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- Knowing from memory the appropriate 1st grade words from the Dolch list of sight words is a necessary skill (see link in References). These words help form a foundation of words to build upon.
- A first grade reader knows how to look at pictures in a book to help figure out meaning. She can connect, for example, a picture of a horse on the page to be the word that begins with "h" in the text.
- Strategies to decode words in print are being mastered. For example, if the child stops at a new unknown word, he can think of a word he knows that looks similar and transfer the knowledge to figure out the new word. For example, he is able to go from "boat" to "goat." Also, first and last letters of words are scrutinized to see if they make the sound of the word he is trying to guess.
- A first grader understands what she has read and can talk comfortably about it. She can also predict what might happen in a story before she has finished it.
- A skilled reader in first grade reads out loud at a reasonable speed and reads fluently. He sounds like he is talking the printed text.
- There is no greater motivation for a child to learn to read than reading books with his parents.
