Grade 1 · Alberta
Grade 1: the year it clicks
Grade 1 is where the ear work of Kindergarten turns into reading, and where counting turns into facts that come back instantly. This page is for the grown-up: what Alberta asks for, what the words mean, and what to do about it at home. The sheets and the games are for the child.
The five learning areas
Each one starts with what Alberta asks for, defines the words teachers use, and then gives you things to try at home.
English language arts and literature
Reading and writing
Sounding words out, knowing a short list by sight, and writing a sentence that starts and stops properly.
Open reading and writing
Mathematics
Numbers and facts to 20
Addition and subtraction facts recalled rather than counted, shapes sorted, things put in order, and the cycles of a year.
Open numbers and facts to 20
Science
Looking closely
Measuring properties, pushes and pulls, what the seasons do to plants and animals, and saying what you expect before you look.
Open looking closely
Social studies
Communities and cultures
The landmarks near home, the cultures in the community, goods and services, and Canada's own symbols.
Open communities and cultures
Physical education and wellness
Moving and feeling good
What activity does to the body, moving safely among other people, friendship, food choices, boundaries, and what money is worth.
Open moving and feeling good
For the child
17 printable sheets
Printables
Sounding out, word families, sight words, ten frames, fact families, adding and taking away to 20, and a map of the way to school.
Print a sheet
3 games
Games
Number Line Jump, Ten Frame Flash, Word Builder — numerals, single letters and short words, on big targets.
Play a game
What changes from Kindergarten
Three things, and they are worth knowing about before the first interview.
- Reading stops being about the ear. Kindergarten worked on hearing that cat is three sounds. Grade 1 turns those sounds into letters on a page, and by the end of the year a child should be reading simple words without stopping to think about them.
- Counting becomes recall. The Alberta outcome says recall addition facts to a sum of 20. A child who works out 8 + 5 by counting has not met it yet, however reliably they get 13.
- Science gains a prediction. A Kindergarten child explores. A Grade 1 child is asked to say what they expect before they look, and then to say what they actually saw — separately.
The subjects are the same six as Kindergarten: English language arts and literature, mathematics, science, social studies, physical education and wellness, and fine arts. Fine arts is still taught from the older program of studies, so it is not covered here.
How to use this
- Start with a learning area. Each one gives the actual expectations, then defines the words — decoding, digraph, fact family, automaticity — that teachers use and parents rarely hear explained.
- Try the home ideas. They need nothing you do not already own, and most take under five minutes.
- Print a sheet when you want something on paper. Unlike the Kindergarten sheets, these have words on them on purpose — that is the year's work.
- Hand over a game when you need ten quiet minutes. No account, no advertising, nothing that asks for money.
The expectations above are paraphrased from Alberta Education's New K–6 curriculum fact sheets, which publish a snapshot of each grade rather than the complete program of studies. Alberta's full programs are at alberta.ca/curriculum.