We’ve recently pursued a greater understanding of the laws Colorado has for schooling independently. As a result of what we’ve learned, I will be compiling a list here of the nationally “expected skills through the 3rd grade”, and discuss Cecily’s developmental progress given these parameters.
Additionally, as I have already reviewed listings with a fair amount of the typical skills defined, I expect we will have Lils on camera demonstrating her comprehension, thought process and reasoning, and in general, her responses to the expectations that are set as national standards.
We will not be using standardized testing as long as we live in a state that permits evaluations in lieu of the tests. This collection, or status of her development to date is intended for the purpose of formality and proper recording of progress to be used in conjunction with future evaluations.
At the beginning of the first grade, your first grader will be expected to recognize and to write the letters of the alphabet, in both their lower and uppercase forms. She should be able to write her first name as well as her last name. She should be able to read some sight words, and probably color words. She should be able to retell a story in her own words. She should be able to follow spoken directions, and to focus on the teacher when she is teaching. Your first grader should be able to recognize numbers up to 100, and count to 100. She should be able to do simple addition and subtraction, count money, and tell time to the half hour.
During first grade, your first grader will be expected to expand his sight word vocabulary. He should be able to talk about elements in stories like plot and setting. He should be able to print. He should be able to write in complete sentences, and will probably be able to spell about 140 words. He should recognize shapes, and be able to add or subtract up to 20. He should be able to count money using coins.
By the end of first grade, your first grader will be expected to be reading. She will be expected to be able to tell her own stories. She should be able to use a ruler, a magnifying glass, and scales. She should have a solid grasp on all of the academic skills described above, plus she should be becoming more and more prepared for second grade.
Your second grader will very likely be expected to be able to read, at least in a remedial fashion. In the first grade, the most important thing that a student learns is to read. Reading is one of the most important building blocks of education. Without the ability to read, your second grader will fall behind fast and he will fall behind far. In terms of mathematics, your first grader will be expected to be able to add and subtract single digits, at least by the end of the year. Also by the end of second grade, your second grader will be expected to do double-digit addition, and possibly even some other mathematical tasks, depending on the particular mathematics curriculum that is being used. In other academic areas, such as history, civics, music, art, and physical education, the expectations will vary greatly not only between teachers, but between schools, districts, and even states.
In terms of behavior, there are certain standards that your second grader will be expected to follow. She will be expected to follow teacher instructions. She will be expected to keep her hands to herself. She will be expected to not be disruptive. She will be expected to be attentive. While it is true that not every second grader lives up to all of these expectations, and while no second grader lives up to all of them all of the time, it is expected that your second grader will behave with a relative degree of self-control. The specific sorts of behavioral expectations will, just as academic expectations do, vary from one class to another.
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Overview of Kindergarten Learning Objectives
This section provides a summary of the key kindergarten learning objectives for reading, language arts, and math. A more detailed description of each subject is provided below, including links to detailed descriptions of the hundreds of learning activities. The Time4Learning language arts and math curriculum correlate to state standards.
Kindergarten is a year of highly visible progress in reading and language arts. The major milestones in kindergarten reading and language arts are:
Developing an awareness of letters
Recognizing that letters have specific sounds
Awareness of the relationship of “letters to words” and “words to sentences”
Developing a basic vocabulary set by listening to and identifying unknown words in stories
Recognizing basic sight words in text
Kindergarten is also a year of exploration and discovery of numbers. Major milestones for kindergarten math include:
Developing a strong number sense
Identifying numbers up to twenty
Expressing different ways to represent numbers up to twenty
Ability to sort and organize objects based on different attributes
Recognizing basic shapes and units for measurement, time, and weight
Below, there is a more in-depth description of the kindergarten curriculum for language arts, math, science, and social studies as well information about the online playground.
Kindergarten Language Arts & Reading – Lesson Overview
The kindergarten language arts section contains 199 learning activities, 12 worksheets and 14 teaching materials that are primarily based on phonics, verbal comprehension, reading fluency, vocabulary building and following instructions.
A foundation of beginning skills are taught, as kindergarteners learn through guided lessons, direct teaching and the exploration of fundamentals with specific focus on the alphabet and letter sounds, phonemic awareness, and rhyming words. Game-like activities, decodable stories, and the “writer’s corner” isolate two letters at a time and allow students to explore all possible sounds and blends, creating phonological and phonemic awareness.
Through a series of pre-reading, reading, comprehension, and prewriting activities, students will further develop strategies such as recalling details, drawing conclusions, and summarizing stories. Kindergarten culminates with a thorough review of phonics, highlighting letter and sound recognition.
One hundred and ninety-nine lessons are organized into eighteen chapters that introduce and cover:
“Print Awareness” – Teaches the alphabet, parts of a book and the fundamental concepts of print.
“Active Listening and Sound” – Develops active listening skills while teaching the concepts of rhyme, rhythm, pattern, and syllables .
“The Sights and Sounds of m and s” – Uses the nursery rhyme “Mary Had A Little Lamb” to teach the letters “m” and “s” using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
“The Sights and Sounds of d and a” – Uses the nursery rhyme “Hey Diddle Diddle” to teach the long and short sounds of the letter “d” using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
“The Sights and Sounds of p and “i” – Uses the nursery rhyme “Pease Pudding” to teach the sound of the letter “p” and the short sound of the letter “i” using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
“The Sights and Sounds of l and n” – Uses a retold version of the nursery rhyme “Little Red Hen” to teach the letters “l” and “n” using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
“Phonics and Phonemic Awareness Review” – Develops the understanding of the sounds of the letters “m”,“d”,“s”,“p”,“l”,“n” and the short sounds of the letters “a” and “i” through exercises that target recognition, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and phonics.
“The Sights and Sounds of t and h” – Uses an authentic piece of nonfiction titled “Busy Baby Animals: Tiger” to teach the letters “t” and “h” using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
“The Sights and Sounds of o and b” – Uses a retold version of the nursery rhyme “There Was an Old Woman” to teach the short sound of the letter “o” and the sound of the letter “b” using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
“The Sights and Sounds of e and r” – Uses the nursery rhyme “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring” to teach the sound of the letters “e” and “r” using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
“The Sights and Sounds of k and f” – Uses the nursery rhyme “Ride A Black Horse” to teach the sound of the letters “k” and “f” using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
“Phonics and Phonemic Awareness Review 2” – Develops the understanding of the sounds of the letters “t”, “h”, “f”, “r”, “k”, b”, “d” and the short sounds of the letters “o”, “a”, “e”, and “i” through exercises that target recognition, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and phonics.
“The Sights and Sounds of Hard g and Short u” – Uses the classic fable “The Lion and the Mouse” to teach the hard sound of the letter “g” and the short sound of the letter “u” using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
“The Sights and Sounds of Hard c and w” – Uses an authentic piece of nonfiction titled “My Cake” to teach the letters the hard sound of the letter “c” and the sound of the letter w using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
“The Sights and Sounds of y and qu” – Uses the nursery rhyme “Little Girl and Queen” to teach the letter “y” and the sound of the letter combination “qu” using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
“The Sights and Sounds of v and x” – Uses the classic fable “The Fox and the Crow” to teach the sounds of the letters “v” and “x” using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
“The Sights and Sounds of z and j” – Uses an original story titled “Jake and the Zany Zebra Show” to teach the sounds of the letters “z” and “j” using vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and phonics exercises.
“Phonics and Phonemic Awareness Review 3” – Develops the understanding of the letters “c”, “z”, “v”, “w”, “j”, “g”, “x”, “y” and their sounds, the letters “i”, “a”, “u”, “o” and their short sounds, and the letter combination “qu” and its sound through exercises that target recognition, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and phonics.
Kindergarten Math
The kindergarten math curriculum contains 81 math lessons, 25 quizzes, 25 teaching materials and 5 chapter tests. It constitutes a solid kindergarten math program, correlated to state standards.
Animated characters present the kindergarten math lessons in bite sized pieces, at the student’s pace. Kindergarteners are introduced to basic concepts of patterns and categories, spatial sense, number systems, operations, geometry, measurement, and probability through game-like activities.
Eighty-one lessons are organized into six chapters that introduce and cover:
Tutorial – Teaches students how to use the math program. It teaches the functionality of buttons and shows students how to interact with and complete practice questions.
“Under the Sea” – Teaches how to sort and categorize based on similarities, differences, patterns and common attributes.
“Playtime in the Park” – Introduces shapes and basic concepts of spatial sense while reinforcing categorization skills. Students learn how to use positional words to describe locations and manipulate shapes from different locations.
“Let’s Go On a Safari” – Teaches the numbers 1-10, the concepts of quantity, counting objects, reading numbers, basic graphing and equivalence.
“What’s Cooking?” – Teaches the basics of time, temperature, calendars and basic units and tools of measurement.
“Numbers in the Neighborhood” – Teaches the numbers 11-20, number patterns, counting by 1s, 2s, 5s and 10s, basic graphing and addition and subtraction.
For a more detailed description of the kindergarten math lessons, please visit our kindergarten math scope and sequence page.
Kindergarten Science
Kindergarteners are given access to the first grade science lessons as part of their membership. First grade science is the lowest level available on Time4Learning. It consists of 16 lessons, 10 worksheets and 6 quizzes, organized into 4 chapters.
Read more about the first grade science lessons.
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http://www.slcschools.org/departments/assessment-and-evaluation/documents/Level-Expectations.pdf
3rd Grade Reading Strategy and Curriculum Standards
An essential part of the 3rd grade reading strategy is development of writing skill along with reading skill. Students use language arts worksheets created to help them write clear and coherent sentences and paragraphs that develop central ideas. These third grade language arts lessons encourage children to consider the audience they write for and to understand the purpose of their writing. The reading teacher guides students through researching, choosing a focus, prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing several versions. Various types of reference materials will be part of this language arts activity, including dictionaries, thesauruses, atlases, and encyclopedias.
Part of the 3rd grade reading strategy is for children to understand and be able to use complete and correct declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences in writing and speaking.
3rd Grade Reading Strategy and Curriculum Standards: Grammar and Punctuation
Good grammar is important for 3rd grade students too. This year they will use language arts worksheets to learn to identify subjects and verbs that are in agreement and identify and use pronouns, adjectives, compound words, and articles correctly in writing and speaking. Another 3rd grade language arts activity is to identify and use past, present, and future verb tenses properly in writing and speaking. 3rd grade students are trained to use subjects and verbs correctly in speaking and writing simple sentences.
Punctuation learned this year includes the use of commas in dates, locations, and addresses, and for items in a series. Children are also expected to punctuate dates, city and state, and titles of books correctly when completing their language arts lessons. The 3rd grade reading strategy emphasizes the need to capitalize geographical names, holidays, historical periods, and special events correctly. At this reading skill level children are taught to spell one-syllable words that have blends, contractions, compounds, orthographic patterns (e.g., qu, consonant doubling, changing the ending of a word from -y to -ies when forming the plural), and common homophones (e.g., hair-hare), and to arrange words in alphabetic order.
The 3rd grade reading strategy teaches students to create single paragraphs by developing topic sentences, including simple supporting facts and details. Students must write legibly in cursive or joined italic, allowing margins and correct spacing between letters in words, and words in a sentence. Good penmanship is an important part of any language arts activity.
Language arts lessons for 3rd grade students include development of reading skill by writing compositions that describe and explain familiar objects, events, and experiences. The 3rd grade reading strategy guides them, using, for example, language arts worksheets, to write narratives, providing a context within which an action takes place. Children are expected to include well-chosen details to develop the plot and to provide insights into why selected incidents are memorable. Elements of this language arts activity include writing descriptions that use concrete sensory details to present and support unified impressions of people, places, things, or experiences. Students are expected to use standard English conventions appropriate for 3rd grade when working on these language arts lessons.
Another language arts activity that develops reading skill is the writing of personal and formal letters, thank-you notes, and invitations. These should show an awareness of the knowledge and interests of the audience and establish a purpose and context, and should include the date, proper salutation, body, closing, and signature.
The 3rd Grade reading strategy includes development of listening and speaking skills. This language arts activity adds to a child’s reading skill as they learn to listen critically and respond appropriately to oral communication. Language arts lessons help them speak in an easily understood manner. This year students demonstrate reading comprehension by retelling, paraphrasing, and explaining what has been said by a speaker. Students are expected to listen critically and respond appropriately to oral communication. They should speak using proper phrasing, pitch, and modulation so that a listener will understand important ideas. During comprehension testing, 3rd grade language arts worksheets may be used to help children analyze the purpose of listening. For example they may be asked to connect and relate prior experiences, insights, and ideas to those of a speaker. Students are expected to respond to questions with appropriate elaboration. The 3rd grade reading strategy includes identification of musical elements in literary language, for example, rhymes, repeated sounds, and instances of onomatopoeia.
3rd grade students deliver brief recitations and oral presentations about familiar experiences or interests that are organized around a coherent thesis statement. Language arts lessons teach students speakers to organize ideas chronologically or around major points of information. They are expected to provide a beginning, a middle, and an end, including concrete details that develop a central idea, and to use clear and specific vocabulary to communicate ideas and establish the tone. One language arts activity is to clarify and enhance oral presentations through the use of appropriate props such as objects, pictures, or charts. These narrative presentations require that a 3rd grade child provide a context for an incident that is the subject of the presentation, provide insight into why the selected incident is memorable, and include well-chosen details to develop character, setting, and plot.
Another part of the 3rd grade reading strategy is for children to read prose and poetry aloud with fluency, rhythm, and pace. Using appropriate intonation and vocal patterns, they should emphasize important passages of a text being read. Yet another 3rd grade reading strategy language arts activity is to have students compare ideas and points of view expressed in broadcast and print media. They will need to distinguish between the speaker’s opinions and verifiable facts. In doing this, 3rd grade language arts worksheets may help students organize their thoughts. Children enrolled in a 3rd grade reading strategy program will be asked to plan and present dramatic interpretations of experiences, stories, poems, or plays, using clear diction, pitch, tempo, and tone. They will make descriptive presentations that use concrete sensory details to set forth and support unified impressions of people, places, things, or experiences. All these components of the 3rd grade reading strategy help children develop greater reading skill.