Summer Reading – First Grade

Summer Reading – First Grade

During summer break, make sure your child reads three days a week for at least 20 minutes.

Kindergarten Benchmarks

Every child progresses differently but generally a child’s language development typically occurs in a predictable way. Prior to entering first grade, a child should possess the following literary skills:

• Enjoys reading books,
• Retells stories,
• Grasps concepts about print, e.g. follow the print on the page from left to right, top to bottom,
• Indentifies and generates rhymes
• Possesses letter knowledge –
  • Knows the name of the letters in the alphabet (Preschool Milestone),
  • Identifies the shape of both the upper- and lower-case letters of the alphabet,
  • Matches most letters to their sounds,
• Recognizes environmental print and common nouns, e.g. stop, exit, cat and mom,
• Uses invented spelling to communicate

If your child is weak in any of the above areas, spend time over the summer to improve the above literacy skills.

Ideal Reading Material

It is important that your child reads appropriate books that foster her literary growth. Children entering kindergarten should read books that possess text characteristics similar to those entering preschool:

• Consistent print – located in the same place, e.g. top of each page,
• Pattern sentences – repeated throughout text,
• Familiar content – pertains to familiar objects and experiences,
• Helpful illustrations – provide support, and
• Contains sight words –filled with high frequency words.

Recommended Reading Material

Select interesting and appropriate books for your child. The following recommended books are perfect summer reading material:

1. Where Are You Going? To See My Friend! by Eric Carle
2. There’s a Wocket in My Pocket by Dr. Seuss
3. See You Later Alligator by Laura McGee Kvasnosky
4. Monkey See, Monkey Do by Marc Gave
5. Miss Mary Mack by Mary Ann Hoberman
6. Going to the Zoo by Tom Paxton
7. Olivia by Ian Falconer
8. The Magic School Bus series by Joanna Cole
9. Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
10. I Can Draw Animals by Ray Gibson

When selecting books, it is important to select appropriate reading material but also choose books that will interest your child and foster a love of reading. Help your child become a good reader – make sure he reads over the summer and masters the above benchmarks. Rhyming and letter knowledge (name, sound & shape) are two key concepts to grasp – they are essential skills needed to become a successful reader. Every child progresses differently, the above information offers some helpful feedback for your child’s summer learning.

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