What Your Child Needs to Succeed in First Grade

***Repost- I originally posted this blog in August of 2024, but its worth a repost!

Tomorrow I begin my 5th year of teaching first grade. I know I’m not quite a veteran teacher yet, but I am solidly past the new/fresh teacher stage. I’m reaching the point in teaching that I’ve taught all the siblings in certain families, I have taught kids in first grade who are now going into middle school (hold me), and I don’t feel too overwhelmed by lesson planning (most of the time).

Every summer, I get asked a question, both from people within my school community and from people who do not attend our school, but hear that I am a first grade teacher and want to know my answer to the question.

They always ask, “what does my child need to know before they start first grade?”

I always take a deep breathe before I answer. What the parent/grandparent/sibling is asking is “exactly where should my child be academically before first grade?” but I don’t like to spend much time answering that question.

Because in first grade, it’s normal to be reading chapter books.

And it’s normal to not be able to string letters together to make words.

It’s normal to be able to count to 20, but still mess up those teen numbers.

It’s also normal to be able to multiply, understanding that 2 groups of 3 makes 6.

It’s normal to be able to read whole paragraphs, but have little understanding of what was just read.

It’s normal to not be able to read at all, but to be able to listen and grasp every detail of a story that was just heard.

It’s normal to struggle to sit still.

It’s normal to be able to sit still for hours and listen.

If I’ve learned anything in my years of teaching first grade, it’s this: there is no specific benchmarks for entering first grade. These little brains are wiring and firing and making thousands of new connections each day. Many kids aren’t ready to read by 6 years old when they enter first grade, and parents worry that they will never be able to read or that there is a diagnosable difficulty going on. Instead, I truly believe that most of the time reading and writing simply hasn’t clicked in their brains yet, and for many kids- boys especially- it can take until closer to 8 years old. Or, the opposite happens and because a child is reading by 6, parents assume that they are brilliant and will always be ahead of their peers. Instead, I believe that hitting “benchmarks” early does not necessarily mean that they are or will always be ahead. I’ve seen kids come into my classroom who are very far “ahead” academically, but as the year goes on, most of their peers catch up and they are left right in the middle, but not knowing *how* to move along and learn, because they have always just been ahead.

First grade is SUCH a wonderful and exciting time. I absolutely love watching these tiny little baby Kindergartners come into my room on the first day and then leave as full-fledged elementary kids ready for second grade. Its magical!

So, what DOES a child need to know before they enter first grade?

Even though I am an educator, my list looks a little different than you might expect. Here are some benchmarks that I look for when a young child enters my classroom:

• Are they able to follow directions?
• Can they take no for an answer?
• Do they have some tools in their toolbelt for helping regulate their own emotions? (Obviously, I do not expect a 6 year old to act like an adult in this area, and some kids struggle more than others in this area, but what I look for is some tools or knowledge from home that shows the child knows that he/she needs to work towards controlling their own emotions instead of letting the emotions control them.)
• Can they wait on an adult who is helping someone else?
• Can they wipe a table, hold and properly use a broom and dustpan, and put their own stuff away? (Yes, we use all of these skills multiple times a day in the classroom!)
• Can they throw their own trash in the trash can?
• Can they focus on something that is not a bright, flashy screen?
• Can they notice someone else who is struggling and help them?
• Can they go to the bathroom by themselves?
• Can they put things away in their own backpack?
• Bonus points if they can tie their own shoes!

The good news? These are all things that you can achieve at home with practice! Practice saying no, practice asking the child to wait while you are on the phone or parking the car or completing another task. Practice going to the bathroom alone. Walk through various scenarios of cleaning up messes at home, especially if it is a mess that they made. Practice sweeping up crumbs or using a vacuum cleaner or wiping a surface that is sticky with glue. Practice putting papers in a folder and then putting a folder and lunchbox into a backpack (that one is really tricky!).

The nice thing about this list is that all of these things happen in normal life. So my encouragement to parents when they ask me what their child needs to know before entering first grade is actually very simple: Live life with them. Work together. Practice learning real life skills with real-life situations and places. And that – that will help them in the classroom even more than hitting every academic benchmark before starting first grade. When they have these types of life skills- they are left feeling less overwhelmed and they are able to focus on the academics in the classroom. And that, my friends, is where first grade really shines!