Week 3 of 8
Week 3
1st Grade → 2nd Grade · Number bonds 20 and Long vowels silent e
Math
Number Bonds to 20
Pairs that make each number up to 20. Throughout first grade.
The mistake to watch for. Knowing bonds to 10 solidly but starting over from scratch for the teens, rather than using 10 as a landmark.
How to help. Ask "how far to ten, then how much more?" every time. The bonds to 10 already known do most of the work.
A worked example
What goes with 13 to make 20? Count up from 13 to 20: that is 7 steps. You can also see it with tens: 3 + 7 = 10, so 13 + 7 = 20.
Reading & language
Long Vowels: Silent E
Recognizing that a silent e at the end of a word makes the vowel say its own name — cap becomes cape. First grade, right after short vowels and blends are solid.
The mistake to watch for. Pronouncing the silent e as its own syllable, or forgetting it changes the vowel at all and reading "cape" as "cap".
How to help. Show the pair side by side and ask what changed. Naming the rule ("silent e jumps back and changes the vowel") sticks better than drilling word lists alone.
A worked example
Add a silent e to 'cap'. The e says nothing, but it makes the a say its own name: cap becomes cape. The same thing turns kit into kite and hop into hope.
Words for this week
- part
- One piece of a whole. In 3 + 4 = 7, the parts are 3 and 4.
- whole
- All of something. In 3 + 4 = 7, the whole is 7.
- total
- All of the things added together.
- pair
- Two things that go together.
- twenty
- The number 20, two tens.
- vowel
- The letters a, e, i, o and u. Every syllable has a vowel sound.
- silent
- Not said out loud. The e in cake is silent.
- letter
- One of the symbols we use to write words, like a, b or c.
- sound
- What you hear when you say a letter or a word.
- word
- A group of letters that has a meaning.
Read this week
Spinosaurus
A short dinosaurs & fossils article from our Learn library, chosen for this reading level. Read it together, then ask your child to tell you one new thing they learned.