First Grade Reading Lesson Plans and Activities

Plans for Teaching First Grade Reading

What First Graders Need to Learn

Although core English/language arts standards vary from state to state and school to school, there are basic similarities in what students will be expected to do by the end of the school year. First graders usually gain a knowledge of sight words, like 'the', 'as' and 'but'. They'll also learn to decode words using word parts and syllables. In addition, they work to increase reading comprehension and fluency.

New Words and Word Parts

Whether you're teaching your class root words, sight words, vocabulary or letter blends, flashcards are a useful tool. For example, if you're teaching sight words, write the words on cards large enough for your entire class to see. Go through the cards repeatedly and have your first graders call out the correct word on each card.

To teach word parts, write the different parts on flashcards. If you have a magnetic white board in your classroom, you can glue magnets to the back of the cards and put the cards on the board. Help your class combine the word parts to create words they know. Divide your class into teams and make it a lighthearted game.

Reading Comprehension

A basic reading comprehension lesson can be categorized into three main parts: pre-reading, reading and post-reading. For pre-reading, look at the front cover, back cover, sleeves, table of contents, index, chapters, illustrations and any other components a book may have. Discuss all these elements in detail as a class.

While reading, be sure to stop occasionally and ask questions that challenge your first graders to think critically about the text. For example, ask your students to come up with reasons why characters may have behaved as they did. Encourage your students to predict what will happen later in the narrative.

After you've finished reading, have your students discuss the text and ask them questions about it. How did the book make them feel? Are there any adjectives that can describe the story, such as 'funny' or 'scary'?

Teaching Fluency

Reading fluency is a person's ability to read words quickly and without errors. Begin by teaching different sound combinations so that your students can remember these combinations later on while reading.

Teach two different sound combinations to your students during a 10-15 minute mini-lesson. During the lesson, introduce the combinations and allow your students several opportunities to read words using those sounds. Then, divide the class into groups and give the students cards that have different word sounds on them. Your students can then combine the sounds to make complete words.

Read your first graders a story from an oversized book that uses words that have similar sound combinations. Challenge your students to locate all of the words containing that sound. If you can write in the book, circle all of those words. If you can't, highlight the words with clear, removable tape. Give students copies of the story to practice reading independently.