What to teach in 1st grade at home, month by month

First grade is the year reading clicks. Most children arrive blending three-letter words and leave able to read a simple book with little help. Math takes the same leap, from counting objects to working with numbers in their heads.

Here is the short version of what to teach in 1st grade:

• Phonics: review short vowels, then digraphs (sh, ch, th, wh, ck), blends (st, fl, tr), silent e, vowel teams (ai, ee, oa), r-controlled vowels (ar, or, er) and endings like -ed and -ing.
• Reading: decodable books moving toward early chapter books, plus about 100 to 150 high-frequency words over the year, and talking about characters, setting, main idea and facts in nonfiction.
• Writing: from one good sentence to three to five sentences on one topic, with capitals, periods and spelling that matches the phonics they have learned.
• Math: facts to 20, place value to 120, adding and subtracting two-digit numbers in simple cases, measuring, time, graphs, shapes and halves and fourths.
• Science and social studies: plants and animals, light and sound, the sun, moon and seasons, maps, family history, rules and community helpers.

This follows the general shape of US standards: many states use or adapt the Common Core for reading and math and the Next Generation Science Standards for science. Check your own state's homeschool rules, since some require specific subjects or yearly assessments.

What's inside the 1st Grade at Home Curriculum

If you would rather open a plan each week than build one, our 1st Grade at Home Curriculum covers this scope in about 45 minutes a day across 36 weeks. It is 635 pages: three books (weeks 1 to 12, 13 to 24 and 25 to 36) plus a 19-page Parents' Guide, with 60 reading pages, 48 math pages, 36 spelling pages, 12 phonics, 12 grammar and 12 writing pages, plan pages and read-together pages. Every week has a spelling list and check, a phonics sort, a grammar mini-lesson, a reading passage with questions and writing prompts. Math runs from facts to 20 through place value to 120, two-digit adding and subtracting, time, money, fractions and graphs. It is an instant PDF download, black and white, prints on US Letter or A4, and has a 14-day money-back guarantee.

Use this as a map, not a timetable. If your child needs three weeks on silent e, take them. A 36-week year fits into nine months of about four weeks each.

Reading and phonics deserve the most time, and work best as one lesson: teach a pattern, read words with it, then read a passage that uses it.

A 25-minute reading lesson

1. Warm up (3 minutes). Flash the sounds learned so far. Your child says the sound, not the letter name.
2. New pattern (5 minutes). Write the new spelling on a whiteboard. Say: "These two letters, s and h, work together. They say /sh/. Ship. Fish."
3. Word reading (5 minutes). Read 8 to 10 words with the pattern, then a few mixed with older patterns so your child has to look carefully.
4. Connected text (8 minutes). A short decodable passage. Let your child read it twice: once to decode, once to sound like talking.
5. Talk (4 minutes). Ask one or two questions: "Who was in the story? What problem did they have?"

If your child is unsure of letter sounds or blending, start there. Our guide to phonics phases shows how the stages fit together and where a child might need to step back.

Keep reading aloud every day too. Longer chapter books read to your child build the vocabulary their own decodable books cannot give them yet.

A typical 1st grader starts the year writing one sentence with invented spelling and ends it writing a short, readable paragraph. The bridge is short daily writing tied to phonics.

• Spelling: teach one pattern a week, the same pattern they are reading. A list of 8 to 12 words is enough. Test on Friday by saying each word in a sentence.
• Grammar: capitals at the start of sentences and for names, periods and question marks, nouns and verbs, and adding -s for more than one.
• Writing types: true stories, "how to" pieces, opinions and short fact pieces.

Accept phonetic spelling for untaught words ("becuz") but expect correct spelling for patterns already learned.

First grade math is about number sense. Children should understand why 8 + 5 = 13, not just memorize it.

The big ideas

• Facts to 20. Strategies first: counting on, doubles (6 + 6), near doubles (6 + 7), and making 10 (8 + 5 = 8 + 2 + 3). Speed comes later, from short daily practice.
• Place value. 34 is 3 tens and 4 ones. Use bundles of 10 craft sticks or drawn sticks and dots until it is obvious.
• Adding and subtracting with bigger numbers. Adding 10 or 20 to a number, adding a two-digit and one-digit number, and simple two-digit sums.
• Measurement, time and data. Compare lengths, measure with paper clips, read clocks to the hour and half hour, and make tally charts and bar graphs from family surveys.
• Geometry and fractions. Name and build shapes, and cut paper shapes and food into halves and fourths.

A daily math lesson of 15 to 20 minutes works well: quick facts, the new idea with objects, then a page of practice. If a page is a struggle, go back to objects. Most 1st grade math frustration comes from moving to written sums too soon.

These subjects do not need a separate textbook at this age. A weekly theme, a library book, one hands-on activity and a short writing page covers plenty, and gives your child real things to write about.

• Plants and animals: grow beans in a clear cup and compare baby animals with their parents.
• Light and sound: make shadow puppets, and put rice on a drum to watch it jump.
• Sky patterns: draw the moon each night for two weeks and talk about why summer days are longer.
• Maps and community: map your bedroom, then your street; interview a grandparent about school when they were small; make a family rule chart.

Use this as a guide in May or June, not a test. Children vary, and a child who meets most of these is ready for 2nd grade.

Reading and writing

• Reads words with short and long vowels, digraphs, blends and common vowel teams
• Reads simple books smoothly, rereading to fix mistakes
• Retells a story with beginning, middle and end
• Finds facts in a short nonfiction text
• Writes three to five sentences on one topic
• Uses capitals and end punctuation most of the time

Math

• Adds and subtracts within 20, with facts within 10 quick and accurate
• Counts, reads and writes numbers to 120
• Explains tens and ones in a two-digit number
• Tells time to the hour and half hour
• Reads and makes a simple graph
• Splits shapes into halves and fourths

If your child is well behind in reading by midyear, talk with your pediatrician or a reading specialist. It is better to check early than to wait.

A simple week that most families can keep up:

• Monday to Thursday: reading and phonics (25 minutes), math (20 minutes), writing or spelling (10 to 15 minutes).
• Two afternoons: science or social studies theme (20 to 30 minutes).
• Friday: spelling check, review games and a library trip.

A five-minute morning page helps the day start on time, such as our 1st Grade Warm-Ups: date, weather, a fix-it sentence, math of the day and a quick write.

The first month overlaps with the end of kindergarten on purpose. Our guide to what to teach in kindergarten at home shows what your child should already have in place, and our 1st grade homeschool curriculum guide compares the ways to cover the year.

You can build 1st grade yourself from this map and a library card. If you would like the planning done, the Complete 1st Grade Bundle includes the 36-week curriculum plus 52 morning warm-ups, My Reading Journal for tracking books, and Cursive A to Z for an early start on joined writing. The curriculum on its own is shown below.

Not sure yet? Try our free printable book first to see how your child responds. Every Built Brains product is an instant black-and-white PDF that prints on US Letter or A4, with a 14-day money-back guarantee.