Home Learning Schedule and Activities for First Grade

We are heading into uncharted territory as we transition from school to home learning for the foreseeable future. As an educator I feel lucky that I don’t have to worry about finding someone to watch my daughter during the extended school closures, however, I do have a few worries that have been on my mind this week.  

Firstly, how do I transition from teacher to homeschool mom? Being an educator myself you probably think that this would be an easy transition, but I am worried about meeting my daughter’s educational needs. Put me in front of 25+ first graders and I am in my wheelhouse, put me in front of my own preschooler and it’s another story.  

So that got me worrying about parents without backgrounds in education. If I, an educator, am this worried about meeting my daughter’s educational needs during the school closures, how are other parents feeling?! My guess is a mixture of overwhelmed and excited.

Overwhelmed by the task of educating your children and excited to share a love of learning with them! 

You may be wondering, What should my first grader focus on during a typical day?! 

Well, I am here to answer that question for you and to help you on this new adventure! I have put together a sample daily schedule for what learning time may look like for your first grader. This schedule is by no means the end-all-be-all of home learning, but just a simple way to get some learning in and create a new normal with home learning. 

Try out the schedule and see if it works for you. You can always lengthen activities based on your child’s interests. The free home learning schedule focuses on reading and math, and comes with a sight word game as well as over 100 sight word flashcards! 

Phonics and Spelling

Phonics is a key part of reading practice and should be worked on daily. Whether you are introducing a new vowel concept or just reviewing sounds already known, children need to practice them every day.  

There are many ways to practice phonics skills, but to keep it simple I review phonics sounds with flashcards. Each card simply has a letter of the alphabet on it and we practice by saying the name, keyword with the letter sound in it, and the letter sound. For example letter a would be: a, apple, /a/. The reason the keyword is used is to help children remember the sound the letter makes. Here is an alphabet chart I made that can be printed and cut to be used as flashcards.

After drilling letter sounds you will want to move on to sounding out words and spelling words. You can use your child’s spelling list from school, or start with short vowel words, such as cat, pet, mud, etc. Visit my Home Page to grab my 6 steps to creating literacy centers freebie!

Sight Words

Another important skill to practice is sight word fluency. There are many ways to practice sight words, from flashcards to sight word games, children will enjoy changing up the way they practice their sight words. Sight word games are a great way to make practicing sight words fun. You can also print flashcards twice to create a sight word matching game! 

Writing

Writing can be done with a prompt, or a free write where children write about whatever is on their mind. If you have been reading a chapter book together you could have them write about their favorite character, part, or scene from the story.

Grab a notebook for your child and turn it into their journal, or make one by stapling lined paper together. By giving your child a notebook they will feel good about writing and keeping their thoughts together in one spot. Let them add pictures to whatever they are writing about, or have them start with a picture and come up with a story to go with it!

Math

You’ll want to keep your kids math facts strong while you are home learning. You can make your own math fact flashcards, or check out mine HERE. I have always found that my students enjoy learning their facts with flashcards, and try to learn them as fast as they can!

I have also made timed tests to check for math fact mastery. Some children love to be timed with their facts, and love to be able to set new personal bests with how quickly they can finish their timed tests!

Reading

Reading is one of my daughters favorite things to do. I have instilled a love for reading with her, it is our time to snuggle together while I read to her. Your first grader will probably be able to read to you, but guess what, you reading to your child is still very important! You can read chapter books, or books that pique their intrests that are at reading levels too high for them right now, and that’s ok!

In fact, it’ more than ok! Children need to know that there are more options out there for reading besides simple decodable text!

So where do you find books to read with them while you are stuck at home?! Here are a few of my favorite places to read books online!

Epic is an amazing site for online reading. AND it has a free 30-day trial right now! They have stories that your child can read, or stories that can be read to them! There are picture books, chapter books, and everything in between!

Storyline Online has stories read aloud by famous actors and actresses. So while it doesn’t have books you can read, you can still have your child listening to stories being read to them. My students always loved to listen to these stories, it’s nice to be read to by someone other than your teacher all the time!

Amazon also has a whole host of children’s books that you can check out. Some are free downloads and some you can listen to for free with a free trial of Amazon Audible.

Youtube also has many stories that teachers have recorded themselves reading.

Authors/Series

Here are some of my favorite first grade authors and series to check out on any of the sites I mentioned above!

Mo Willems – Elephant and Piggie books

Kevin Henkes – Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse

Tedd Arnold – Fly Guy

Dr. Seuss – The Cat in the Hat

Pete the Cat

Jan Brett – The Mitten

Doreen Cronin – Diary of a Worm

I’m Here to Help

Please feel free to reach out if you have questions about anything in this pot, or home learning! This is going to be a tough transition for many children and parents, myself included, and I want to help support you in any way I can!

Keep in touch!

Alexandra