First Grade

Introduction

The First Grade Report Card is a tool for the Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) to communicate with you regarding your child’s progress towards achieving California standards. If your child is meeting the expectations outlined in these standards, they will be well prepared for first grade.

Students receive marks that show progress towards end-of-year expectations. Proficiency for each expectation is a score of 3 or higher. Instead of letter grades, students receive marks that describe proficiency levels. Teachers arrive at these marks through formal and informal assessments of your child throughout the school year.

Progress Towards Standards Scale

4 Exceeds standard: Student applies standard in ways that are in-depth and beyond what was taught.

3 Meets standard: Student consistently demonstrates understanding of standard.

2 Approaching standard: Student shows some understanding of the standard.

1 Not yet approaching standard: Student needs more practice in understanding the standard.

Note: The Star Renaissance, the formal assessment tool used in grades 1-5, will measure your student’s progress in reading and math. This assessment tool is only one tool out of many and may be calibrated differently than the one-on-one assessments used in the classroom.

Overview of the Report Cards

Social-Emotional Development

Social-Emotional Development is a large part of your child’s developmental progress in first grade. Your child’s teacher will guide your child through the process of communicating with their peers as they learn to play collaboratively while understanding their emotions. Through community circles in the classroom and school-wide community meetings, first graders will practice using specific language to problem solve through lessons from our Toolbox Social Emotional Curriculum.

Social-Emotional Competency Scale

C Consistent Practice

I In Progress

G Growth Area

First Grade: Social Emotional Development

Standard	How can I support my child?
Works/plays collaboratively with others	Involve them in household tasks. Encourage your little one to help you out with everyday household chores. Encourage turn taking. Praise sharing and other kind behavior. Develop learning through dramatic play.
Knows how to communicate emotions	Use this Understanding Feelings document or feelings chart to help identify emotions. Read books together. Read-alouds about feelings.
Works to resolve conflicts with peers	Actively listening to your student is an important part of modeling how to resolve conflicts with peers. Use these toolbox tools to help.
Shows kindness and considers others’ perspectives	Use these social emotional tips at home.
Persists in hard tasks and works with focus	Tips for helping your child focus.

English Language Arts

First Grade: English Language Arts

Standard	How can I support my child?
Reading Comprehension	Reading Support Reading Tips for Families
Participates in discussions, asks and answers questions about topics and texts	Encourage your student to reread favorite books aloud. Repeated readings improve children’s fluency and comprehension.
Summarizes stories and identifies main topics in informational texts with teacher support.	Read a book together and ask your student: How is the information presented in the story different from the way it's presented in an informational text? This helps the child to think critically about the texts and identify similarities and differences.
Compares similarities and differences in stories and informational texts on the same topic with teacher support	Read a book together and ask your student: Who is in the story? What happens in the beginning, middle, and end of the story? What is this book about?
Reading Phonics and Decoding Skills
Uses grade level phonics and word-solving strategies to read unfamiliar words in a text	Letter Sound Video Two articles about phonics: Reading with your child The Alphabetic Principle
Reads high frequency words based on trimester expectations	Sight Word Cards Games to Play
Reads at trimester grade level expectations	Reading with your child
Writing
Writes narratives about events in the correct order; includes details, and provides a sense of closure	Write a story together in English or your home language. Ask your student, “Who are the characters?” “What happens at the beginning, middle, and end?”
Writes informative pieces; names the topic, supplies some facts, and provides a sense of closure	Write facts about an animal directions on how to play a game facts about space how to make something
Writes opinion pieces; states an opinion, supplies a supporting reason, and provides a sense of closure	Write together in any language. What is your favorite color? Why? Do you like sushi or cheeseburgers? Why What is your favorite season? Explain.
Prints legibly	Printing Upper and Lowercase letters Proper Pencil Grip Video Use Lined Primary Paper to promote proper spacing and letter formation. Don’t forget to encourage capitalization and punctuation.
Uses grade level writing conventions for capitalization, punctuation, and spelling	Improve writing skills at home through collaborative writing together, e.g.,making lists, thank you notes.

Print Our Family Reading Week Chart

English Language Development

The English Language Development (ELD) Section on the report card is only completed for students who are English Learners (ELs). The ELD section includes statements from the California English Language Development Standards, which describe key skills and knowledge needed by students learning English.

The California ELD Standards describe a continuum of increasing language proficiency. Emerging (1) students typically progress quickly and are learning English for their immediate needs. At the Expanding (2) level, students are challenged to increase their English skills in more contexts and apply their language skills to more sophisticated settings. At the Bridging (3) level students have moderately developed language skills and are able to apply those skills to reading and are beginning to apply those skills to writing in English. The highest level, Bridging (4), describes students who read, comprehend and write texts in English. The “bridge” describes the transition to full engagement in grade-level academic tasks and activities.

What Can Families Do to Support Children?

Take children on outings, such as programs at public libraries and rec centers, where they can interact with English-speaking children
Actively encourage children’s friendships with English-speaking children
Borrow books from the Alameda Free Library

Additional Resources for Families

Free online resources: textproject.org/classroom-materials/students

FAQs

Summative English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) What is reported on the Report Card?

There are four performance levels that a student can achieve on the Summative ELPAC. These levels are 1, 2, 3, or 4, with four being the highest. The report of results for each student gives the oral language score (a combination of listening and speaking scores), and the written language score (a combination of reading and writing) and the overall score (a combination of the oral and written scores).

What is Summative ELPAC?

What is the purpose of the Summative ELPAC?

What does the Summative ELPAC cover?

When do families receive the results?

For the spring administration of the Summative ELPAC, results are mailed to families each Fall. As a result, report cards display Summative ELPAC scores from the previous school year.

For students new to California, Initial ELPAC is administered in fall to initially place students into English Language Development (ELD) classes. The initial results are given to parents in fall and these students will also be assessed in spring with the Summative ELPAC.

Additional Resources for Families

More information can be found on the CA Department of Education ELPAC Resource page at cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/ep

First Grade: English Language Development

Applies to Multilingual Learners for Designated and Integrated ELD)

Standard	How can I support my child?
Speaks in all settings by taking turns and asking and answering questions	When reading together, ask questions about the text. Encourage them to ask questions too.
Shares opinions using simple phrases in any conversation	Ask your child about the books you’ve read together. Can they think of two books with the same topic? How are those two books the same and different?
Listens carefully to stories and discussions by asking and answering question, and retelling what was heard	While reading a picture book together, pause at a word that you know is familiar to your child and prompt them to try to read it. Encourage them to make a list of items to shop for
Tells about the main points and details from different books and multimedia for their grade level.	Read a picture book together and make connections to other books on the same topic.
Can read and write simple words and sentences with some depth.	Ask your child to write a thank you note to someone special. Encourage them to include a detail.

Booklists for children to celebrate a wide range of cultures

More Booklists- Including Bilingual Books (American Indian Heritage, Asian Pacific American Heritage, Hispanic Heritage)

History/Social Studies

First Grade: History/Social Studies

Standard

How can I support my child?

Understands the role of an informed citizen/being a member of a community

Recognizes the features of a map including directions, bodies of water, and land masses

Identifies and understands symbols, icons, and traditions of the U.S

Compares and contrasts life in different times and places around the world

Ask your student what it means to be a member of our community? What makes a good citizen? How does our community meet our needs and wants?

While looking at a map, as your student

Where is the water?
Where is Alameda?
Do you see any landmarks that you recognize?

National Park Service Map Symbols

Check out this PBS Kids video:

Flags and Their Symbols

Chat with your student about what life was like long ago. Check out this video of Market Street in San Francisco in the early 1900s. Discuss the things that are different and the same as today.

Talk with your student about the concept of money being a form of payment for goods and services.

Practice with coins at home. Identify the quarter, dime, nickel and penny.

View these family resources from Inquiry Journeys, our adopted Social Studies curriculum:

Families Near and Far Unit Tips

Our Special Location Unit Tips

Civic Engagement Unit Tips

Mathematics

Standard	How can I support my child?
Mathematical Reasoning
Reasons about problems, explains thinking, and considers thinking of others
Mathematical Concepts and Skills
Counts, reads, writes and represents objects to 120	Use any object at home (pennies, paper clips, pebbles, etc) Give them a pile of things to count Ask “What would be the easiest way to count these?” (some kids might count one by one or make groups of 5 or 10 and count by fives and tens. Roll 2 dice to make a two digit number (e.g. 35) your child can count to that number, write the number, etc. Play “What’s Missing?”
Adds and subtracts within 20 using strategies and properties of operations with unknowns in all positions	Play card games (#1,5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 15, 18, 19, 26)
Works with addition and subtraction equations	Place Value song Teaching video
Use addition and subtraction within 20 to solve word problems involving various situations where the unknown is in all positions using objects, drawings, and equations	Use the word problem chart to create word problems to solve. Say the problem (child repeats the problem) Draw a picture to help solve Write an equation (3 + _ = 7) Say the answer in a sentence
Adds within 100 using tens and ones, mentally finding 10 more or 10 less from two-digit numbers	Practice using a hundreds chart Help your student see the pattern on the number chart when you add or subtract ten from a number Use this practice sheet and have your student find the answer on the number chart. Once they understand the pattern, see if they can add/subtract 10 without the number chart.
Measures and compares objects using non-standard measurement	Measure items at home with paper clips, pennies or toothpicks Discuss the lengths of the objects by comparing them. "The ______ is shorter than the______”, etc. Video story Teaching video
Writes and tells time to the hour and half-hour	Practice using clocks at home or a digital clock Teaching video
Compares, composes, and divides shapes	Borrow pattern blocks from your teacher and see how many ways your child can decompose or compose a hexagon using all the pattern blocks. (watch the teaching video)
Identifies 2-D and 3-D shapes by attributes	Point out shapes in nature, or your house, and describe them with your child: Is it a flat shape or is it solid? Does it have corners? Straight lines? Curved lines? How many sides does it have? Corners? What is the name of the shape? What faces does it have? (3D) Make shapes with playdough, toothpicks, straws, etc. and have your child describe the shape they made (sides, faces- 3D, corners,) If you have blocks, have them build structures and identify the different 3D shapes by name that they used.
Uses tables, picture graphs, and bar graphs to show and understand data	Graph coins! Give your child a bunch of coins. Sort the coins Make different graphs about the data (picture graph and bar graph) Teaching video

Summer Math Support

ST Math Summer Letter

Summer Math Activities

Science

First Grade: Science

Standard

How can I support my child?

Asks questions based on observations to find more information about the natural and human-made world

With guidance, plans and conducts an investigation in collaboration with peers

Distinguishes between a scientific model and an actual object, process, or event; compares and contrasts scientific models

Designs and builds a device that solves a specific problem

1. Encourage Exploration and Curiosity

Ask Investigative Questions: Encourage your child to ask questions about the world around them, such as "Why is the sky blue?" or "How do plants grow?" Use these questions as opportunities to explore and investigate together.
Explore Nature: Spend time outdoors observing plants, animals, weather, and other natural phenomena. Discuss what you see and encourage your child to describe their observations in detail.

2. Facilitate Hands-On Activities

Simple Science Experiments: Engage in easy, age-appropriate science experiments that illustrate basic concepts. For example, explore how different objects sink or float in water or investigate how shadows change throughout the day.
Build and Create: Use building blocks, clay, or other materials to create models and structures. Activities like building a tower or designing a simple bridge can introduce engineering principles in a fun, interactive way.

3. Develop Observation and Recording Skills

Observation Journals: Encourage your child to keep an observation journal where they can draw pictures and write simple descriptions of what they see in nature or during experiments. This helps develop their ability to observe and record information.
Use Charts and Graphs: Help your child create basic charts or graphs to represent information they collect, such as the weather over a week or the growth of a plant. Visual

Interesting Websites to Explore:

PBS Kids Science

SciShow Kids

Wonderopolis

Physical Education

First Grade Trimester 1:

Students demonstrate motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities.	Students will demonstrate knowledge of movement concepts, principles, and strategies that apply to the learning and performance of physical activity.
Students assess and maintain a level of physical fitness to improve health and performance.	Students demonstrate knowledge of physical fitness concepts, principles and strategies to improve health and performance.
Students demonstrate and utilize knowledge of psychological and sociological concepts, principles and strategies that apply to the learning and performance of physical activities.	During the first trimester of first grade students experience PE through guided play and exploration of personal space, class expectations and play structure safety. They will develop skills necessary to play recess games and navigate the play structure safely. Developing locomotor skills will be emphasized throughout the year. Tossing, catching, throwing and bouncing small objects will be covered. We are learning about physical fitness and running laps. We perform curl-ups, trunk lifts, sit and reach stretches , and hold push-up positions twice each week. Students who receive a 3 are generally performing within expected benchmark norms. In addition to benchmarks our grades include participation and effort. Absences directly affect participation and may lower a student grade. Students should demonstrate sharing and cooperation in physical activities in the first trimester of first grade.

First Grade Trimester 2:

Students demonstrate motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities.

Students will demonstrate knowledge of movement concepts, principles, and strategies that apply to the learning and performance of physical activity.

Students assess and maintain a level of physical fitness to improve health and performance.

Students demonstrate knowledge of physical fitness concepts, principles and strategies to improve health and performance.

Students demonstrate and utilize knowledge of psychological and sociological concepts, principles and strategies that apply to the learning and performance of physical activities.

During the 2nd trimester of first grade in Physical Education we learned about movement skills to be used in simple cooperative team games. We continue to develop locomotor skills. Students are developing spatial awareness and boundaries while moving in different directions and speeds. We are refining the proper mechanics of rolling a ball to target, kicking stationary and moving balls. We are tossing and catching with small, soft objects. We are beginning to jump over a stationary rope; forward, backward, side to side.

We learned about movement with a partner. We continue to learn about physical fitness and running laps for longer periods of time. We perform curl-ups, trunk lifts, sit and reach stretches , and hold push-up positions twice each week. Students who receive a 3 are generally performing within expected benchmark norms. In addition, our grades include participation and effort. Absences directly affect participation and may lower a student grade. Students should continue to demonstrate sharing and cooperation in physical activities in the second trimester of first grade.

First Grade Trimester 3:

Students demonstrate motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities.	Students will demonstrate knowledge of movement concepts, principles, and strategies that apply to the learning and performance of physical activity.
Students assess and maintain a level of physical fitness to improve health and performance.	Students demonstrate knowledge of physical fitness concepts, principles and strategies to improve health and performance.
Students demonstrate and utilize knowledge of psychological and sociological concepts, principles and strategies that apply to the learning and performance of physical activities.	During the third trimester of first grade in Physical Education we refine the proper mechanics of dribbling a ball continuously with one hand, tossing and catching a small object and throwing and catching a small ball. We begin to explore underhand and overhand movement patterns. We introduce striking a moving and/or stationary object.Throughout the year we continue to develop locomotor skills through play and cooperative games. Students will explore dance through guided instruction. Students will have an increased awareness of aerobic exercise and how it affects the body. We continue to learn about physical fitness. We perform curl-ups, trunk lifts, sit and reach stretches, and hold push-up positions twice each week. Students who receive a 3 are generally performing within expected benchmark norms. In addition, our grades include participation and effort. Absences directly affect participation and may lower a student grade. Students should continue to demonstrate sharing and cooperation in physical activities in the third trimester of first grade.

Visual and Performing Arts

In Alameda we celebrate the famous artist Maya Lin who aptly said, “Art is very tricky because it’s what you do for yourself.”

Since art is a very subjective area to grade a student on, our priority is to ensure that children have exposure and experience with the arts.

Art Ideas for Home

Best Art Ideas for 2024

40 of the Best Art Activities for Kids

Art Hub for Kids (How to Draw Lessons)

Music

Students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) Q&A

Do teachers provide Progress Reports* on IEP Goals as well as a Standards-Based Report Card**?

Can an IEP team determine that a Standards-Based Report Card is not needed?

The IEP team on an individualized case-by-case basis will determine this decision. The team must determine the most appropriate method of grading the student and indicate so in the IEP. If the IEP team makes this determination, then it must determine what the most appropriate way is to provide meaningful information to parents on student’s progress, which may be a detailed report of a student’s progress on IEP goals.

Who provides the grades on a student’s Standards-Based Report Card?

The General Education teacher is responsible for providing grades on the report card, and may do so in consultation with a child’s Special Education teacher. Likewise, the Special Education teacher is responsible for providing Progress Reports on IEP goals, and may do so in consultation with a child’s General Education teacher. Additionally, the Special Teacher provides Progress Reports on IEP goals to families at the same time as the report card (i.e. at the end of each trimester).

Should the teacher indicate on a report card that the student has a disability?

Do accommodations affect grades (Proficiency Levels) on a Report Card?

No. Accommodations do NOT affect Report Card grades. An accommodation is a change to the teaching or testing procedures, student response, or other attributes in order to provide a student with access to information and to create an equal opportunity to demonstrate knowledge and skills. An accommodation does not fundamentally alter or lower the standard or expectation of the course, standard or test.

Do modifications affect grades (Proficiency Levels) on a Report Card?

Yes. Modifications affect Report Card grades (Proficiency Levels). If a modification has been made in the curriculum, then a student’s grade must reflect the achievement in the modified curriculum, as long as modified grades are available to all students. However, the District cannot modify grades based on the student’s special education status.

Modifications are practices and procedures that change the nature of the task or target skill. A modification is WHAT the student is expected to learn and/or demonstrate. While a student may be working on modified course work, the subject area remains the same as the rest of the class.

When students are unable to meet grade level standards, then the curriculum content may be modified per the student's IEP. Grading proficiency levels should be based on the standards a student is working on.

How does behavior, attendance, and task completion factor into a student’s grade?

Standards based grading is based on mastery of standards. Therefore, behavior, attendance, and incomplete work should not be incorporated into a student’s grade.

*Progress Reports indicate progress on the IEP goals designed to designate necessary learning for a student to access and progress in the general education curriculum.

**Report Cards provide measures of a student’s progress in the general education curriculum and are provided to parents to indicate their child’s progress or level of achievement in specific classes, course content, or curriculum.

Adapted from Riverside SELPA “Guidelines for Grading Students with Disabilities” p. 10-20

Get the Most Out of Your Conference:

LEARN MORE

LEARN MORE

Conferencing with your child’s teacher is an important opportunity to discuss your child’s progress.

Steps for Accessing Report Cards in Aeries

Before the conference:

Confirm your scheduled conference time. If rescheduling becomes necessary, promptly communicate with the teacher to arrange an alternative time.
Familiarize yourself with your child’s work.
Engage your child in a discussion about their school progress.
Reflect on your child’s strengths and areas needing improvement.
Compile a list of questions regarding your child’s development and strategies for addressing challenges. For instance:

Is my child meeting the expected milestones for this point in the school year?
In which subjects or skills is my child excelling?
How is their attendance?
What support strategies can be implemented for upcoming assignments?

During the conference:

Prepare for an interactive dialogue to gain insights into your child’s academic, social, and emotional growth. Additionally, provide the teacher with insights into your child's home environment.
Request access to data pertaining to your child’s attendance.
Ask about your child’s student work and data from assessments to support the grades given.
Collaborate with the teacher to establish goals and devise a plan tailored to ensure your child’s success.
Document the agreed-upon strategies for supporting your child.
Arrange for further discussions if needed, beyond the allocated time frame.
Seek guidance from the teacher on the most effective means of ongoing communication.

After the conference:

Share the conference insights with your child.
Follow up with the teacher to monitor your child’s progress and the implementation of the devised plan.