An effective literacy lesson includes brief and explicit modelling of the targeted technique by the teacher. In first grade, this might be a phonics or comprehension strategy using a picture book. For example, a teacher might say "Good readers ask questions when they read." Then, after reading a few pages, he think out loud, saying, "I wonder where the children will go next?" As the teacher continues to read, he invites children to practice the strategy by sharing their questions.
Young readers need lots of practice with lots of good books in order to become proficient. A literacy lesson plan needs to include lots of time for self-selected reading. At the first grade level, some students will be able to read all the words in a story independently. Others might look at the pictures in a book, read with a partner, or revisit a familiar picture book. This is the best time for teachers to circulate and check in with each reader.
During this part of a literacy lesson, students practice the high frequency sight words they have learned and practice strategies for decoding new words. The lesson should focus on a particular phonics pattern. Children can practice by reading and writing the target words, using letter tiles to make them, or making rhymes. Many elementary schools use commercial phonics programs to ensure that decoding and spelling are taught systematically at the first grade level, beginning with words that follow predictable patterns and moving on to more complex words.
It is important for first graders to write about their reading and experiences as well as to make up stories. In first grade, writers shift from dictating their description of a picture they have drawn to writing down their own words, usually with invented spelling. This provides an opportunity for writing the words children have learned to read in their phonics lessons. Writing also gives children a sense of ownership over their literacy skills and an opportunity to tell their stories.