First graders write the sounds that they hear. During the year, they will correctly write more words as they build up their lists of words they have memorized. They also learn to break larger words down into syllables and deal with them one part at a time. First graders write many three and four letter words. They practice changing beginning sounds to build families of words that rhyme.
First graders know how to write a sentence and story.
First graders know that they need to use a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence and a period or a question mark at the end. They learn to leave a space between words and sentences. The children will write stories that contain a few sentences in the beginning of the year and more sentences as the year progresses. They learn to focus on the topic about which they are writing. First graders learn to compose a variety of products.