First Grade Exit Skills
by Kerry Crain
November 24, 2009
Parents if you are interested in knowing what is expected from your child in first grade, look and see what the first grade exit skills are in reading, math, and writing.
Secure Exit Skills
The following is a list of Secure Exit Skills that your child will
need to master before being promoted to Second Grade. These skills
are worked on daily in the classroom and need to be reviewed at
home as well. If you have any questions about the Secure Skills
please contact your child’s teacher.
First Grade Math
1. Read and write two digit numbers
2. Perform rationale counting – for example being able to look at a
set of objects and knowing how many objects there are in the
set
3. Identify place value in two digit numbers – for example in the
number 25 the 2 represents the number of tens in the tens column
and the 5 represents the number of ones in the ones column
4. Use cents notation
5. How money amounts with coins
6. Understand meaning of addition and subtraction
7. Solve addition and subtraction number stories
8. Add and subtract using the number grid
9. Find patterns in addition and subtraction facts
10. Use symbols +, -, =
11. Write addition and subtraction sentences
12. Measure to nearest inch
13. Recognize pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters
14. Tell time on hour, half-hour and quarter-hour
First Grade Reading
Short vowels - Example /a/ as in hat, /e/ as in egg, /i/ as in
pig, /o/ as in hot, /u/ as in but
Base words and ending –s, -ed, and –ing Example- picks, picked, and
picking
Digraphs th, sh, wh, ch, tch Example- thin, she, when, chip,
itch
Beginning and ending blends Example- /fl/ as in flood or /sp/ as in
crisp
Long vowels with silent /e/ Example- bike or ride
Sequence of Events Example-What happened first, next and last?
Story Structure Example-Name the characters, setting, problem and
solution.
Cause and Effect Example- What would happen to a pig if he rolls in
the mud? If the pig rolls in the mud, he will get dirty!
Realism (could this happen in real-life?) or Fantasy
(make-believe)
Compare and Contrast Example- Big cats to Pet cats
Main Idea and Details Example- What is the story about?
Making Predictions What do you think will happen next?
High Frequency Words (sight words)
Fluency 40-60 words per minute Based on Running Records
First Grade Writing
1. Uses capital letters at the beginning of a sentence and with
names
2. Uses end punctuation
3. Writes sentences that express a complete thought
4. Writes legible sentences with appropriate spacing
5. Writes a eight sentence paragraph about one topic - All
sentences in the paragraph stay on a topic
