Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Once a child completes first grade, he or she should show proficiency in the following benchmarks.
Listening Skills
- Recalls facts taught or discussed in class
- Understands what’s being taught in class
- Follows basic steps in order, such as “Grab a piece of paper, find your pencil, and write your name.”
Talking Skills
- Answers more difficult yes/no questions like “Did the girl take her puppy into the house?”
- Asks and answers “who, what, where, when and why” questions
- Says all speech sounds and letters clearly
- Tells and retails a story in correct order
- Stays on topic and takes turns when talking with other people
- Uses complete sentences to talk about ideas
- Uses most parts of speech and grammar properly
- Gives logical, orderly directions
Reading Skills
- Finds all sounds in short words
- Identifies letters, words and sentences
- Blends separate sounds to form words (such as bl or sh)
- Makes up and can identify rhyming words
- Matches spoken words to written words
- Recognizes about 100 common or sight words
- Easily reads first-grade-level stories
- Understands what he or she reads
Writing Skills
- Prints letters clearly
- Spells commonly used words correctly
- Begins each sentence with a capital letter
- Ends situations with a period, question mark or exclamation point
- Writes short pieces like a simply story or journal entry
