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FIRST GRADE:

Our poems and reading selections
for this month
will be about plants, seeds,
and the natural world around us.

We are introducing beginning chapter books.
We will also be reviewing compound words.

PHONICS:

The first half of the year we learned words
that use one short vowel in the middle of the word.
If you are listening to your child read,
you can let them figure out words on their own
that have only three or four letters with one vowel
in the middle of the word. The rule goes like this:

When one vowel is by itself
in the middle of a word,
it usually uses the short sound.
The spelling pattern is CVC
(consonant, short vowel, consonant)

You may need to remind them about the
short vowel sounds
they learned in the zoophonics program last year.
a = Allie alligator
e = Ellie elephant
i = Inny inchworm
o = Ollie octopus
u = Umber umbrella bird

There is a cute song at
http://pbskids.org/lions/songs/sometimes_y_qt.html
and also other games and activities
for reading at the
PBSKids address.

This semester we have covered
long vowel sounds.

There are two spelling patterns for long vowels:

1
The silent e rule goes like this:
An "e" at the end of the word
can jump over one consonant
and make the vowel in front of it
say it's long sound.

The pattern is: VCe
(vowel/consonant/silent e)

2
The double vowel rule goes like this:
When two vowels go walking,
the first one does the talking,
and says its name (the long sound).
The second one is silent.

The pattern is: CVVC
(consonant/vowel/vowel/consonant)
Examples of double vowels that we will be studying this month:
ay, ai, ee, ea, oa

There is a cute song about double vowels at
http://pbskids.org/lions/videos/twovowels

There are some vowel combinations
that do not follow the rules:

Digraphs are letter pairs that
make a different sound together.
Examples are "ou" like in the word out
"oo" like in the word food
"oi" like in the word oil
"oy" like in the word boy

We will also be adding R-controlled words.
When any vowel is followed by an "r"
it makes a special sound with it.
This is also called the "Bossy R" sound.
"ar" makes a sound like in the word "are"
"or" makes a sound like in the word "for"

"er", "ir", and "ur" all make the same sound.
"er" makes a sound like in the word "her"
"ir" makes a sound like in the word "bird"
"ur" makes a sound like in the word "fur"

First Grade Reading List

Frog and Toad, Owl  and any other books
    by Arnold Lobel.
Moonbear  books by Frank Asch.
Little Bear books by Else Minarik
"Bright and Early" or "I Can Read It Myself" or
"Books for Beginning Readers", such as:
    Hop on Pop,  Are You My Mother?,
    Go Dog, Go,  The Cat in the Hat, etc.
    (Authors include P.D. Eastman, Dr. Seuss,
    Russell Hoban)
Little Critter books by Mercer Mayer
Fox books by Edward Marshall
Books by Sid Hoff
Books by Margaret Hillert

Your child may also be able to read some of the easy chapter books listed under the second grade section.

Second grade students have finished a
unit of study on dinosaurs.
We are now focusing on frogs
and the rain forest, with butterflies and beach/ocean habitat to follow.

In all units, we are looking at some
fiction and non-fiction reading selections,
accessing ways to find more information,
and doing some writing activities.

Please encourage your child to read
every night for 20 minutes:
Reading, like everything else, gets better with practice!

Second Grade Reading List

Easy Chapter Books
Amelia Bedelia  series by Peggy Parrish
Young Cam Jansen series by David Adler
Junie B. Jones series by Barbara Parks
Nate the Great  series by Marjorie Sharma
Henry and Mudge  series by Cynthia Rylant
Calendar Club Mysteries by Nancy Star

Harder Chapter Books
Magic Tree House  books by Mary Pope Osborn
The Boxcar Children   mysteries by Getrude Warner
Aliens for Breakfast    (lunch, supper, etc.)
    by Jonathan Etler
Horrible Harry     series by Suzy Kline
Stories Julian Tells   and others by Ann Cameron
A to Z Mysteries by Ron Roy
Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey