First Grade Language Lessons

I'm a big fan of the Ruth Beechick-style of teaching. Dr. Beechick, like Charlotte Mason, espouses using real books to teach, especially in the teaching of language. (If you're interested in reading more about Dr. Beechick's philosophy, I would highly recommend her The Three R's series for K-3rd grade and You Can Teach Your Child Successfully for 4th-8th graders. Both are excellent! I'm also a member of Basically Beechick, a Yahoo Group created for the discussion of all-things-Beechick. It's been a wonderful resource for me.)

In planning for this school year, I determined that instead of purchasing a pre-packaged first grade language arts curriculum for Joely (other than Explode the Code), I would make up my own language lessons following Dr. Beechick's method. We're now in the second week of school, and I thought I'd post what we've done so far.

This is the basic method I've followed:

I choose a sentence or two from one of the books Joely and I are reading together, often one that specifically demonstrates the topic I'd like to discuss (capitalization, specific word spellings, end punctuation, a/an, quotes, etc.). Then we do the following:

• I write the sentences as a model and put it on Joely's bulletin board.
• On day 1, Joely copies the model sentences into her writing notebook, using good handwriting. I may also have her illustrate it, sometimes using the original storybook pictures as a guide.
• We talk about the sentences, discussing whatever concept or concepts are appropriate in relation to the model.
• On days 2 through 4 Joely writes the model again.
• On day 5, Joely writes the model from dictation.

First Grade: LANGUAGE LESSON #1

This is the model I chose for the first week of school. I chose a sentence from "In Which Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets Into a Tight Place" by A. A. Milne.

"Oh, help!" said Pooh.

After Joely copied the model into her writing book, we discussed the following (not necessarily at one sitting):

• capitalizing the first word of a sentence
• capitalizing the name of a person (or a bear in this case)
• exclamation mark
• period at the end of a sentence
• quotation marks
• the spelling of oh, help, and said

First Grade: LANGUAGE LESSON #2

This is our second week's lesson. I selected two sentences from Who Took the Farmer's Hat? by Joan L. Nodset.

Bird was in it. And an egg was in it.

We discussed the following:

• capitalizing the first word of a sentence
• period at the end of sentences
• spelling of bird, egg, and was
• the use of a and an

The main reason I chose these sentences was to discuss the use of a and an. After Joely copied the sentences and we had a chance to discuss the word an before the egg, I wrote down the names of several animals on a dry erase board, making sure I had some that began with vowels. Then Joely and I talked about when we need to use a before a word, and when we need to use an.

One of the ways I helped her remember the "a/an rule" was to say that a doesn't get along with vowels that start words, so he has to have an n go in between to keep them from fighting (you can see what I drew next the eagle).

To practice, we went down the list and Joely told me whether we'd say a or an before each of the words. When we got to a word that started with a vowel, I asked her why we needed an there, and she was able to tell me why.

First grade language lessons can be a fun time with your child especially if using a book that they are currently reading.