First graders will continue practicing the foundational conversation skills of active listening, taking turns, speaking clearly, and recalling information covered in Communication Part 1, and start building the skills of researching information and expressing their ideas in different and more independent ways.
The child in the video above is an exceptional communicator. Don't worry if your student isn't quite as polished with public speaking -- I'm not either! But this is a great example of all the communication standards your first grader will be working to develop: gathering information from a variety of sources; using appropriate images and illustrations to support a discussion or presentation; speaking clearly to express ideas; speaking with a purpose and using techniques to keep listeners engaged.
Watch it once, then go back to watch it again after asking your child to observe and think about the information and how the speaker delivered it. What do they think the purpose of Senna's speech is -- to inform? Entertain? Motivate? Persuade? How did she keep the interest of her audience -- body language? Eye contact? Humor? What are some different sources of information she used to learn about her topic? Did the images she used help get her point across? Why or why not?
What does your child really love? What are they interested in? What else are they studying right now for science or history? Has anything happened recently in your day-to-day life or the news that prompted them to ask some questions? Use their current interests as a springboard for research and presentation skills.
For example, I've been reading the Percy Jackson series aloud to my first grader this year. This has prompted a lot of interest in Greek mythology, so we could conduct research from a variety of sources about both the myths and realities of ancient Greece. We might take a look at what Daily Life in Ancient Greece was like, along with this Treasury of Greek Mythology which links the ancient stories to real constellations, history, geography, and culture. We might listen to some episodes of the Greeking Out podcast from National Geographic Kids, watch some TED-Ed Myths from Around the World videos, and take a virtual tour of the Acropolis.
After taking in all of that information, there are lots of different ways he could practice communicating what he learned.
You certainly don't have to turn every interest into a big research project, though! There are easy daily opportunities to help your child practice their communication skills, simply by following their interests, having conversations, and modeling effective speaking skills such as making eye contact, and showing interest with your voice, body language, and facial expressions.
Books to Read
The titles below will help you and your student understand and develop good communication skills, covering the topics of being a good listener, understanding and using nonverbal communication techniques, giving a variety of presentations, having good discussions, and learning from some great speeches. Want us to pull books for you? Contact us at 803-799-9084 and request to have books sent to your nearest Richland Library location.