What to do with your first grader when school is cancelled

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Are y'all trying to figure out how to homeschool your kickoff grader when yous're stuck at home due to school cancellations?

I'm here to help!

Our family is slowly adjusting to our new "normal" … Homeschooling.

Even though I'm a former teacher and now take a houseful of kids historic period iv-12, I never planned on homeschooling.

But here we are.

As we seek to stop the spread, many of us find ourselves habitation with our kids without anywhere to go.

Here are some tips for teaching your first grader at home.

*Only gratis resource are included in this mail service, but you are always welcome to check out my shop and online membership.

How to teach your first grader

If you have assigned work from the teacher …

If yous already know what your child needs to exercise – and you lot just need todo information technology – here are some tips:

Keep your regular waking up/going to bed routine.
After your child has breakfast, move into "school fourth dimension" as presently as possible.
Showtime with the work that requires the well-nigh patience from you and your child. Become that out of the way while you're both fresh.
Recognize that homeschooling your first grader may take simply two hours (max) a day, and that's perfectly fine. You are not failing your child if your schoolhouse day is fast. Recollect that much of a kickoff form instructor's mean solar day involves managing a large grouping (I speak from experience hither).

If yous don't have a lot of guidance from the schoolhouse (or desire to supplement) …

Reading

Beginning graders are all over the map when information technology comes to reading ability, so you'll want to ask your child's teacher what s/he needs to piece of work on. Let'south showtime with some phonics skills.

Make sure your child is fluent with CVC words.

CVC stands for consonant-vowel-consonant. These are the first words we teach kids to sound out (words likecat andbug), and I have loads of freebies on my site. Cheque them out below:

Try this give-and-take edifice mat with cards.
Print and employ these CVC give-and-take lath games.
Check out all my printables for curt vowel words … including uncomplicated games and worksheets. Get-go hither and scroll to see them all.

Exercise words with first digraphs and blends.

If your kid is fluent with CVC words, information technology'south fourth dimension to move on to the next step.

A digraph is two letters that make one audio (sh, ch, thursday, wh, kn, wr). A alloy is 2 messages that appear together but make their own sounds (fl, st, etc.).

Hither are some single histrion digraph games.
Here are some 2-player games for digraphs and blends.
More advanced learners can play my fast and fluent games for words with beginning blends.

Next come up silent e words.

Showtime with these games that aid children hear long vowel sounds in words.
Hither are some fold and read cards.
Endeavor a silent east four in a row game.
Need more? Here'southward a giant post with over 50 complimentary printables for teaching silent e words.

Motility on to vowel teams.

Vowel teams include long vowel digraphs – such equally ee and oa,as well as diphthongsoi, oy, aw, au.

Resource for those are hither.

Is your kid ready to read multi-syllable words?

I have quite a few of these on the membership site but not much hither on the costless site. You might want to check out This Reading Mama.

Schedule fourth dimension for your child tin can read on his/her ain.

All these phonics skills don't do much skillful if we don't requite our learners chances to apply them as they read real books.

This may be difficult if your library is closed (equally ours is). If information technology's not, however, or you lot're non opposed to spending some money, check out this mail with a list of books for dissimilar levels.

If you are able to print books for your child to read, I HIGHLY recommend Reading A to Z. I accept a subscription to this website and then I can print books for my youngest readers (fifty-fifty though I don't homeschool – or at least I don't usually homeschool).

Great news! Reading A to Z is offer an extended Gratis trial. Seriously. Get on over there and print some books for your kid. Not sure which books are for your kid? E-mail me (anna(at)themeasuredmom(dot)com, and I'll try to bespeak you in the correct management.

Handwriting

This is something that tin can chop-chop autumn apart without daily practice. Information technology'south a proficient idea to have your child fill out a short handwriting page several times a week.

Gratis level four handwriting pages

Writing

Creative writing is important, but I'll be honest … didactics writing isn't easy (fifty-fifty for experienced teachers). This is considering writing isn't easy. Teaching it isn't supposed to be either.

Don't give up, though!

If y'all're looking at an extended homeschool situation, I recommend writing with your child a few times a calendar week; schedule 20-30 minutes each time.

Make sure there's an audience for the writing. Don't accept your child write just because you say then. Here are some ideas for audition:
- grandparents (share it on FaceTime or over the telephone)
- another parent
- a sibling
- a friend or neighbor (email it)
- someone in a nursing home (postal service it)

Consider different genres of writing.
- a personal narrative (writing about his/her own life)
- writing a nonfiction piece about something he/she knows about, like a particular animal
- a how-to piece (how to brand a sandwich, etc.)
- a letter
- a costless-poetry verse form

MODEL first. If you inquire your child to write a letter, have him/her picket you do that start.

Writing to a prompt is okay once in a while, just it'southward best to have your kid come up with his or her ain topics. This mail will help.

Every bit your child writes, sit downwardly and practise your own writing. Helps him realize yous're in this together, and reminds yous that writing is challenging – gives you lot more empathy.

Don't insist that the piece of work is perfect. Your child needs to spell his/her best. "Invented spelling (also called "developmental" spelling) is necessary for this age. Follow these tips for using it well.

Share it! Read it to a parent or grandparent (use FaceTime or the phone if needed). Email it or snail mail service it.

Math

Teach your child to add and subtract within xx.

Gratuitous addition games
Free subtraction games

Help your child add together 10 and decrease 10.

A simple way to do this is impress a free hundreds chart. Play I Spy… ("Can you lot detect the 25?") And so have your child add together or subtract ten from that number. ("What is 25 plus ten?")

Teach place value (tens and ones) with 2-digit numbers.

Free identify value games

Show your child how to add two-digit numbers (without regrouping).

I have costless resources for this inside the membership, merely non on the free site.

Practice telling fourth dimension to hour and half hour.

Free telling time games

Teach basic fractions.

I take aught on the free site, merely Life Over C's has this free fraction pack.

Measure things around your house.

I recommend doing this with nonstandard units at outset. How many pennies long is your pencil? How many dominoes long is this piece of paper?
It's a proficient thought to judge first. "How many pennies long exercise y'allcall back your shoe will be? Let's bank check information technology and see if you were right!")
If your child is ready, you lot can pull out a ruler and measure in inches or centimeters.

Do identifying iii-D shapes …

Go along a chase around your house. Tin you find examples of the mutual iii-D shapes? (cylinder, cone, cube, triangular prism, rectangular prism, and sphere)

Endeavor these simple one-actor games.
Play these two-histrion 3-D shape games.

Social Studies and Scientific discipline

I don't desire to say these aren't important, only for a outset grader they are at the bottom of the list. Your child can learn social studies and scientific discipline concepts through real life. Don't stress about these.

Sentinel a few YouTube videos and accept conversations with your child about the world. Seriously, your child volition not get backside if you don't focus on these in starting time grade.

Those are the bookish skills I recommend working on, but you take a whole day ahead of yous. What else should you practice?

Read, read, read to your child. Exercise this as frequently as possible – for as long as both you lot and your child are enjoying information technology. Commonly I'd tell you to choose to check out my book lists and caput to your library. I realize that may not be an pick at present. Do the best with what yous have. Be sure to talk about books as you read. Here are my tips for doing that.

- Need books to read only you can't become to the library?
  - Become a free i month trial of the app Skybrary (with LeVar Burton from Reading Rainbow) – we used this in the past and loved it.
  - Get a free one calendar month trial of Epic!, a bully digital library for ages 12 and under. We utilize it and love it.

Get moving. If possible, get exterior.If you're stuck indoors, hither are some indoor gross motor activities.

Pull out things that will go on your child decorated.

- Make homemade play dough, or purchase it online.

- Society kinetic sand. This stuff keeps my preschooler and kindergartner decorated for 30 minutes at a time – or more than! Plus, it's easy to clean up.

- Do unproblematic art projects. Browse Pinterest and you lot'll observe some easy activities you can do at dwelling. Here are a bunch of ideas from Happiness is Homemade. I also recommend creating small cards/crafts that you lot can mail to family and friends.

- If you can, Facetime grandparents and other relatives.

- Cook together. Here are a bunch of fun ideas.

- Practise simple science projects, like these.

- Play with building toys – Duplos, Legos, Magna Tiles, etc.

- Play lath games. Games my kindergartner currently loves are UNO, Sequence for Kids, Mancala, Qwirkle, and Penny Drop.

- Discover some free drawing tutorials on YouTube. We absolutely love Art for Kids Hub and utilize information technologyall the fourth dimension. Here's a playlist of the easier drawing projects.

- Give them screen time. Yes, I said it. I recommend planning this for specific times in the day – as late in the day as possible so you save it for when you really need it. Here'south a list of free instruction sites for kids.

I promise this helps every bit you plan for several weeks at home. Please feel costless to accomplish out to me through my email: anna(at)themeasuredmom(dot)com.

My inbox is bursting these days, simply I do my best to reply every message.

Hugs to yous!

Anna

johnsonlonge1992.blogspot.com

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