Reading in 1st & 2nd Grade

Reading in 1st & 2nd Grade

Readers develop at their own pace. This is celebrated in our first and second grade class. Broadly speaking, first graders are learning to read while second graders are entering the exciting time of reading to learn. No matter how much you can read at the beginning of the year--we are all readers and dedicated to improving our reading skills.


First and second graders grow tremendously as readers. One way to support this growth is to master "sight words." Sight words are high frequency words that do not always follow conventional spelling patterns so they are hard to decode. Being exposed to these words and practicing them in and out of context is integral to making these words automatic. Learning to read these words as quickly as a student can read his or her name (or as quick as a snap) is the goal!



In our 1/2 classroom we practice these reading skills during our Literacy Block. To help students engage in their learning and be motivated to grow as readers we give students opportunities to choose what and/or how they read. Students have free reign over our classroom library and may browse to find "good fit books" that are interesting and at the right level for independent reading. During Literacy Block students may: Read to Self, Partner Read, or Listen to Reading. They also meet with teachers throughout the week in "Book Buddy Groups." These are groups of students practicing the same reading skills. These can vary from decoding (using sound/word family knowledge to help figure out unfamiliar words) to comprehension strategies (what is happening in the story, the motives of characters, predictions, etc.). Sometimes book buddies all read the same book but usually book buddies all practice the target reading skill while reading various books of the same genre.

At school students are given many opportunities to read and be read to each day. 

However they also need your support at home.

It is critically important that your child is reading every night. This could mean that some nights you read to them, other nights they read to you, that you do some shared reading, or some practice picture book reading (making the story from the pictures). Rich conversations about their reading are great boosts for emerging readers. It requires them to think critically about what is happening in the story. It's also important to make connections to the story or information while reading and discuss new vocabulary (we call them juicy words).