Learning activities for 1st graders: 50 classroom activities for 1st grade

50 classroom activities for 1st grade

This blog shares ideas for using Wixie to meet standards and learning goals with first graders, whether they are learning at school or at home. Select the image for each idea or use the text link to open a template you can assign as a teacher, or use as a student, immediately.

If your child uses Wixie at school, they can log in at home to create and share their learning through a combination of text, images, and voice narration! Your child’s teacher may even be suggesting activities by assigning templates that will show at the top of your child’s Wixie home page. (If your child doesn’t have Wixie, sign up for a free trial account you can use for 90-days.)

Find more ideas, samples, and lessons for first grade at: https://static.wixie.com/edu/first-grade

1. Create a digital greeting

Even though it has only been a few days, if you are practicing social distancing, your child is likely missing friends and family. Try forging a connection with a digital message. Simply capture a picture of your child or something they have created and use the microphone tool to record a message. Copy the URL at the top of the Wixie page and email/text to share it. (template)

2. Create a scratch art picture

Use the eraser tool in Wixie to create a scratch art picture. If you are studying seasons, make an image of spring. Original scratch art also makes a great image for a digital greeting (see above). 

Search “scratch” for a range of scratch art activities. Use a template like spring or flowers and erase to create a spring design. (template)

3. Learn about artist Piet Mondrian and color in his style

Dutch painter, Piet Mondrian, is best known for his work that used primary colors, white and black in simplified lines and shapes on canvas. Visit the Tate Museum’s page about Mondrian with your child to learn about this artist and his work.

Then use the Mondrian Coloring page in Wixie to create your own version. To find it, search “Mondrian” at your student or teacher Wixie home page. (template)

If your child is ready to create in Mondrian’s style, ask them to draw an animal and color it like a Mondrian.

You can also use Mondrian’s technique to explore color and shape words and practice counting in the Mondrian Math lesson plan.

4. Read a story and compare yourself to the main character

Read a story on your own or with a parent. Search “compare” in Wixie and open the “Main Character and Me” Venn diagram template. (template)

Add text, pictures and voice narration to show how you are similar and different from the main character. Think about:

• I live…
• I look like…
• I feel…
• I have…

5. Create a collage

Add images to a blank Wixie page to represent something. For example, you could represent events in story or your day or even things you see during a particular season.

6. Explore antonyms

Explore antonyms with your child. Read Dr. Seuss’s The Foot Book and create a list of antonyms with your child. You can start them off with things like hot/cold, high/low.

Have your child create a page in Wixie that illustrates an antonym pair. Use the microphone tool to record their explanation.

Step-by-step directions for creating antonyms in Wixie

7. Go on a shape hunt

Read a book like The Shape of Me and Other Stuff by Dr. Seuss. Then walk around your home and find shapes, like rectangles and triangles, or even cylinders and spheres. 

Use the Image button and Camera tab to capture the shapes you find and add them to Wixie. Search “3D” for a book template. (template)

Explore a Seeing Shapes lesson plan

8. Make a wish

Search for “wish” at your Wixie home page and open the My Wish activity. Use the Image button and Camera tab to capture a photo of yourself blowing out a dandelion. Select the circle shape below the tools to change it from a rectangle to an oval. Type your wish in the bubble. (template)

9. Take a 5-senses walk

Go outside and walk around your yard or neighborhood. What do you see, hear, smell, touch, or taste? When you come back inside, search Wixie for “observation” and open the 5 Senses Observation template. Add text or pictures to show what you observed for each sense. (template)

10. Share learning about community helpers with a sentence strip

Now more than ever community helpers are essential to the health and success of our world. Have students share what they have learned about a community helper by drawing a picture and writing a sentence. (template)

Students can use the microphone tool to record how they feel this job is important. If you know someone who works in that field, share the project with them to show your appreciation!

11. Use virtual manipulatives

Math manipulatives provide a tangible way to help students see and grasp the nature of numbers and procedures. Search Wixie for “base ten” to find a range of templates that use base ten blocks to help students visualize place value. (template)

More ideas for using Wixie’s library of virtual manipulatives for math

12. Explore life cycles

As changes in the seasons become more visible, get students thinking about cycles in nature. Search “cycle” to find templates in Wixie, paint your own, or even tell a cycle story. (template)

13. Send a virtual high five

Many people are going above and beyond to respond to the pandemic. Show your appreciation with a virtual high-five. Has a friend connected on a regular basis, did you meet a friendly new neighbor, open something fun from your grandparents?

Search “five” in Wixie, add text or voice narration to show your appreciation and decorate with paint and images. Copy the project URL to share digitally via email. (template)

14. Reading comprehension: character and setting

Read a book on your own or with a parent. Use the New button to start a new Wixie project. Use the paint tools to draw the main character in a setting from the story. Use the Microphone tool to record a description. (template)

15. Simple surveys and great graphs

Survey your friends, family members, and neighbors about a favorite book, sport, food, game, or at-home activity. Collect your survey findings using tally marks to practice counting. (template)

Explore a Simple Surveys and Great Graphs lesson plan.

To celebrate your favorite book, work as a class to create a new version of your favorite picture book. Explore the Curriuclum>Language Arts>Reading>Literature folder for sample templates or check out these ideas for book adaptations.

Have each student create a single page and then use the Import Pages feature in Wixie to collect them into a single class book. Share the URL with families, export as a PDF or eBook, or embed on your classroom web site.

17. Make a map

To help students build map reading skills, have them go outside their home (with the help of a parent) and figure out which direction is north, south, east, and west. (template)

Assign the “By My House” template in Wixie and ask students to create a map that shows important places in their neighborhood and where they are in relation to their home.

18. Decorate an Easter Egg

Wixie includes a folder of activities for April in the Curriculum>Month-by-Month folder. Open the Paint an Easter Egg activity and have your child decorate using Wixie’s paint tools. (template)

Print the file, cut out the eggs, and use as Easter decorations. You can even write notes on the back and hide around your home for an egg hunt or give to a friend as an Easter greeting card.

19. Capture reading fluency

Capture student fluency using the recording tool and Wixie templates with prose and poetry passages for grades K-3.

Log in and search “fluency” or browse Curriculum>Language Arts>Reading>Fluency for passages from The Secret Garden (template) and the poem, “As I was going to St. Ives.” (template). 

20. Counting and value with Roman numerals

When students start to get the hang of how to decompose numbers 11–19 into tens and ones, challenge them to add in fives as well with roman numerals. Not quite the visual aid of base ten blocks, and will help them bridge the concrete with the abstract representations of numbers.

Search “roman numeral” in Wixie to find a template like this one, or take advantage of the Roman Numeral folder in the Math collection in Wixie’s image library. (template)

Math is fun has a great page on the rules of writing Roman numerals, but remember in this activity, you are looking to assess understanding of value, so for comprehension IX could also be VIIII.

21. Review and rate a book

Have learners write a review of a recent book they have read. Share with friends and other students to give them ideas for new titles they can read to help keep them from getting bored at home in quarantine! (template)

Explore a Five-Star Book Review lesson plan.

Explore more creative book review ideas.

22. Write your name in hieroglyphics

Many first graders can associate the ancient Egyptians with pyramids, mummies, and even hieroglyphics. Hieroglyphics were pictures used as a form of writing, representing words, ideas, and even sounds. Students can work with hieroglyph sounds in Wixie using the Hieroglyphics Alphabet library. (template)

Search for “cartouche” (the Egyptian symbol that went around hieroglyphs to show they represented a name) at your Wixie home page to find and open an activity that asks students to write their name with these symbols. When they select the Image button in Wixie, the Stickers library opens directly to the hieroglyphic alphabet.

Learn how to choose a specific clip art library to show for a Wixie activity

23.

Play with patterns

Learning how to identify and create patterns like ABA or ABBA helps build foundations for future math, even algebra! Wixie includes several activities for building and practicing visual patterns. You can also have your child draw a pattern or use images added to a blank page. (template)

24. Identify character traits

Ask your young learners to recall and retell key details about a character in a book you are reading. Search “trait” in Wixie to have the draw a picture of the character and type or record words about the character’s physical traits, feelings, and actions. (template)

Find more ideas for character trait projects and step-by-step directions

25. Tell a tangram story

A tangram is a Chinese puzzle made from a square cut into seven different shapes, called tans. You use these shapes to make the square, as well as a range of other shapes.

At your Wixie home page, search “tangram” and open the Tangram Story file. Have your child use the pieces in the tangram to make their own composite shape and tell the story of the happy square. (template)

26. Record your positive actions

What did you do for the environment on Earth Day? Draw a picture, write a sentence and record yourself in Wixie! You can also use Wixie to create a poster to inform others about environmental issues. (template)

27. Observe with a new perspective

So much of what we see about our world depends on our perspective. While young students are still working to show what they observe through their sense of sight, they can practice taking someone else’s perspective in a fun project like sharing a view of the world from the eyes of an insect. (template)

You can also ask them to complete an empathy map and then write a story about a day in the life of an insect or a letter to one of their insect friends.

28. Draw your own Tree for Arbor Day

Gustav Klimt’s “Tree of Life” is one of his most recognizable paintings. Search “Klimt” in Wixie and use the Eraser tool to create your own Klimt-style tree using a scratch art-style template. (template)

Scratch art drawing in Wixie is done with the Eraser tool, not the paint brush! 

29. Write a 5 senses poem

In addition to reinforcing scientific observation, engaging the five senses is a great way to help young learners add description to their writing and practice vocabulary. Assign the “5 Sense Poem” template to make it easier to add ideas textually, or remove the text boxes and have them record their ideas. (template)

If your learners would benefit from a little direction, provide a specific topic for their poem.

30. Jungle Gym Geometry

Design your own jungle gym using shapes! Search” Jungle Gym Geometry” in Wixie to find a multi-page template focusing on both identifying specific two-dimensional shapes and creating a large composite shape for a jungle gym design. (template)

Read more about this lesson to learn about specific standards addressed and skills needed.

31. Make words

How many words can you make from the word: rainbow? Search “rainbow” at your Wixie home page, or browse the Curriculum>Month-by-Month>April folder to find this template. Drag the letters from the word at the top to make new words in the space at the bottom. (template)

You can find more “make words” activities by browsing Curriculum>Language Arts>Word Play

32. What if you could be going places?

Call or video chat with someone who lives far away or read about a new place to learn about the weather and culture in that location.  Use a “Going Places” template in Wixie to show the weather, what you would pack to wear, and what you would do in that location.  (template)

33. Share data with a glyph

Like hieroglyphics, glyphs use pictures to represent information. Glyphs are a great way to get young learners to follow directions and play with how data can be displayed.

Search for “butterfly glyph” in Wixie to find a template students can use to share information about how they spent their week by adding symbols to a butterfly’s wings. Be sure they use the record button to explain their work. (template)

34. Create a thank you card for your teacher

Send your teacher a digital thank you for Teacher Appreciation Day! Start a blank Wixie page and use the paint tools to create an original drawing. You can also use the image button and camera option to capture your picture! (template)

Use the microphone tool to record your voice and let your teacher know how much you appreciate (and miss!) them. They would really love to hear from you. 

Sweet note from a student today using Wixie. Happy to see she understands the situation. #Wixie #missmystudents pic.twitter.com/6BfCLfns7v

— DES Media Magic (@VerlichMj) April 8, 2020

35. Become flexible in your thinking about numbers

Number sense and computation are way more than memorizing addition facts. We want students to be powerful with numbers, see similarities between addition and subtraction and be flexible with their mathematical thinking.

Search for “add to” at your Wixie home page to find templates that challenge students to add to numbers between 9 and 19 a range of ways, with more than one right answer to each problem. (template)

36. Write about your favorite relative

Practice opinion writing through a favorite relative project. Give structure to your emerging writers by asking them to state their opinion, share 2-3 reasons why, and finish with a concluding statement. Share students’ work with their favorite relative. (template)

Read more about this project on Creative Educator.

Explore a My Favorite Relative lesson plan

37. Adapt your favorite pattern story

Read one of your favorite pattern stories and create your own adaptation. Wixie includes templates for favorites like Brown Bear, Brown Bear, It Looked Like Spilt Milk (template), Cat in the Hat, and more. Use this list of titles to turn your emerging readers into writers!

Explore an Adapt a Pattern Story lesson plan.

38. Create memories for Mother’s Day

If you haven’t gotten your handmade Mother’s Day gift ready, open a blank page in Wixie and draw a picture to create a printed card. Use the microphone tool to record a message and send as a digital greeting. (template)

Explore more ideas for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day

39. Practice telling time by the hour and half-hour

Students in first grade are just learning to “tell and write time in hours and half-hours using analog and digital clocks.” Wixie includes a range of “tell time” templates ranging from concrete identify the time on the clock tasks to retelling time from stories like Eric Carle’s The Grouchy Ladybug (template). 

Students can also use Wixie’s paint tools to draw a picture and indicate the time of day by adding an analog or digital clock to the image. (template)

40. Persuade for a pet

Humane Societies and Pet Rescues are reporting record numbers of adoptions during quarantine. Encourage your students to write a letter or create a presentation in Wixie to persuade their family to get a new pet, supporting their opinion with reasons and examples.

You can also search for “cluster” and “OREO” for graphic organizers to support research and thinking. (template)

Explore a Persuade for a Pet lesson plan.

40. Write your own word problems

Visualizing word problems in Wixie by using the paint tools to draw models or by adding images from the media library can help students better identify key pieces of a problem and the relations between them. 

Get step-by-step directions and more ideas for getting started with word problems in Wixie.

41. Send a chalk art message

To get a bit of a break from quarantine more and more people are walking the neighborhoods and many kids are creating chalk art messages to make them smile or give hope!

Search Wixie for “chalk” to find a template you can use to create a digital chalk art message. Export the image or copy the URL and send to a grandparent or share with an elderly neighbor who can’t get outside. (template)

42. Inform others

Even the youngest learners can inform others about the topics they are learning. Instead of struggling with writing or typing, have students use Wixie to simply add an image of the animal to a page and use the microphone tool to record to share information orally. Perfect for ELLs.

43. Create a digital word wall

Students can use the “word wall” template in Wixie to create their own word wall. Assign to each learner so they can add words they do not know from books they are reading or hearing. Have students look up the meaning in a dictionary or ask a parent or teacher to help them define and add a picture and even voice recording. (template)

44. Create a class memory book

Use Wixie to create a memory book filled with each student’s favorite event from the school year. Have students use Wixie’s image, text, and recording tools to create their page, combine them together into one file in your teacher account, and publish online, as PDF, or print. (template)

Explore step-by-step directions for this idea.

45. Partition shapes

Search “partition” in Wixie to find a range of practice and play activities that ask students to “partition circles and rectangles into two and four equal shares, describe the shares using the words halves, fourths, and quarters, and use the phrases half of, fourth of, and quarter of.” (CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.G.A.3) (template)

46. Build a sand castle

Is it summer yet? In any case, it’s time to build a sand castle. Search “castle” at the Wixie home page and drag the shapes to make a virtual sand castle. Great activity for learning to build composite shapes! (template)

46. “Carve” your own petroglyph

Petroglyphs are objects carved into rock by prehistoric people. Search “petroglyph” at your Wixie home page to find a template. Assign to students and they can use the Eraser tool to “carve” their own petroglyph image. Use the microphone tool to tell the story of the rock art. (template)

47. Explore length and measurement

In order to build foundations for future measurement, students need to understand that you “express the length of an object as a whole number of length units, by laying multiple copies of a shorter object (the length unit) end to end.” They also need to practice measuring with these smaller units so that they span the entire length with no space between.

Have students use pennies to measure small objects in their home, by lining them up alongside it. Search Wixie for “length” to find templates like this one to practice their skills. (template)

This sort of activity helps students build the technology skills they need for future online testing.

48. Build foundations for scientific thinking

Encourage your students budding inquiry by using a modified approach to the scientific method. Search “inquiry” at the Wixie home page to find the Inquiry – Primary template. (template)

Have students use it to draw pictures and describe how they learn about the world. The template guides them to begin with observation and hypotheses to progressing to thinking about how they can test their idea and then analyzing the results.

50. Explore place value with hieroglyphics

The Ancient Egyptians counted with base ten as well, using sticks to represent 1 and a cow pen to represent 10.  These symbols make a great next step to moving from counting units to representing quantities with symbols, in other words, numbers!

Explore the Base Ten folder in Curriculum>Math>Numbers and Operations or search “hieroglyphics” to find templates you can use to help students practice. (template)

Fun learning games and activities for 1st graders

Looking for some fun ways to help your child learn important skills while keeping busy? Try some of these fun, teacher-tested activities for 1st graders.

1. Create a personalized placemat

   This activity will help your first grader build reading and writing skills.

2. Number sense

   This number-sense game played with dice helps your first grader build math concepts such as “greater than” and “less than.”

3. Create a noisemaker

   This easy-to-create noisemaker makes amusing sounds. The activity reinforces observation, asking questions and experimentation – important skills in building scientific knowledge.

4. Map that house

   By creating a map of your house, your first grader will build mapping skills and learn that a map is a representation of an area.

5. Create a mummy

   Making shawabtis, small mummy-like statues that were used in Egyptian tombs, helps children learn about Egyptian art and culture, while exercising their imagination.

6. Create a family memory Book

   With the help of a word-processing program and a digital camera, your first grader can build computer skills and create a wonderful book about his family.

7. Feel the music

   First graders can use their natural interest in art and drawing to express how different music makes them feel.

8. Accordion book fun

   By making her own book, your first grader will build reading and writing skills.

9. Keeping a journal

   First grade is not too early to start keeping a log of daily activities and observations. This practice builds writing skills.

10. Speed spelling

    This fun word-building activity will help your child master spelling skills.

11. Get moving

    When your child practices skipping, hopping, galloping and side-stepping, she’ll be building coordination and endurance skills.

12. Make your own wrapping paper

    Printmaking using fruits and vegetables is a fun art activity to try at home.

13. Make a story map

    Have your child make a story map to sequence the beginning, middle and end of a story.

14. Shape walk

    Go outside with your child and look for shapes.

15. Does it sink or float?

    In this activity your child makes predictions about what objects will sink or float, tests the objects and then classifies them.

16. The “scents” of smell

    Have your child explore the sense of smell by having her guess different scents.

17. Letter collage

    In this activity your child explores letter sounds by making a collage.

18. Word family flip book

    Have your child create this fun flip book to practice reading.

19. Develop a mental image

    Have your child make a mental image of a passage that has been read aloud.

20. Make a pop-up book

    In this activity your child makes a creative book to write a story in.

21. Food fractions

    Here’s a clever and tasty way to review fractions with your child.

22. Make a storytelling board

    In this activity your child acts out a story with a hand-made storyboard.

23. Living things and nonliving objects

    Have your child find living things and nonliving objects.

24. Describe an object

    In this activity your child writes about an object in detail.

Psychological characteristics of a first-grader | Methodological development (preparatory group):

Psychological characteristics of a first-grader.

When a child enters school, a new age period begins. The leading activity of the first grader is changing. Now it’s not a game, but a study. In domestic psychology, such scientists as D. B. Elkonin, V. V. Davydov, G. A. Tsukerman, and others dealt with the personality of a junior schoolchild. It is formed in the process of life, and depends on many factors. The motives for learning are connected with the aspirations of the student and with his basic needs. At different stages of education and development of the child, along with changes in objective relations, the attitude of the student to reality, as well as the motives of his educational activity, also change. As practice shows, the majority of first-graders who started studying at the age of six do not yet have a learning motivation. Game motivation dominates.

The dominance of learning motivation is prepared by the course of the mental development of the student in the early stages of ontogenesis. By the crisis of seven years, play activity, as a leader, exhausts itself in the formation of “zones of proximal development”, but only on condition that the child has gone through all the stages of development of the game.

For the formation of learning motivation, motives that are indirectly related to learning are needed. For example, the child’s desire to learn something new about himself and the world, the student’s desire for a new social position. These motives are formed as early as preschool age, and are transformed into a learning motive in the course of purposeful learning.

The formation of learning motivation is also associated with the development of cognitive interest in school. This is due to the first grader’s reaction to the new rules, new people and environment.

I. V. Bityanova notes that purely formal interest in learning (beautiful school supplies, etc. ) is rapidly fading away, therefore, from the first days of study, it is necessary to form an interest in the content of knowledge.

The development of cognitive motivation in a child of primary school age can be represented as follows:

1. Interest in the external attributes of the school.
2. Interest in learning outcomes, in particular cases in grades.
3. Interest in ways to acquire knowledge.

Thanks to the still childish spontaneity, respect for one’s teacher, a social motive develops. A first-grader strives to be useful to others, responsibly performs the tasks assigned to him. If a student is dominated by a social motive, then he goes to school in order to take a new position in society – the position of a student. The first-grader is not interested in the opportunity to gain knowledge, but in the personal assessment that the teacher gives him. The dominance of the social motive leads to both positive and negative results. In a successful case, the student focuses on successful classmates, and gradually begins to be interested in knowledge. But it often happens that the child seeks the praise of an adult, and this “obscures” the educational content.

I. Yu. Kulagina writes that the motives for learning in a first-grader are unstable and poorly understood. To form them, special efforts are needed on the part of the teacher. The motivational system of a younger student is still in its infancy. Because of this, the first grader needs to strengthen independence and curiosity, at the same time orient him to the mandatory school rules. Without the support of an adult, the motives of a first grader do not always become effective. As a result, the student’s motivational sphere not only affects the success of education, but also reflects the process of the child’s entry into school life.

At the beginning of school life, a first grader does not need theoretical knowledge as a psychological basis for learning activities. Only in the process of real assimilation of elementary theoretical knowledge by the student does this need arise.

LS Vygotsky believed that the development of the psychological basis of learning does not precede the beginning of learning, but takes place in inseparable internal connection with it, in the course of its progressive movement.

Learning activity is a joint activity of a child with an adult. In this regard, the student appropriates the content of the main forms of social consciousness, which is theoretical in nature. Mastering this content, the student develops a theoretical attitude to the world, theoretical thinking and consciousness are formed.

Psychologists VV Davydov and DB Elkonin identified the main structures of learning activity. They included learning tasks, learning activities, monitoring and evaluation activities. According to scientists, the formation of educational activity is the process of transferring the right to exercise control and evaluation from the teacher to the student. In this case, control becomes self-control, and evaluation becomes self-esteem. D.B. Elkonin identified the parameters necessary for the successful mastery of educational activities:

• Ability to subordinate one’s actions to rules;
• Ability to focus on a given system of requirements;
• Ability to listen to the speaker, perform the task according to the perceived visual image;
• The ability to independently perform tasks according to the perceived visual image.

These parameters characterize the lower level of development of arbitrariness, on which the teaching of first-graders is based.

DB Elkonin said that if we compare learning and play activities, it is easy to notice the differences between them. It is important to note that educational activity has a mandatory, arbitrary and productive character. At the same time, play activities are carried out purely at the request of the child, based on the free choice of plot and partner. To achieve the result, the child needs to realize it in the form of an appropriate goal. Thus, the most important task of the mental development of a younger student is his independence, including mental independence.

As mentioned above, learning activity is also characterized by arbitrariness. The success of its formation depends on how much the child can control his emotions, cognitive activity, relationships with other people. The regulation of behavior in a first-grader is closely related to the arbitrariness of all mental processes that provide the formulation of a goal, allowing the child to follow the principle of “need” and not “want”. In this regard, the arbitrariness of mental processes is central to neoplasms of primary school age.

At the same time, an important component of learning activity is the learning task. It consists of the following educational activities:

• Analysis and transformation of the conditions of the problem in order to discover the relationship of the object or phenomenon under study with other objects or phenomena;
• Construction on this basis of meaningful abstraction and meaningful generalization;
• Extraction from abstraction and generalization of private relations and their combination into a single object;
• Control over the implementation of actions;
• Evaluation of the effectiveness of solving the problem and the effectiveness of mastering the mode of action.

It follows that the junior schoolchild masters the general method of mental construction of the scheme of the studied object. When solving a learning problem, the student is faced with the need to mentally imagine the final result of his actions. This is possible only with the help of mental development of the intended result. Along with this, the ability to act on the inner plane is attributed to neoplasms of primary school age.

The intellectual development of first-graders was studied by such psychologists as L. S. Vygotsky, D. B. Elkonin, V. V. Davydov, G. A. Tsukerman, M. M. Bezrukikh, M. R. Bityanova, etc.

By the beginning of the school years, the cognitive sphere of the child is sufficiently developed. By the age of 6, the child has relatively formed all analyzers, which are the basis for the development of different types of sensitivity. By this age, the sound-altitude distinguishing ability increases, visual acuity improves, and the accuracy of color discrimination improves.

By the age of 6, children have formed spatial relationships, such as “front – back”, “above – below”, “left – right”.

When perceiving time, first graders already understand that time cannot be returned, stopped, slowed down or accelerated. That is, children realize that time does not depend on the desires of a person. In temporal space, a first-grade student is focused on the present “here and now”.

Thinking. When a child enters school, the most significant changes can be seen in the sphere of thinking. It acquires a generalized and abstract character. L. S. Vygotsky called primary school age a sensitive period for the development of conceptual thinking. Thus, thinking becomes the center of the child’s conscious activity in the learning process.

In the process of learning, thinking begins to acquire a theoretical character. A first-grader begins to think in scientific terms, which in the future become the basis of thinking.

Perception. The process of perception is a holistic reflection of objects and phenomena of the surrounding world, which is carried out with the help of the senses. The perception of the first grader is well developed. The student names and distinguishes colors, shapes of objects, correlates them by size, understands their position in space. According to this, a child of primary school age has well-formed sensory standards.

However, the perception of a first-grader is still undifferentiated. The child perceives complex figures as a whole, without analyzing the parts and their relationship. When a younger student examines an object, he singles out only bright, conspicuous properties. Gradually, throughout the entire primary school age, the perception of children improves, becomes arbitrary, turning into targeted observation. This education occurs due to the perceptual activity of the child – a purposeful study of the perceived object.

Memory. The memory of a younger student acquires a pronounced character. Its changes are connected with the fact that the student is aware of a special mnemonic task, separating it from any other. And also the first-grader is intensively forming memorization techniques. The teacher directs the methods of meaningful memorization, as well as methods of reproduction. Teaches schoolchildren by methods of dividing the material into semantic parts, drawing up a plan of answers.

Attention. Especially actively at primary school age such process as attention develops. Without sufficient formation of attention, the process of learning at school becomes more complicated. During the lesson, the teacher draws the attention of students to the educational process, keeps it, switches from one job to another. First graders are already much more attentive than preschoolers. But schoolchildren are still dominated by involuntary attention. It is difficult for them to concentrate on the same work for a long time.

Gradually, in the educational activity, the voluntary attention of the younger student develops. In the process of learning, the child learns to do his work independently, and not under the constant supervision of the teacher. The student himself begins to set goals and control them. Precisely control over one’s activity is voluntary attention.

Speech. The development of thinking and speech development are inextricably linked. By the first grade, the child must master speech – it must become “truly native.” At the beginning of primary school age, such a characteristic feature of preschool speech, egocentricity, disappears. Inner speech begins to develop rapidly. It performs such a function as planning. A contextual form of speech is formed, the content of which is revealed in the context. The beginning of schooling gives impetus to the development of written language, which will be improved in the future.

The following authors considered the sphere of communication of a first grader: GA Tsukerman, AV Zaporozhets, MI Lisina and others. Living in the same environment, the student begins to understand that he has a new responsibility. He not only needs to attend school, but also obey all the rules of educational activities. The so-called freedom of preschool life is replaced by submission to the new requirements of school life. Parents of first-graders begin to control their children in a new way, due to the need to attend school regularly and do homework. The demands placed on the child, even in the most benevolent form, imposes on him responsibility in relation to himself. This kind of responsibility initially creates in the child a feeling of loneliness and alienation from the family, since he himself must organize his new life. Of course, parents are concerned about the school problems of the child. It is the family that helps to master the requirements for the student, to accept them as a necessary condition for educational activities. Thanks to such support, the child develops a need for recognition. The nature of adaptation to school and intra-family relations develop in him a sense of personality.

A special place is occupied by the relationship between the child and the teacher. The first grader endows the teacher with the qualities of a parent: he is respected and loved by the child, but at the same time inspires fear. This kind of fear and reverence for the teacher is quite normal for primary school age. In addition, the first grader is emotionally dependent on the teacher. But gradually the child begins to realize the true merits and demerits of his teacher. It is important for adults, in particular parents, to help the student overcome the fear of the teacher, to teach him to perceive him as an ordinary person. The perception of the teacher by the student also depends on the style of communication that is inherent in the teacher himself. At school, as well as in family relationships, communication style varies from authoritarian to conniving.

Communication with peers also plays an important role in the mental development of a first grader. Assimilation of new rules, as well as the need to adapt to a new social situation, leads to an increase in conformity. However, as younger students adapt to new conditions, group differentiation occurs: their leaders and “outcasts” appear in the class. According to this, in the lower grades, popularity is determined by the attitude and assessment that the teacher gives the child, as well as the actual performance of the student.

GA Tsukerman investigated the role of cooperation with peers in the mental development of a first-grader. Her conclusions were that the student learns educational material better by working together in a group of peers than by working together with a teacher. The opinion of G. A. Zuckerman coincides with the opinion of J. Piaget, who contrasted the relationship “child-adult” and “child-peer”.

GA Zuckerman suggested that cooperation between peers is different from cooperation between a child and an adult. In the relationship between an adult and a schoolchild, functions are divided: an adult sets goals, controls and evaluates the child’s actions. At first, the student performs any new action with an adult, the adult’s help gradually fades away, the action is internalized, then the first-grader performs it independently. Based on the foregoing, a vicious circle arises. On the one hand, a child cannot master a new action without an adult; however, with the participation of an adult, a younger student cannot fully master the action (the action of evaluation and control). They remain with adults.

Because of this, the help of an adult is not enough to internalize all aspects of objective actions. It happens that students make mistakes in actions that have already been formed. In order to find and correct the mistake, they need encouragement from an adult. G. A. Tsukerman explains this by the fact that the teacher transfers the operational composition of the action to schoolchildren, but remains the holder of goals and meanings. As long as the teacher remains the center of the learning situation, the action of control and the last word remain behind him, because the learning actions are not fully internalized by the students.

Relationships between peers affect the process of internalization differently than the relationship between an adult and a child. G. A. Zuckerman says that peer relationships are the link between the beginning of the formation of a new action when working with an adult and independent internal action. Relationships with classmates give the student the experience of control and evaluation actions and statements. In the process of analyzing the relationship of children, G. A. Zuckerman identifies two characteristics of this activity. The first is independence from an adult. The teacher organizes the work, and the students do it on their own. This ensures that the partner’s positions are taken into account, which leads to the development of reflexive actions. The second is the focus of children on the way of their actions and the actions of a partner.

Thus, from the foregoing, we can conclude that the leading direction in the mental development of a first-grader is the intensive intellectual development of the child. Develops verbal and logical thinking. The main mental neoplasms of a first-grader are analysis, planning, reflection. The internal position of the student and learning motivation are formed. It is during this period that the child develops the ability to communicate, build relationships with classmates and teachers.

Age characteristics of educational motivation of first-graders with intellectual disabilities

The motivational component of the personality is formed throughout a person’s life, thanks to motivation, a person solves life problems and achieves success in any kind of activity. In children, the process of “growing into human culture” is always supported by the child’s inquisitive attitude to the surrounding reality, which is provided by an interest in the world, a desire to learn and master it. In the case when a child starts systematic learning, it is important that, along with cognitive motivation, the motivation for learning would be formed [3]. The problem of learning motivation has never lost its relevance, including due to its importance for the optimally effective organization of the educational process.

The presence of motives for learning activities adequate to the age of the child is a reliable guarantee, as well as a marker of its success. In addition, age-appropriate learning motivation is the driving force behind successful learning. At the same time, the motivational component of the personality is determined by the level of social and intellectual development of a person [2,3,4].

The inclusion of a child in learning activities also entails changes in the hierarchy of the leading motives of activity: gradually, the game motive, the motive for achieving success in activity is replaced by the motive of evaluation and the learning-cognitive motive.

The study of age characteristics of the motivation of educational activity of students with intellectual disabilities is of great importance for building a correction program aimed at the personal development of children, the formation of their educational interests, and the activation of the cognitive sphere in the learning process. At the same time, it is important that psychological and pedagogical work in this direction be carried out from the first days of the child’s education at school in order to prevent secondary “social dislocation” at subsequent stages of education [1]. The teacher’s knowledge of the features of the motivational sphere of pupils will ensure their “soft” entry into the educational process, the availability of training, and the interest of children in learning new things.

The literature provides some information concerning the features of the formation of the motivational sphere of younger students with intellectual disabilities. The authors point to the predominance of external motivation for learning, the dominance of the play motive of learning activity in children with intellectual development problems [7,8].

The purpose of our study was to study the peculiarities of the motivation of educational activity of first-graders with intellectual disabilities, which should be taken into account when developing a system of correctional and developmental work in the learning process already in the first grade. To achieve this goal, a stating experiment was conducted, aimed at identifying the level of formation of educational motivation of students with intellectual insufficiency in the first grades. The content of the ascertaining experiment included observation and conversation with children, as well as the following experimental methods: “Determination of learning motives” by M.R. Ginzburg, “Colored Petals” by I.A. Fedorova, “Ladder of Inducements” by A.I. Bozhovich, I.K. Markova, projective technique “What do I like at school?” N. G. Luskanova, “Assessment of the level of school motivation” by N. G. Luskanova. The experimental study was carried out in the third quarter of the academic year (February-March). 45 first-graders took part in the ascertaining experiment: 15 of them were children with delayed mental development, 15 first-graders with mental retardation, studying in special (correctional) schools 13, 22, 34 in St. Petersburg (EG1 and EG2, respectively). The control group consisted of 15 normally developing peers with low academic performance, studying at the secondary school 112 in St. Petersburg (CG). Such a sample of children in the control group is due to the fact that it seemed important to us to determine the differences in the structure of motivation of children with normative development poorly prepared for school and children with varying degrees of intellectual disability.

Analyzing the results of the study, it is important to note that all children had a positive attitude towards interaction with the experimenter, often with interest. The most informative experimental data concerning the attitude of children to school, the level of motivational readiness for learning, the dominant motives for learning were obtained in the course of a conversation with children, as well as using the projective technique “What do I like at school?” N. G. Luskanova. This article is devoted to the analysis of the results of this part of the experiment.

During the conversation, only six subjects of the control group found a more stable readiness for schooling (they said that they liked lessons at school more than breaks, they liked school more than kindergarten, etc.). They argued their desire to go to school in the following way: “I go to school because I can’t miss a single lesson, because it’s important for me that I know everything”, “Yes, because there you can learn something that you don’t know “,” To learn, to gain knowledge. Five first-graders of this group showed an ambivalent attitude towards school: “I don’t know, it happens in different ways, sometimes I want it, sometimes I don’t want it”, “So-so, because sometimes they ask a lot of homework”. Moreover, three children of this group said that they like it better in kindergarten, and found a pronounced game motivation for activity. Four children of this group openly stated that they are not very good at school, because the lessons are, “Not very, they give a lot of lessons”, “Not very, boring”. And if three children would prefer to be in kindergarten, then one student said that there is no desire to be “Neither there, nor there.” Moreover, these four children like change more.

If the answers to the questions of normally developing first-graders were logical, did not contain contradictions, the same position regarding schooling was broadcast by the child throughout the conversation, and the content of the answers indicated that the child understood the question, then the statements of children with intellectual disabilities were often mutually exclusive. Children often gave “known” answers and immediately “given out” themselves, revealing their true position in relation to school and teaching, some showed an incomplete understanding or even a misunderstanding of the essence of the issue.

First-graders with mental retardation (EG1) can be conditionally divided into two groups. Six of them confidently spoke about their love of going to school: “I love it, of course, because I love getting knowledge”, “I love it, because I’m interested in knowing everything”, “I love it, because there are friends here, my favorite three lesson”, “I love because I will learn. I will know everything. I’ll get good A’s. I’ll be a good girl,” they know why they need to study: “To get an A”, “Yes, because you have to study at school.” However, only two children consistently demonstrated a conscious desire to learn. In the answers of the rest of the children, it was found that the child likes kindergarten more, or the change seems very attractive (“Change is more-more”), or the teaching is associated with growing up (“They say something. And if you understand everything well, then you will definitely grow up quickly and have children). Only one subject from EG1 confidently answered that he did not like to go to school: “No. There are only lessons, few changes. They run out so fast. I don’t rest. I can’t make it.” The remaining eight first-graders with mental retardation associate their desire to go to school with the opportunity to have fun playing with friends (“I love it because it’s fun there”, “Well, yes, because it’s fun here”, “I love going to school. I like it during recess”, “ I love because when there are no lessons, we play”, “Yes, because all my friends are there”), someone likes the teacher (“Yes, because I like the teacher. I like everything”). Even if the children claimed that they love going to school, their answer testified that they were not attracted to school at all by teaching: “I love it, because there will be holidays after school”, “Yes, it’s so fun. School. I like holidays.”

At the same time, the choice between types of learning activities (reading, writing, solving problems) and personally significant interests was often made in favor of a game or favorite pastime: “Walking”, “Riding a bicycle”, “Playing Lego”, “Assembling Lego”, ” Draw”, “Watch a cartoon”, “Play on the computer”, “Play on the phone”. Only four first-graders with mental retardation definitely chose educational activities.

The immaturity of learning motivation in children with mental retardation is also evidenced by such statements: “I can say that at school they give delicious lunches in the canteen. On technology, you can build any house and you can write all the letters that you know. To the question “Why do you go to school?” two children gave inadequate answers: “Because it will be a day off and holidays tomorrow”, “Because you have to walk forward like a robot, but now it didn’t work out. ” In addition, three out of fifteen first-graders with mental retardation would prefer to attend kindergarten: “In kindergarten, because you can relax there”, “In kindergarten, because when I was walking, I saw one red butterfly.”

As for the mentally retarded first-graders, their answers can be traced firmly assimilated by them statements of adults about the importance of learning for them (see Table 1). Almost all children said that they like to go to school, out of fifteen subjects, only two admitted their unwillingness to attend an educational institution. At the same time, the love for school is maintained in mentally retarded first-graders by various factors (games with friends, excellent grades, love for the teacher, etc.). Evidence of the lack of learning motivation in most children in EG2 is that 10 out of 15 subjects like the change more. The weakness of educational motivation or its complete absence in the children of this group was also clearly manifested when choosing between the type of educational activity and their favorite pastime: the majority preferred computer games, drawing, modeling. Interesting additional information was provided by the answers to the question-suggestion: to tell the preschooler about the school. It turned out that educational topics are represented in only three very general answers of children to this question. The five subjects were unable to “say” anything to their imaginary younger comrade. Some associatively conveyed the most vivid impressions associated with the school (social, subject). Two showed a negative attitude towards school. And only three subjects stated that they “study well” at school, but it is quite possible that such an answer could have been influenced by the attitude of surrounding adults, which is constantly broadcast to children.

Table 1. Children’s answers to the questions of the conversation

The experimental data obtained during the conversation were also confirmed in the results of the projective methodology “What do I like at school?” N.G. Luskanova, which makes it possible to reveal the unconscious motives of educational activity (see Fig. 1). It is important to note that the drawings of five junior schoolchildren with low academic performance in a mass school (CG) correspond to a given topic, however, they reflect the game situations of school life, which indicate a positive attitude of children towards school, but their predominant play motivation for learning. Four normally developing first-graders conveyed learning situations in their drawings (a teacher, a student at the blackboard, etc.), which suggests that these children have learning motivation, activity, and a focus on learning. Three students are attracted to such aspects of school life as sports, dining, school supplies. The depiction of situations of a non-educational nature testifies to the positive attitude of these children towards school, but their greater focus on external school attributes. The drawings of three first-graders did not at all correspond to the school theme. The children explained their choice of the depicted by the fact that “they do better with such a drawing.” This version of the task was characteristic of children with an overestimated level of aspirations and difficulties in school adaptation associated with the need to strictly fulfill school requirements.

Five first-graders with mental retardation in their drawings depicted situations of a non-educational nature, school supplies: the school building, classmates at recess, four students drew toys, tablets and computers, which indicates their lack of focus on learning. Three children with mental retardation reflected in their works the play area of ​​the class, games with classmates during walks and breaks. It turned out that in the drawings of students with mental retardation, the game motive of educational activity significantly prevailed, which indicates the immaturity of the motivational sphere of this group of children at the initial stage of schooling. Only one first-grader with mental retardation displayed the learning situation of the lesson in his drawing. Two children with mental retardation did not cope with the task: one of them said that he draws badly, and the second preferred to draw on his favorite topic.

Figure 1. Results of the task “What do I like about school?” students of the experimental and control groups (n).

Four younger schoolchildren with mental retardation preferred the image of the external attributes of the school. In three of the drawings, situations related to educational activities were guessed, and three subjects did not at all associate the depicted with teaching and school, they drew their favorite toys or what they could do. Three first-graders with mental retardation drew non-educational situations related to the game, which indicates the dominance of the game motive of school life in them. For two students with mental retardation, the task was completely inaccessible, they did not even try to depict something in their drawing.

It should be noted that for the children of both the experimental and control groups, it was characteristic that often, while drawing and briefly saying “I like to study at school”, after some time they slipped off the given topic and continued to draw according to their choice. This can be explained both by the weakness of voluntary regulation of activity and by the fact that a holistic picture of school life is just beginning to take shape in the minds of first graders and learning activity has not yet become personally significant for children.

This fact is confirmed in the answers to the questions of the conversation, aimed at identifying the attitude of students to academic subjects. An analysis of the children’s answers allows us to conclude that, as a rule, students of all groups find it difficult to name school subjects. At the same time, students with intellectual disabilities (EG1 and EG2) use the names of school supplies or a brief description of the content of the lesson (“we write”, “read”, “draw”, etc.) in the answer, which may also indicate a weak interest of children in learning activities (see Fig. 2).

Figure 2. The results of the answers of children in the experimental and control groups to the question of a conversation about school subjects (n)

It is known that social relations between participants in the educational process affect not only the psychological climate in the classroom, but also the attitude of each child to school and learning [2,6,8]. Therefore, it seems important to analyze another indicator of first-graders’ readiness for learning by determining who is a personally significant subject of learning activity for first-graders. Answers of first-graders to the questions of the conversation: “Who are your comrades? Who are you friends with? showed that only 10 junior schoolchildren with mental retardation have classmates in their circle of friends. This distinguishes them from normally developing peers, among whom 14 subjects of the control group and 13 children from EG2 consider their classmates to be their friends (see Fig. 3).

Figure 3. The results of the answers to the question about the friends of the children of the experimental and control groups (n)

At the same time, if normally developing children have friendly relations at primary school age, they are already beginning to form, then mentally retarded children, having a limited circle of friends, most likely simply cannot rank someone else among their comrades. It can be assumed that the difficulties of interaction with classmates in children with mental retardation arise due to the fact that they have a low level of formation of self-regulation and communication skills, therefore they often become the initiators of conflicts and quarrels in a peer group.

The answers received to the questions “Who helps you in your studies?”, “Who is your assistant?”, “Who is it more interesting for you to study with?”, allow us to say that personally significant subjects in learning activities for the majority of normally developing schoolchildren (8 people) are the parents. An even greater number of children with mental retardation (9 people) also consider their parents to be their main assistants in their studies. Six mentally retarded students in the first grade, first of all, count on the help of a teacher (see Fig. 4).

The fact that children with mental retardation feel more secure in the family unites them with poorly performing, normally developing first-graders. Studies show that by the end of the first year of study, a teacher becomes a socially and emotionally significant person for normally developing students [5]. However, both the children of the control group and the majority of first-graders with mental retardation consider their relatives (mother, father, grandmother or grandfather) as assistants in their studies.

Figure 4. The results of the answers of the children of the experimental and control groups to the question of the conversation about
personally significant people (n)

While for a significant part of the mentally retarded first-graders, the teacher acts as an assistant in learning, which partly manifests the concreteness of the thinking of mentally retarded children: in the children’s ideas, it is the teacher who is associated with learning. In addition, it is alarming that approximately the same number of children in all groups do not count on help in their studies from anyone and rely only on themselves. Perhaps this is due to the peculiarities of the family situation of the development of these children.

An experimental study of the educational motivation of first-graders allows us to draw the following conclusions:

1. Most of the first-graders of both the control and experimental groups have a positive attitude towards school, while the motivational component of this attitude is different.
2. Normally developing children are more conscious of school and learning, which was manifested in their logically structured answers to the questions of the conversation, in the argumentation that was adequate to the question, as well as in the more accurate and differentiated depiction of educational and non-educational situations in the drawings.
3. Motivation of educational activity of first-graders of all groups is characterized by immaturity, inadequate structure of learning motives. The educational-cognitive motive of activity is just beginning to form in the subjects of all groups.
4. Both for normally developing poorly performing first graders and for their peers with mental retardation and mental retardation, the game motivation of learning remains essential, which seems to be an important factor in organizing the educational process in the first grade.
5. Along with the dominance of play motives for learning activities, some schoolchildren with mental retardation have a mark motive, as well as external, positional motives for learning.
6. The motivation for teaching mentally retarded first-graders is largely supported by “known” motives. The obtained experimental data testify to their superficial understanding of the essence of the doctrine, the lack of cognitive interest in the doctrine.
7. Children’s ideas about the content of educational activities are also just beginning to form in the minds of first graders. Children of all groups could not name the subjects included in the content of education in the first grade. However, in children with mental retardation, ideas about school life turned out to be more differentiated compared to their peers with mental retardation – many of them mentioned not only changes, but also vacations in their answers. In mentally retarded children, after a six-month stay in school conditions, an idea was formed only of change.
8. Personally significant subjects of educational activity for students of the 1st grade are mainly parents, most classmates are classified as friends. For mentally retarded first-graders, a teacher is a particularly significant participant in educational activities.
9. It is alarming that in the play activities of children of all groups there are mainly computer games, which deprives schoolchildren of real interaction with their peers and does not contribute to the formation of their social competence.
10. Special attention of teachers and psychologists is required by first-graders who do not receive help in their studies from anyone, and who do not have friends among their peers.