Are you coming to FIRST GRADE? Well, if you liked kindergarten (and who didn't), you'll love first grade, too!

While you're having fun in the sun this summer, you might want to think ahead! Here are some ideas that will help you get ready for a fantastic first grade year!

Read, read, read! I know that your kindergarten teacher read LOTS of great books to you! Have mom or dad continue to read to you all summer! Keep a list of books that you've read, and next to each title draw a happy face if you liked the book, a sad face if you didn't. You might even want to write a sentence about WHY you felt that way...then bring the list to your teacher in August! She'd love to see what kinds of books you enjoy!

I bet you learned your letters and sounds in kindergarten! Keep practicing over the summer. Play games with your family, like thinking of things that begin with a certain letter. Play memory games, where you match the letter with a picture of something that begins with that sound. We'll review the letters and sounds in September, because they are SO important when you're learning to read!

I bet you did a lot of writing in kindergarten, too! Keep writing, listening to the sounds and writing the letters. Keep a journal of your summer adventures, or write letters and postcards to family and friends. If you write a story, bring it to your teacher in August -- she'd love to read it!  You can even draw pictures to go with your story!

Writing in first grade is also about writing on LINES! You may want to practice a bit this summer, remembering to start writing from the top of the line, and using the pencil grip you learned last year! Practice writing BOTH your first and last names, using a capital letter and then lower case letters.

You did a lot of counting and math work in kindergarten, too! Practice counting PAST twenty - can you make it to 100? Can you count by ten's to l00? Work on writing your numbers 0 through 10. Sometimes in kindergarten you might have made them "backwards" - can you write them all so that they face the right way?
At the end of kindergarten, you may have worked on simple number sentences, like 2+2. Can you do others?

Most of all, have fun this summer and relax! You'll do FINE in FIRST GRADE! Bring anything that you've worked on to school so your teacher can enjoy it too!

If your mom or dad has any questions, they can e-mail Mrs. Webb!