WEBVTT 00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:07.679 Well hey there, I'm Robin Wilson and welcome 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:10.800 to the Education Connection where we help parents 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:13.699 and teachers set young learners up for success. 00:00:14.119 --> 00:00:17.660 If you're a parent, a teacher, or homeschooler 00:00:17.660 --> 00:00:20.579 wondering how to get your child ready for first 00:00:20.579 --> 00:00:24.280 grade, you're in the right place. So last week 00:00:24.280 --> 00:00:28.239 I covered kindergarten academics. So if you want 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:31.260 to back it up, about a month ago I kind of did 00:00:31.260 --> 00:00:34.140 an overview of all of them and all of the things 00:00:34.140 --> 00:00:36.460 and I just barely touched on some of the things 00:00:36.460 --> 00:00:39.079 that you'll need. But last week I did a deep 00:00:39.079 --> 00:00:43.820 dive into the academics of kindergarten and tonight 00:00:43.820 --> 00:00:47.939 I'm going to do a deep dive into first grade 00:00:47.939 --> 00:00:52.399 academics. Hey this episode though, let's let's 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:54.340 talk about this for a minute before I get started 00:00:54.340 --> 00:00:58.200 It's extra special to me because it marks 30th 00:00:58.200 --> 00:01:02.079 of my 30th podcast So did you know that most 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:06.120 podcasts don't make it past 10 episodes and among 00:01:06.120 --> 00:01:09.299 the ones that do only a small percentage reach 00:01:09.530 --> 00:01:13.370 30 episodes and beyond. I'm so grateful for your 00:01:13.370 --> 00:01:15.450 support and for being on this journey with me 00:01:15.450 --> 00:01:18.129 and together we're making an impact on young 00:01:18.129 --> 00:01:22.069 learners everywhere. But before we jump in, I 00:01:22.069 --> 00:01:25.650 also want to remind you that I have worked on 00:01:25.650 --> 00:01:29.650 a Bible curriculum. It has 13 lessons and it's 00:01:29.650 --> 00:01:32.689 available to support your child's faith based 00:01:32.689 --> 00:01:35.730 learning journey. You can find more details in 00:01:35.730 --> 00:01:38.629 this show notes. Right now it is available on 00:01:38.629 --> 00:01:41.269 my teachers pay teachers store and I do share 00:01:41.269 --> 00:01:44.150 that link in the show notes. I am working on 00:01:44.150 --> 00:01:48.090 getting that turned into a book on Amazon. So 00:01:48.090 --> 00:01:50.530 I'm in the process in the kind of learning curve 00:01:50.530 --> 00:01:52.790 of that right now because I have never done that 00:01:52.790 --> 00:01:55.150 before but I do want to make it available for 00:01:55.150 --> 00:01:58.790 as many people as possible. So let's talk about 00:01:58.790 --> 00:02:02.090 something incredibly important getting your child 00:02:02.090 --> 00:02:05.450 academically ready for first grade. I know it 00:02:05.450 --> 00:02:07.950 can feel overwhelming but today I'm gonna guide 00:02:07.950 --> 00:02:11.250 you through the key reading and math skills they 00:02:11.250 --> 00:02:15.110 need and share some simple no prep activities 00:02:15.110 --> 00:02:20.310 you can use right away. So there is a let me 00:02:20.310 --> 00:02:23.270 share a story It was a first the first day of 00:02:23.270 --> 00:02:26.189 first grade and little Emma held tightly to her 00:02:26.189 --> 00:02:28.770 mother's hand at the classroom door now as a 00:02:28.770 --> 00:02:31.370 first grade teacher I've seen this many many 00:02:31.370 --> 00:02:35.050 times She looked around at the bright posters 00:02:35.050 --> 00:02:38.030 the books on the shelves and the other kids chatting 00:02:38.030 --> 00:02:41.689 excitedly When her teacher handed out the first 00:02:41.689 --> 00:02:45.889 activity a simple word game Emma hesitated for 00:02:45.889 --> 00:02:51.099 a moment The letters look similar and she wasn't 00:02:51.099 --> 00:02:55.900 quite sure where to start. But then she took 00:02:55.900 --> 00:02:58.759 a deep breath and remembered the word game she 00:02:58.759 --> 00:03:02.620 had played at home. Slowly she sounded out the 00:03:02.620 --> 00:03:06.280 letters forming a word. A smile spread across 00:03:06.280 --> 00:03:11.520 her face and she realized I can do this. So this 00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:15.280 is because you did the hard work at home in preparing 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:19.210 your child for the next year and if you're a 00:03:19.210 --> 00:03:22.270 teacher you did the same thing with your students 00:03:22.270 --> 00:03:25.289 in your class and I just want to give a little 00:03:25.289 --> 00:03:29.889 extra activity to do this evening for some of 00:03:29.889 --> 00:03:32.849 the things that you will need to help them know 00:03:32.849 --> 00:03:36.979 for next year. So as a parent or teacher, this 00:03:36.979 --> 00:03:41.080 is the moment we want for every child. They walk 00:03:41.080 --> 00:03:43.699 in, they're a little nervous, they're looking 00:03:43.699 --> 00:03:46.259 around but then they start seeing things that 00:03:46.259 --> 00:03:49.300 they recognize and they start seeing letters 00:03:49.300 --> 00:03:52.800 they recognize and numbers they recognize and 00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:55.120 the friendly faces and they start feeling the 00:03:55.120 --> 00:03:58.259 confidence to take on new challenges and the 00:03:58.259 --> 00:04:01.509 excitement of learning. That's why today we're 00:04:01.509 --> 00:04:03.969 focusing on the academic skills that will help 00:04:03.969 --> 00:04:07.590 your child thrive in first grade. So if you are 00:04:07.590 --> 00:04:11.629 a homeschool mom and you want to also help your 00:04:11.629 --> 00:04:14.849 child get ready for the next year's academics 00:04:14.849 --> 00:04:16.670 and you want to make sure that they're staying 00:04:16.670 --> 00:04:20.350 on task for the year coming up for the things 00:04:20.350 --> 00:04:22.709 that we're actually teaching in first grade in 00:04:22.709 --> 00:04:25.230 the public school too. I'm just connecting all 00:04:25.230 --> 00:04:29.279 of those things together. First grade is a big 00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:32.740 transition and without the right skills Children 00:04:32.740 --> 00:04:36.000 can struggle to keep up and you might be wondering 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:39.439 does my child know enough? How can I help them 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:43.019 feel confident in reading and math? That's where 00:04:43.019 --> 00:04:46.139 I come in I'm here to make it simple and show 00:04:46.139 --> 00:04:48.480 you how to build these skills in fun and engaging 00:04:48.480 --> 00:04:54.319 ways So we are going to master rate reading readiness 00:04:54.860 --> 00:04:59.860 And reading success comes from five key areas. 00:05:00.519 --> 00:05:04.920 Phonics, phonemic awareness, and that is recognizing 00:05:04.920 --> 00:05:08.420 letter sounds and manipulating the sounds within 00:05:08.420 --> 00:05:14.540 words. Number two, fluency. That's reading smoothly 00:05:14.540 --> 00:05:19.149 and accurately. I know when they're leaving kindergarten 00:05:19.149 --> 00:05:22.730 they may not be reading big books fluently but 00:05:22.730 --> 00:05:26.810 if they can read the CVC words fluently cat dog 00:05:26.810 --> 00:05:32.250 hug those three letter words that are CVC and 00:05:32.250 --> 00:05:37.410 I'll break that down CVC means consonant vowel 00:05:37.410 --> 00:05:42.389 consonant so for example the word dog D is a 00:05:42.389 --> 00:05:46.379 consonant the O is a vowel and the G is a consonant. 00:05:46.459 --> 00:05:50.360 So when we say they can read the CVC words pretty 00:05:50.360 --> 00:05:54.800 well, that is very helpful for going into first 00:05:54.800 --> 00:05:58.879 grade. Comprehension, understanding what's being 00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:03.399 read, and that is including a listening comprehension. 00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:05.879 So if you read to your child and they're able 00:06:05.879 --> 00:06:09.019 to discuss it and hear what you're saying and 00:06:09.019 --> 00:06:12.569 they're able to talk about What they understand 00:06:12.569 --> 00:06:16.230 and what they don't understand That is what the 00:06:16.230 --> 00:06:18.129 comprehension is. So it doesn't they don't have 00:06:18.129 --> 00:06:24.209 to be reading to comprehend So vocabulary expanding 00:06:24.209 --> 00:06:27.589 word knowledge for better understanding So I'm 00:06:27.589 --> 00:06:29.990 gonna go through each one of these and I'm gonna 00:06:29.990 --> 00:06:32.790 break it down into smaller steps and some activities 00:06:32.790 --> 00:06:36.829 that you can do for each of these so for phonics 00:06:36.829 --> 00:06:40.269 and phonemic awareness We're going to play a 00:06:40.269 --> 00:06:45.579 game called try the say it change it game so 00:06:45.579 --> 00:06:47.680 we're going to start with a simple word like 00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:52.120 cat c -a -t so you're going to ask your child 00:06:52.120 --> 00:06:57.980 what if we change the c sound to b what word 00:06:57.980 --> 00:07:02.029 do we have now the answer would be bat. Now you 00:07:02.029 --> 00:07:05.069 can do this as simply as a marker on a paper 00:07:05.069 --> 00:07:08.970 and you can write C -A -T and then ask them what 00:07:08.970 --> 00:07:13.670 if we change that C to a B and then just rewrite 00:07:13.670 --> 00:07:17.790 the word underneath. If you do go to the Dollar 00:07:17.790 --> 00:07:19.970 Tree or something like that you could pick up 00:07:19.970 --> 00:07:23.670 some magnetic letters But if you don't have that 00:07:23.670 --> 00:07:26.810 and you have some three by five index cards You 00:07:26.810 --> 00:07:30.069 can just cut those into like maybe a third and 00:07:30.069 --> 00:07:32.449 just write them write all the alphabet on them 00:07:32.449 --> 00:07:34.910 And you can use those for letters that keeps 00:07:34.910 --> 00:07:39.509 you from having to spend any extra money For 00:07:39.509 --> 00:07:43.769 fluency try echo reading so read a short sentence 00:07:43.769 --> 00:07:47.209 aloud and have your child repeat it Mimicking 00:07:47.209 --> 00:07:51.160 your expression and speed This builds confidence 00:07:51.160 --> 00:07:54.279 and improves reading fluency. So if you're reading 00:07:54.279 --> 00:07:57.899 a book to your child, just have them read a few 00:07:57.899 --> 00:08:01.160 words with you and you read it first and they 00:08:01.160 --> 00:08:04.560 can repeat after. If you have some small readers 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:08.139 or some simpler books, you can do this with the 00:08:08.139 --> 00:08:11.959 books that they are reading. For comprehension 00:08:11.959 --> 00:08:16.060 you can ask the W questions and so the W questions 00:08:16.060 --> 00:08:20.759 are who what when why and where So after you 00:08:20.759 --> 00:08:24.399 read after you read a book or even just the page 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:28.759 of a book So I wouldn't You could do this with 00:08:28.759 --> 00:08:31.920 any book. You can do this with chapter books, 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:34.639 but I'm thinking of the smaller books, the picture 00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:36.899 books that you get from the library. So if you 00:08:36.899 --> 00:08:39.179 read a page together like you're reading to them 00:08:39.179 --> 00:08:43.039 at night, and you just stop after that page and 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:45.799 ask, who's in the story? What happened there? 00:08:45.960 --> 00:08:50.240 What just took place? This will strengthen understanding 00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:54.159 and improve their memory, their work, their recall. 00:08:56.309 --> 00:08:59.870 something else you can do for vocabulary is you 00:08:59.870 --> 00:09:03.809 can play Word of the Day. So introduce a new 00:09:03.809 --> 00:09:07.350 word and use it in a different sentence throughout 00:09:07.350 --> 00:09:11.149 the day. So ask your child to use it in their 00:09:11.149 --> 00:09:14.570 own sentence to build word knowledge. So you 00:09:14.570 --> 00:09:17.710 could come up with the word lawn because lawn 00:09:17.710 --> 00:09:19.450 you know a lot of times will say go in the front 00:09:19.450 --> 00:09:22.429 yard. but maybe they don't hear it called the 00:09:22.429 --> 00:09:25.850 lawn and so you could make lawn the word of the 00:09:25.850 --> 00:09:29.269 day and then just have them use you make a sentence 00:09:29.269 --> 00:09:31.649 and then have them make up a sentence and then 00:09:31.649 --> 00:09:33.870 try to see how many times you can use that word 00:09:33.870 --> 00:09:38.210 during the day so that's fun all right so now 00:09:38.210 --> 00:09:40.590 we're going to talk about math so we're going 00:09:40.590 --> 00:09:44.110 to switch gears to math readiness And there's 00:09:44.110 --> 00:09:46.190 a lot of things that we need to know in math 00:09:46.190 --> 00:09:50.250 and reading, but just to keep it within our 15 00:09:50.250 --> 00:09:53.009 -20 minute time frame, I'm going to hit on a 00:09:53.009 --> 00:09:55.970 few of the most important in both reading and 00:09:55.970 --> 00:09:59.809 math. So in math, it's very important that we 00:09:59.809 --> 00:10:03.330 build these three foundational skills. So there's, 00:10:03.370 --> 00:10:05.110 like I said, there's lots of things that we learn, 00:10:05.129 --> 00:10:08.049 but here's some three very basic foundational 00:10:08.049 --> 00:10:12.039 skills that will help your child be ready. to 00:10:12.039 --> 00:10:14.539 build on their knowledge going into first grade. 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:18.480 The first one is number sense. So just getting 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:21.899 a sense of numbers, recognizing numbers is the 00:10:21.899 --> 00:10:24.840 first thing. So just pointing to letter sorry 00:10:24.840 --> 00:10:27.539 to numbers and being able to recognize a two 00:10:27.539 --> 00:10:32.240 or that's a five. Writing them and being able 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:34.860 to write them the correct way. I have children 00:10:34.860 --> 00:10:37.980 writing twos over the years that I've taught. 00:10:38.690 --> 00:10:40.889 They'll write a 2 and it looks like a backwards 00:10:40.889 --> 00:10:44.710 5 And they say that's a 2 like they're really 00:10:44.710 --> 00:10:47.789 believing that that is a 2 or they'll put a Z 00:10:47.789 --> 00:10:52.370 as a 2 So just practice those numbers and being 00:10:52.370 --> 00:10:55.309 able to write them. So that's recognizing numbers. 00:10:55.309 --> 00:11:00.070 So if you call it a number They can write it 00:11:00.070 --> 00:11:03.990 It's also fun to have them call out a number 00:11:03.990 --> 00:11:06.070 and you write it so you can play it the other 00:11:06.070 --> 00:11:09.549 way around too have them count forward to ten 00:11:09.549 --> 00:11:14.870 and backward and understanding place values so 00:11:14.870 --> 00:11:18.850 understanding ones and tens so if you have a 00:11:18.850 --> 00:11:21.889 two -digit number knowing that that first digit 00:11:21.889 --> 00:11:26.009 to the right is is their ones place and the next 00:11:26.009 --> 00:11:29.350 digit right to the left if it's a two -digit 00:11:29.350 --> 00:11:35.240 number is your tens place Number two for math 00:11:35.240 --> 00:11:38.279 readiness is addition and subtraction so practice 00:11:38.279 --> 00:11:41.820 simple addition and subtraction within 10 and 00:11:41.820 --> 00:11:45.620 20 So start with 10 once you get that down, then 00:11:45.620 --> 00:11:50.299 you can move on to 20 patterns and sequences 00:11:50.299 --> 00:11:53.360 Identifying and completing patterns to strengthen 00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:57.100 logical thinking so patterns and numbers is a 00:11:57.100 --> 00:12:00.480 real good one counting by twos two four six eight 00:12:00.860 --> 00:12:04.279 ten and then you can do one three five seven 00:12:04.279 --> 00:12:08.740 nine. Also just recognizing that we're counting 00:12:08.740 --> 00:12:12.139 by ones it's one two three four and then know 00:12:12.139 --> 00:12:14.399 how to count that way one two three four but 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:17.419 knowing that that is counting by ones and if 00:12:17.419 --> 00:12:20.659 we're counting two four six eight knowing that 00:12:20.659 --> 00:12:27.350 that is counting by twos then 5 10 15 20 is by 00:12:27.350 --> 00:12:33.330 fives and then 10 20 30 40 is by tens now let 00:12:33.330 --> 00:12:37.029 me back up a little bit counting by twos is probably 00:12:37.029 --> 00:12:39.610 one of the harder ones so actually if you want 00:12:39.610 --> 00:12:42.250 to I'm gonna back up a little bit on that so 00:12:42.250 --> 00:12:44.549 if you want to do ones counting by ones is the 00:12:44.549 --> 00:12:48.409 most important that they can count to 20 or even 00:12:48.409 --> 00:12:51.580 to a hundred we go to a hundred twenty by the 00:12:51.580 --> 00:12:55.360 end of first grade but just going into first 00:12:55.360 --> 00:12:59.080 grade you could you know stop at 20 or 30 but 00:12:59.080 --> 00:13:02.919 understanding by counting by fives 5 10 15 20 00:13:02.919 --> 00:13:05.500 so a fun thing you can do with that one is get 00:13:05.500 --> 00:13:08.799 the jump ropes out and start counting by fives 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:12.159 and see how high you can go also with tens 10 00:13:12.159 --> 00:13:18.340 20 30 40 50 and just going on up doing that So 00:13:18.340 --> 00:13:21.840 here's some quick win activities number sense 00:13:21.840 --> 00:13:26.019 counting on Say a number five and see if your 00:13:26.019 --> 00:13:29.440 child can go from there and count on From there 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:32.320 after you've gotten one through ten down Then 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:34.360 what if you we just start at five what comes 00:13:34.360 --> 00:13:38.000 after that this reinforces number order and place 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:42.340 value addition and subtraction Play make ten 00:13:42.340 --> 00:13:45.399 so you can call out a number and have your child 00:13:45.399 --> 00:13:49.279 say the number that makes 10 so the answer would 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:53.700 be 4 so for making 10 and I call out a 2 they 00:13:53.700 --> 00:13:58.299 will know that they need to call out 8 to finish 00:13:58.299 --> 00:14:04.899 the to make it 10 and I've already gone over 00:14:04.899 --> 00:14:07.779 this one patterns and sequences counting by 2 00:14:07.779 --> 00:14:11.419 so say a number pattern 2 4 6 8 10 you could 00:14:11.419 --> 00:14:15.580 also find the missing number so if I say 2 4 00:14:15.870 --> 00:14:19.110 8, 10, which number did I leave out? So that's 00:14:19.110 --> 00:14:22.690 fun. And you can make it harder by skipping numbers 00:14:22.690 --> 00:14:27.149 or counting backward. So the confidence to thrive 00:14:27.149 --> 00:14:30.750 in first grade by practicing these skills your 00:14:30.750 --> 00:14:33.870 child will gain the confidence they need to succeed 00:14:33.870 --> 00:14:37.129 in first grade. Imagine them walking into the 00:14:37.129 --> 00:14:40.309 classroom excited and ready to learn because 00:14:40.309 --> 00:14:43.230 you've given them the tools they need. And hey, 00:14:43.250 --> 00:14:46.950 listen, if you didn't get all of these things 00:14:46.950 --> 00:14:49.750 by the time they start first grade, even if you 00:14:49.750 --> 00:14:53.509 get part of these things, you are on a good path 00:14:53.509 --> 00:14:56.730 to be ready to go. So this episode has helped 00:14:56.730 --> 00:14:59.830 you. Please take a moment to give me a five star 00:14:59.830 --> 00:15:03.259 review. Your support helps other parents and 00:15:03.259 --> 00:15:05.940 teachers find this podcast and prepare their 00:15:05.940 --> 00:15:08.860 little learners for success. Thanks for listening 00:15:08.860 --> 00:15:10.519 and see you next time!