When reading, first graders learn to recognize familiar words in reading assignments by using vocabulary lists and to understand their basic meaning. Called sight words, children are taught to recognize these words by looking at the object the word represents, or by learning how the word is spelled. According to the state of Michigan, at this age students should begin to read expressively, which involves things like pausing when seeing a period and raising their voice when reading sentences ending with exclamation marks. First graders will come to understand that changing the letters in a word creates a new word and a new sound; for example, "hat" becomes "cat" or "bat" after changing the letter "h" to "c" or "h."
First graders are taught to use their own personal experiences to help understand the new ideas and concepts presented to them in a reading. When retelling a story, the kids should be able to detail up to three general ideas of what happened in sequential order. They learn to recognize the key characters in a story, along with the relationships that they have with each other. They illustrate drawings that show the key ideas and details in the stories.
When speaking, first graders are taught utilize plural nouns such as "books," "girls" and "colors," as well as contractions such as "can't," "don't" or "isn't." Additionally, students learn to use possessive pronouns ("my," "mine," "hers," "his") in sentences to dictate the ownership of an item. According to the learning standards outlined by the state of South Dakota, first graders learn to formulate several sentences at a time in normal conversation while making eye contact. Word endings such as "-ing," "-ed" and "-s" begin to be used by first graders in sentences. At first, children will only speak using these new concepts in exercises and teacher-led activities. By the end of the year, students will begin to utilize these concepts on their own.
First graders begin by correctly spelling one-syllable words that they see often. By using provided spelling lists, students then learn how to spell even more words. First graders also begin to form upper- and lowercase letters in a neat fashion and write in complete sentences, beginning with a capital letter and ending with a punctuation mark. By the end of the school year, students should be able to write short stories using a pictures, words or a combination of both.