonetic spelling. This is the skill of stretching out a word and writing down the sounds heard, regardless of whether the spelling is correct.
This is a very natural and important part of literacy development. Children build many skills by using phonetic spelling, along with building their confidence.
At the beginning of your Grade One literacy journey, your child will likely be using phonetic spelling almost exclusively until word families and sight words become more natural and are added to your Word Wall.
Create a Word Wall
I also recommend finding a place in your home that you can devote to a Word Wall. Ideally, this will be a place that your child can see as they work through their literacy activities. If you do not have space in your home for a Word Wall, consider creating a small, personal dictionary for your child instead. I have a Free Personal Word & Sound Dictionary you can grab right here!
As you progress through your literacy activities, have your child write the word family and sight words on a piece of paper and add them to your Word Wall (or your child’s personal dictionary). Once a word is on the Word Wall, phonetic spelling for that word will not be necessary. Your child can simply check the Word Wall to ensure it is spelled correctly.
Read, Read, Read!
Read with your child. Read anything and everything! Plan a weekly trip to the library to get books on topics your child is interested in, and make reading an integral part of your day. Choose some simple reading books for your child to look through and practice independently each week as well.
Reading is one of the most beneficial gifts you can give to your child.
Grade One Literacy Curriculum Sample
Now it’s time for the sample!
After you enter your email address below, you’ll be emailed a one-week sample from both the Grade One Literacy and Math Curriculum. You’ll also be brought to the How Wee Learn shop, where you can grab the complete resource should you decide it is right for you and yours.
Grab your Free Sample right here:
If you value quality over quantity, and the idea of one page a day makes you think, “Yes!! This is how it should be!!” then this is the curriculum for you!
And if you have any questions about the curriculum, simply leave your question in the comments or send an email to Sarah@HowWeeLearn.com. I’m here to help!
xo
Sarah
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