Reading levels 1st grade
First-Grade Reading Level Defined, According To A First-Grade Educator
Good To Know
Not all learning-to-read journeys are the same, but these tips can help.
by Candace Nagy
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Originally Published:
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Got a little one making the transition from kindergarten to first grade this fall? It's a big step that will come with new learning milestones — reading independently being one of them. While they may not be ready to dive into the Harry Potter series just yet, this is the age where you might see them reading to themselves... or you! And you might also be wondering what level of reading a first grader should be at. This insider look at how a first-grade reading level is assessed in the classroom and what you can do at home to support your child's reading goals will help take the guesswork out of early literacy.
According to first-grade educator Minnie Phai, "For many districts, [...] a child's reading level is determined by doing a ‘running record.’ This is when a teacher reads a book with a student and records how they read, what their strengths are as readers, what strategies they use to decode unknown words, and their comprehension skills. A child's independent reading level is then narrowed down and matched to a corresponding grade level. The most commonly used running record system is Fountas & Pinnell."
First Grade Reading Levels
Many publishers also categorize books into "Levels" that correspond to the average reading abilities of children, including some of the "Big Five" like Random House and Harper Collins, making it easier for parents to choose books appropriate for their child's grade and age. And first-grade reading levels typically correspond with Levels 1 and 2.
"Once [children] are reading these Level 1 and Level 2 books independently (with little to no help from adults, with very high or perfect accuracy), what you're hearing is children decoding all the words with greater ease and confidence.
For some children, this is when they're left to read on their own or tasked with reading to their grown-up or a sibling," says Phai.
First-Grade Reading Level Examples
Curious exactly what Level 1 and Level 2 books look like? The following are classic examples:
- Go, Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman (Level 1)
- Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems
- Ten Apples Up On Top by Dr. Seuss (Level 1)
- Garden Day! by Candice Ransom (Level 1)
- A Pig, A Fox, And Stinky Socks by Jonathan Fenske (Level 2)
- The Bookstore Ghost by Barbara Maitland (Level 2)
- Richard Scarry’s Be Careful, Mr. Frumble! by Richard Scarry (Level 2)
Encouraging a First-Grade Reader
If your child is showing signs of independent reading at Levels 1 and 2, congratulations! You're off the hook for storytime, and your child will now also be responsible for teaching any younger kids in your home or in your neighborhood to read! OK, so maybe that's a stretch.
But it is a great opportunity to celebrate your child's achievements and also a reminder to check in often with their reading comprehension, fluency, and stamina — encouraging and supporting their learning to read journey.
Phai says, "This may be as simple as taking note of it, such as noticing how long their child can read for before they become fatigued, or how they are able to read in a phrased and expressive way. It can also be as involved as helping [them] differentiate character voices from narrator voices, or making inferences together like guessing what the character is feeling or thinking and why they might be feeling that way." If this sounds a little advanced for first grade, Phai points out that these less obvious skills are absolutely necessary for progressing to reading more complex texts.
Of course, every parent knows that getting their kids to do something they don't want to do can feel like pulling teeth. Your best bet is to find ways to make reading feel as comfortable and engaging as possible for your reluctant reader.
A few ideas might include:
- Create a cozy reading nook.
- Take a trip to the library and let your kids pick out their favorite books.
- Encourage your kids to act out a play based on the books they are reading.
- Make connections between the characters in the books and real life.
- Be a reading role model and show your kids how excited you are about reading.
- Let your kid read aloud to you.
Now that you know what you might expect from your first-grader in terms of reading and how to support them, keep in mind that not every child is going to be excited about reading (ahem, remember that book that sat untouched on your nightstand for three months?). But making reading fun with these tips will definitely go a long way toward encouraging your first grader's love of reading!
Sight Words for First Graders
- after
- all
- and
- as
- at
- be
- big
- but
- can’t
- car
- come
- could
- day
- did
- do
- for
- form
- from
- fun
- give
- had
- have
- her
- his
- how
- if
- like
- look
- make
- many
- my
- new
- not
- now
- number
- numerals
- of
- on
- or
- our
- out
- play
- run
- saw
- should
- that
- their
- these
- this
- this
- us
- want
- was
- we
- went
- what
- when
- which
- would
- your
This article was originally published on
What Reading Level Should a First Grader Be At?Making English Fun
Throughout elementary and middle school, reading levels are a core component of education. The reading level determines what your child is capable of reading and comprehending. Knowing what level they’re at will allow you to practice with them to enhance their skills and figure out how they compare to the rest of their class.
A first grader should be at a reading level between 3 to 12. Higher reading levels indicate that they’re near the top of their class, but there’s always room for growth. In some cases, your child might fall below or rise above the range. Practice and proper tutoring will improve their reading level.
In this article, you’ll also learn the following information about what reading level a first grader should be at:
- Basic details that determine reading levels
- How you can help your child improve or adjust their reading skills
- Reading concepts they will learn from the beginning to the end of first grade
- Links to reading resources designed by teachers
What Is a Reading Level?
A reading level is a guide or resource that indicates comprehension, pronunciation, and clarity of a person’s reading.
First graders shouldn’t be expected to read the same books as sixth graders, so it’s essential to go slow and steady while they’re learning new skills. This process should flow with the rest of the class, as you’ll learn in the next section.
As explained by Scholastic, there are plenty of reading level guides, including alphabetical, numerical and more. Here are the following reading level indicators: This is not a definitive list and its can be fairly confusing for teachers as well as parents. There are comparison guides, like the one below from real kids mag so that you can properly choose books across levels for your students. We are producing our own Free downloadable one for you as well this week. We have linked to one here but if you have a guided reading system of your own you should be able to find the correct comparison chart as well.
Many publishers use their own systems as well
- Scholastic Guided Level Reading Program
- Scholastic Guided Reading Lexile Ranges
- CCSS Lexile Recommendations
- DRA Level
- PM Benchmark
Since it’s one of the most common methods, we’ll focus on the DRA Level today.
As you’ve read in the introduction, a first grader should be reading between 3 to 12. It’s crucial that you remember they won’t be at a 12 right when they start first grade. The next section will detail what they’ll learn throughout the year to bring them as high on the chart as possible.
Note: While 12 is at the top of the list for first graders, you shouldn’t worry if your child isn’t there at the end of the year. It’s not a requirement until the middle of their second-grade year. If they’re already at a 12 in first grade, they’re ahead of the curve. By the beginning of second grade, your child should be around 8.
What Reading Skills They Will Learn in First Grade
Perhaps the most essential part of learning and reading in first grade is comprehension. Teachers focus on helping your first grader retell stories and understand what they’re saying rather than merely repeating what they’ve heard. For this reason, big words and long stories could prove challenging at the beginning of the year.
According to Reading Rockets, a first grader will learn how to break down long words and understand various sounds made by each word. Patience is key since English is one of the most challenging languages to read, even for those who speak it natively. Combinations such as ‘th’, ‘ough,’ and ‘sh’ will be taught throughout the year in a native classroom, in Second language it will be focusing on word construction with CVC and Blends.
Punctuation is another essential part of the year. Exclamation points, question marks, periods, and commas will be highlighted. Semicolons and colons won’t be taught until later in the year or during second grade. Your goal as a parent should be to help your child learn the four previously mentioned punctuations.
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Another reading skill will be capitalization, pronouns, starting a sentence, and other capitalized letters will be explored. Remember that, along with punctuation, capitalization likely won’t be mastered until second grade. However, your first grader will be able to start understanding stories and sentences, opening the gates to inspired, entertaining reading sessions.
Once they learn how to comprehend sentences, they’ll start to engage much quicker. They might wonder why something is one way or another, and they could begin to correct sentences if they feel something is wrong. This is a crucial stage that you could help them realize right from wrong in the world of reading and writing.
What Language Will Books at These Reading Levels Contain?
During their first grade year, the language contained in books and stories includes three to four-letter words.
They range from simple words like ‘the’ or ‘and,’ but they’ll lead to bigger words that could present a challenge. Remember to sound out each letter with them so they understand the variations of vowels.
Parents.com suggests asking your child questions about books, stories, and sentences that they’re reading. This step will cause them to think and build on their knowledge while comprehending what they’re studying. They also recommend engaging in predictions to get your first grader to dig deeper into the reading material. We have Comprehension workbooks to help with this.
Since first graders are guided towards comprehension rather than in-depth long words, they won’t have to learn too many words over four or five letters. They should take this year to practice their understanding of the basic concepts that form a sentence, including punctuation, pronunciation, and letter combinations, as mentioned in the previous section.
Here’s an excellent way to help them learn tough words:
- Break down every word into individual letters.
If there’s a combination (sh, th, ough), separate it into its own chunk. - Focus on words that they already know how to say. If they’re familiar with the word, they’ll be able to use contextual clues to figure out how to read it.
- Don’t study for too long. Short 15-minute study sessions hold their interest long enough to prevent reading from becoming a boring chore.
- Use the resources from school and online to supplement these skills. We have 1000s on our site for free and premium downloads.
How Can Parents Help Their First Grader Develop a Love for Reading?
Helping your child become an interested reader is one of the most understood processes in schooling. You don’t want to spend hours every day, or they’ll be overwhelmed and won’t retain most of the information. As you saw in the third tip of the previous section, short study sessions are the key to success.
Here’s a list of ways that you can help your first grader develop a love for reading:
- Find reading material that they’re interested in.
For example, if they love sports or cars, choose those books over anything else. It’s not the concept that matters; It’s the words found throughout the reading that makes a big difference. We have some leveled reading material aimed at young learners here. - Reward them for reading a specific number of words. They’ll begin to associate a learning session with enjoyment rather than a distraction from playing with toys or friends. Remember to read with them, so they don’t feel like they’re trying to learn by themselves.
- Picture books can keep your child’s interest for countless minutes. If you stop reading after 15 to 20 minutes, they’ll be begging to jump back into the material.
All of these suggestions point to one fact: You can make your child love reading by finding out what they’re interested in and using it to educate and elevate their reading skills. Their reading level will naturally and gradually increase as the material becomes more challenging.
Finally
Now that you know where they should be and what they’ll learn, you’re equipped to help your child with at-home education. Some children can read and comprehend faster, so you might need to spend more or less time focusing on specific words.
Here’s a quick recap of the post:
- First graders typically fall between a 3 to 12 reading level.
- You can help them by focusing on challenging words and breaking down the meaning of each sentence.
- Find books and stories that they’ll love to improve their engagement.
- Use additional resources and activities to engage and inspire them
Sources
- Scholastic – Learn About Leveled Reading
- Reading Rockets – Goals for First Grade: Early Reading and Writing
- Parents – What Will My Kid Learn in First Grade?
Hi I’m Marc. A teacher of over 15 years, English, General Studies and Outdoor Education.
Thought it was about time to sharing both what I have learnt during that time and the resources I have put together. On this site we aim to teach the theory and share our thoughts, but also go that one step further and give you access to the hard resources you need for your class or for you children
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Making English Fun!
I have been a teacher of English for over 15 years, in that time i made hundreds and thousands of resources and learnt so much i think its worth sharing. Hopefully to help teachers and parents around the world.
How many words per minute a first-grader should read
Children come to the first grade with very different skill levels. Someone already fluently reads whole stories, the other can barely read a line by syllables. Many parents diligently teach their children to read before school. And it is no accident: despite the fact that there are no official requirements for reading standards for a child entering school, testing a child for reading speed in the first grade will begin at the end of the first half of the year.
According to the indicative norms of the Federal State Educational Standard, a first-grader should read 25-30 words per minute in the first half of the year and 30-40 in the second. Note that the norms are indicative, so gymnasiums, for example, can raise the bar higher, and correctional schools, on the contrary, lower it a little. Here are some tips on how to make learning to read effective and comfortable for you and your child.
Don't chase reading speed
That's right. After all, if you train a child precisely on the speed of pronunciation of words, then he will be able to learn how to quickly read the text, but he will not understand what he read. Don't do your child a disservice. School performance is, of course, important, but not only the praise of the teacher is at stake, but also the development of the child. Therefore, when teaching a child to read, pay attention to the semantic content of the text, discuss with him the characters, their words and deeds, together recall the events of previously read books.
Speed will be gained gradually, thanks to constant practice and several useful exercises.
Choose the right literature
It is better to start learning to read with books "by age", well illustrated, with large letters and not too long words - consisting of two or three syllables. In addition, it is important that all the words in the book are familiar to the child.
Do not overdo it
Do not start learning to read too early, experts advise not to do this before the age of 5, because the child's body during this period absorbs all the impressions of the surrounding world, but is not yet ready to perceive the text. But he will be happy to listen to your reading and from an early age he will perceive a book in his hands as something obviously fascinating. Do not force a child to read, do not turn the joy of reading into a duty. Try not to intimidate him with upcoming checks, otherwise interest will instantly turn into a routine. Learning to read for a child is a lot of work. If the child is tired, there is nothing wrong with you reading aloud to him.
Learn by playing
You can collect words from cubes with spellings written on them. You can guess cards with inscriptions and drawings. Or read stories in which some words are replaced by pictures. In any case, the process of reading at first should include something else besides reading itself. A game element that will support the interest of the child and will not let him run out of steam at the very beginning of learning.
Game exercises for developing reading speed
If your child has already learned to read whole words and combine them into sentences, it's time to think about developing reading speed.
Play animals with him: try to imagine and show how a horse gallops, how a horse speaks and how a horse reads? How does a turtle work? And the tiger?
Try to read by roles on behalf of different characters in the story. Surely they will have not only different timbres, but also different pronunciation speeds.
Read with the child in turn and gradually increase the pace of reading your piece, the child, in turn, will repeat after you and will learn to read faster.
Following the tips above will help your child read as many words per minute as a grade 1 student should on the first test, without losing the meaning of what they read and without losing interest in the book.
How many words per minute should a child read in Grade 1
Reading is an important skill , that children begin to master literally from the first days of schooling. Reading speed is directly related to academic performance. Therefore, in each grade of elementary school, teachers periodically check the reading technique of children. Let's find out how many words per minute a child should read in grade 1 and how to increase reading speed.
Reading technique in the first grade
In Russian schools, the reading technique of primary school students is tested twice during the school year - in the first half of the year and in the second.
Some teachers do this every quarter. Such a check is needed to evaluate the following indicators:
- Reading method. The teacher watches how the child reads: reads the words in their entirety or syllable by syllable or spells in general, pronounces them smoothly or abruptly, slows down on complex and long words.
- Reading speed. This is the speed with which a first grader is able to read an unfamiliar text (how many words per minute he reads).
- Correct. The teacher pays attention not only to the number of words read per minute, but also to the correctness of their pronunciation. The nature of these errors is also taken into account (incorrect pronunciation, omission of some words, incorrect emphasis).
- Awareness. The student must not only read the text, but also grasp its essence, understand what it is about.
The main indicator that the teacher focuses on is the number of words that the student reads in one minute.
According to the norms, by the end of the first semester, a first-grader should read 25-30 words, and by the end of the second - 30-40 words.
Games with which the child will love to read and write
How to improve the reading technique of a first grader?
If your child does not reach the specified norm, do not be discouraged. Reading technique can be improved and it's not that hard. To do this, you need to start reading regularly at home. But don't force your child to do it by force. Reading should give him pleasure. And this is possible only if it causes interest.
Try to instill in your son or daughter a love of reading. To do this, select the literature that is interesting to him. It can be fairy tales, stories and stories about animals, fantastic stories or something else. Many children like children's detective stories. The twisted plot involuntarily attracts the attention of the child, prompting him to read on.
Study different literature with your child and find out what he likes.
Remember what you yourself loved to read as a child, find these books and offer them to your son or daughter. Good for first graders:
- Russian folk tales and tales of the peoples of the world;
- fairy tales by G. H. Andersen, A. Pushkin, the Brothers Grimm, C. Perrault;
- stories by N. Nosov, V. Dragunsky, E. Uspensky, M. Zoshchenko.
Having selected the most interesting works, proceed to the training of reading technique. Choose a convenient time when you are not in a hurry. If the book is electronic, download it to your phone or tablet and set the font that is comfortable for the student.
Convenient holders for tablets, whiteboards and books
Sit with your child and have them read aloud to you. Don't rush him. The main thing is not the speed of reading, but the correct pronunciation of words. The speed will develop by itself with regular practice. Correct the student if he reads incorrectly, explain the meaning of unfamiliar words.
The child should not just read, but understand what the text is about. Be sure to discuss what you read and ask questions.
Read 20 minutes a day. This is quite enough, it is only necessary that the classes be regular. If the child is carried away by the work and wants to read further - please. The main thing is that he does not do it through force, otherwise the classes will begin to disgust him.
Some strict parents force the child to read for hours, thereby literally instilling in him a dislike for this occupation. Growing up, such children do not touch books for a very long time. So don't overdo reading. Don't forget to take breaks for games :)
Tips for improving the reading technique of a first grader
To read not only quickly, but also expressively, it is useful to pronounce tongue twisters. Find tongue twisters to practice different letters and sounds and have your son or daughter memorize them. Let him repeat them at any convenient time - on the way to school, during the game, etc.
