Pea Ridge School District

First Grade: A Parent's Guide

First Grade Learning Targets

Teachers in Pea Ridge follow the Science of Reading and strategies promoted by Arkansas R.I.S.E. (Reading Initiative for Student Excellence). Many family resources are available from the Arkansas Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on their R.I.S.E site, including milestones in learning to read by age and tips for what families can do at home to help growing readers.

Parents will receive updates about student progress in reading three times each school year (fall, winter, and spring) using NWEA MAP Growth reports and classroom assessments. We encourage parents to reach out to your child's teacher if you have questions about your child's reading skills and progress.

We use an additional resource: Lexia Core5. This tool helps us target student's individual learning needs so that each student grows as a reader every day!

Learn More: Lexia Core5 (Grades K-5)

Our students in grades Kindergarten through 5th grade use Lexia® Core5® Reading—a fun, computer-based program that helps students improve their literacy skills. The activities in Core5 support and build on your child’s classroom curriculum and focus on developing reading skills in six areas: phonological awareness, phonics, structural analysis, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

Here’s how Lexia Core5 Reading works:

Your child begins Core5 at a starting point that fits his or her needs and then engages in online activities throughout the week.
Online activities include direct instruction and immediate feedback as your child learns new skills.
Progress and performance in the program are reported directly to teachers so that they can provide assistance when needed.
Paper-and-pencil activities are also used for practice and may be completed in school or brought home.
Achievement certificates may be sent home to celebrate success and to show progress in the program.

Here’s how you can set your reader up for success:

Students should complete the tasks on their own. That means no hints or tips from grown-ups, friends, or siblings! This is important because Lexia provides extra support and instruction if students struggle with a task, and alerts teachers when further help is required.
Try to provide a quiet space for learning if students are working in Lexia from home. Headphones can be helpful but aren’t required.

We invite your to contact your child's teacher with any questions you may have.

Students receive instruction in reading, writing, speaking, and listening in Literacy at Pea Ridge. Each year students experience this instruction through the context of building background knowledge in social science and science. The more students know about more topics, the better they comprehend what they read and the more likely they are able to make connections beyond the text they are reading.

In First Grade, we learn about the topics below.

A World of Books

We will study the power of books and libraries around the world. Some people have climbed mountains just to find books. Others have trekked to libraries on boats or even on elephants. In this module, we will ask the question: How do books—and the knowledge they bring—change lives around the world?

Some of the books we are reading include:

Tomás and the Library Lady
That Book Woman
Waiting for the Biblioburro
Laila and Majnun in School

Our class will ask these questions as we read to learn more:

How do library books change life the characters?
How do people around the world get books?

Creature Features

We will study the unique features of animals. We will ask these questions: What makes animals so fascinating? How do we observe, learn about, and engage with animals? How are the features of animals’ bodies and behavior similar to and different from one another?

Some of the books we are reading include:

Me...Jane, Patrick McDonnell
What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?, Steve Jenkins and Robin Page
Seven Blind Mice, Ed Young
Dear Treefrog, Joyce Sidman and Diana Sudyka

Our class will ask these questions as we read to learn more:

What lessons can we learn through stories about animals?
How do animals use the same feature in unique ways?
How do animals use their unique features in unexpected ways?
What can we discover about animals’ unique features?

Wind Power

Students discover the capacity of wind and the emotions it evokes. We will ask the question: How do people respond to the powerful force of the wind?

Some of the books we are reading include:

Brave Irene, William Steig
Gilberto and the Wind, Marie Hall Ets
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
Feel the Wind, Arthur Dorros

Our class will ask these questions to learn more as we read:

How is wind a powerful force?
What are feelings?
How do characters respond to the powerful force of the wind?
How do the characters we read about respond to the powerful force of the wind?

World Tales

Some of the books we are reading include:

Cinderella, Charles Perrault and Marcia Brown
The Girl and the Wolf, Katherena Vermette and Julie Flett
The Lizard and the Sun, Alma Flor Ada and Felipe Dávalos
Lon Po Po: A Riding-Hood Story from China, Ed Young