Week 1 of 8
Week 1
Kindergarten → 1st Grade · Counting 1 10 and Beginning sounds
Math
Counting to 10
Saying and writing the numbers 1 to 10 in order, and knowing which number comes next. The first half of kindergarten, often before children can write the numerals neatly.
The mistake to watch for. Reciting "one two three" fluently but losing track when counting real objects — the words run ahead of the pointing finger.
How to help. Have your child move each object into a pile as they say its number. When the mouth and the hand stay together, the count stays accurate.
A worked example
Look at 4, 5, ___, 7, 8. Count up from 5: five, six, seven. The number between 5 and 7 is 6, so the missing number is 6.
Reading & language
Beginning Sounds
Hearing that words starting with the same letter start with the same sound. Early-to-mid kindergarten, alongside letter recognition.
The mistake to watch for. Matching by what a word looks like or means instead of how it sounds — pairing "whale" with "web" because both are animals, not because they start the same.
How to help. Cover the rest of the word and say only the first sound out loud, exaggerated: "mmm-ilk." Isolate the sound before asking for a match.
A worked example
Which word starts with the same sound as 'b': ball or sun? Say the first sound of each word: b-all and s-un. Ball starts with the /b/ sound.
Words for this week
- count
- To say numbers in order to find out how many there are.
- number
- A word or symbol that tells how many, like 5 or twelve.
- next
- The one that comes right after.
- order
- The way things are arranged, one after another.
- ten
- The number 10, one more than nine.
- sound
- What you hear when you say a letter or a word.
- letter
- One of the symbols we use to write words, like a, b or c.
- alphabet
- All the letters of a language in their order, from A to Z.
- vowel
- The letters a, e, i, o and u. Every syllable has a vowel sound.
- consonant
- Any letter that is not a vowel, like b, c, d or f.
- word
- A group of letters that has a meaning.
Read this week
Bear
A short animals 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.