my journey in grade 1

Firstieland - First Grade Teacher Blog

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Journeys Reading Series – First Grade Activities

Journeys reading series for first grade can seem overwhelming when you first begin. There’s so much content you may be wondering “How can I fit it all in?”

Well if that’s how you’re feeling, keep reading because I’m here to tell you there’s not only a way to fit everything in, but you’ll see huge growth in your students reading abilities too! 

How Do You Fit It All In?

One of the biggest questions people seem to have when they start out with the Journeys reading series is, “How am I ever going to fit all this in every day?” 

Oh man, do I understand that feeling!  When I opened my manual for the first time I felt completely overwhelmed.  I had no idea how I would possibly teach all of these skills to my students every day. 

But I soon came to realize what a really great program it was.  I love the way Journeys introduces the letters in kindergarten. It really does a great job of letter introduction so that you can move quickly into simple CVC words.  

Journeys Reading Series – Daily Word Study

In first grade, it’s very similar.  Each skill builds on the one introduced before and it cycles back all year, so you never have to feel like your kids have to master something right away.  They keep reviewing skills over and over all year.  

But there’s a lot of new skills every day. There are spelling strategies, phonics, new sight words, grammar and writing – every day.  Plus you have to make time for the Journeys assessments . 

How do you do it all? I knew I wanted to touch on all the Journeys skills every day, but it took up so much time. 

I decided to make a program that I could use on my interactive board – one slide each day that had all the daily skills we needed to work on – the First Grade Word Study . 

How Does The Word Study Work?

Each day there’s a new slide with the skills we’re learning that week.  We work on spelling and phonics strategies, our new sight words , grammar and we play a different sight word game each day.  

We spend about 15-20 minutes a day on this whole group lesson.  The kids enjoy it and we pack a lot into this powerful daily activity.

Each lesson is interactive, which gives the students a chance to come up and participate in the word study. Students use an expo marker to add letters to words, fill in missing words in sentences and play different word study games. 

If you’re like me, and you feel overwhelmed by all the components of the Journeys series and are looking for a way to fit it all in, the First Grade Word Study   just may be your answer. 

My first grade team and I all use this every morning and it has truly changed our life!  We’re finally able to teach all the necessary Journeys skills, while still having time for everything else – Math, Guided Reading, Science , Social Studies , etc.  

If you’d like to see everything included in the first grade word study,   hop on over here  where you can see the entire set. 

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June 6, 2017 at 9:33 pm

Please make a kindergarten one!!

August 18, 2017 at 4:50 pm

Yes Please!!!

June 11, 2017 at 3:27 pm

I would love to do that someday ❤️

August 21, 2017 at 5:21 pm

Thank you so much for this! This is a wonderful tool. This is my first year using Journeys and I am overwhelmed! Your word study bundle is exactly the help I need! Thank you for such a wonderful resource! I will be buying it tomorrow when it goes on sale. 😉

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Journeys Grade 1.

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Family Connection Book Grade 1: My Journey Home (Journeys) Paperback – December 31, 2012

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• Print length 64 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Houghton Mifflin School
• Publication date December 31, 2012
• Dimensions 8.68 x 0.13 x 10.9 inches
• ISBN-10 0547928920
• ISBN-13 978-0547928920
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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Houghton Mifflin School; 1st edition (December 31, 2012)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 64 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0547928920
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0547928920
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4.8 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.68 x 0.13 x 10.9 inches

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5th -  7th  , animals vocabulary, present simple passive voice, 5th -  6th  .

Journeys Grade 1 Lesson 11

18 questions

Introducing new   Paper mode

No student devices needed.   Know more

Vocabulary: Gram and Gramp do not _______ by us.

Vocabulary: They are ______ away.

Vocabulary: Gramp and I like to swim in the _________.

Vocabulary: "It is _______," Gramp calls.

Vocabulary: What is the COLOR word in the sentence below?

Mom will find a red top in the bag.

It will go well with her black pants.

Comprehension: Base your answers on the article "At Home in the Ocean."

Why did the author write "At Home in the Ocean"?

to get you to swim

to tell a funny story

to tell facts about the ocean

What do the labels tell?

where the plants live

what the animals eat

the names of plants and animals

From the article, what can you tell about blue whales?

They eat krill.

They eat crabs.

They eat plants.

Why does the author tell about ocean animals that live in cold and warm places?

to tell how animals swim in that water

to tell what ocean animals can find to eat

to tell that ocean animals live in many waters

How fast can kelp grow?

ten feet in one day

two feet in one day

many feet in one day

Why would you read "At Home in the Ocean"?

to find tips on how to swim

to find what plants and animals live on land

to find what plants and animals live in the ocean

Phonics: Mom had a box _____ her.

Phonics: "Gram sent __________ box to you," Mom said.

Phonics: "Can I play with ________ jet?" Seth asked.

Phonics: Fan and Tan ________ to get the snack.

Phonics: Jeff is __________ to the sand pit.

Phonics: He ____________ the strip at the end of the track.

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How Tesla Planted the Seeds for Its Own Potential Downfall

Elon musk’s factory in china saved his company and made him ultrarich. now, it may backfire..

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Featuring Mara Hvistendahl

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When Elon Musk set up Tesla’s factory in China, he made a bet that brought him cheap parts and capable workers — a bet that made him ultrarich and saved his company.

Mara Hvistendahl, an investigative reporter for The Times, explains why, now, that lifeline may have given China the tools to beat Tesla at its own game.

On today’s episode

Mara Hvistendahl , an investigative reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading

A pivot to China saved Elon Musk. It also bound him to Beijing .

Mr. Musk helped create the Chinese electric vehicle industry. But he is now facing challenges there as well as scrutiny in the West over his reliance on China.

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Katrin Bennhold is the Berlin bureau chief. A former Nieman fellow at Harvard University, she previously reported from London and Paris, covering a range of topics from the rise of populism to gender. More about Katrin Bennhold

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Here's how much money I made as a software engineer at Meta, Apple, and Oracle

• Sandeep Rao is a software engineer who has worked at Meta, Apple, and Oracle. 
• When he first started his career as a new graduate, his compensation was only $15,000.
• He explains how, thanks to high performance and negotiation skills, he now makes nearly $700,000. 

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sandeep Rao, a 32-year-old software engineer based in San Jose, California. Business Insider has verified his income with documentation. This essay has been edited for length and clarity.

My salary journey in Big Tech has seen my total compensation — which includes base salary, bonuses, and stocks — increase from $15,000 in 2012 to $685,000 in 2024.

I'm a staff software engineer and have worked at three different tech companies, moving from Oracle to Apple to Meta. Over my career, I've led the development of successful software apps and features from scratch that are used every day by millions of people across the world.

While I have made my career moves primarily based on which areas of software engineering I'd get to work on, compensation is also important to me, so I've been strategic and negotiated for higher salaries with each move.

Tech companies use tools like additional equity to retain high-performing employees. In my experience, if you're consistently a top performer at your organization, it's certainly possible to keep your pay at or above market level and have a rewarding career within your company.

I took a low-paying job to get my foot in the door

While I got my undergraduate degree in electrical engineering , I realized midway through college that software engineering was my passion and pivoted to pursue a career in software instead.

My first job was as a software developer at Oracle in India. While Oracle isn't generally low-paying in the tech industry, my salary of 850,000 rupees, or $15,000, was low compared to what new grads were making at that time in competing Big Tech companies like Microsoft or Amazon because it was a "take it or leave it" new grad offer.

The work was unappealing to me because it didn't align with my career interests — I didn't want to continue building expertise in that specific area of software engineering — but I took it to get my foot in the door of a Big Tech company and build credibility.

I knew I eventually wanted to end up where all the action is — Silicon Valley . I worked at Oracle from 2012 to 2014, and during this time, I applied to graduate schools in the US because I felt a formal computer science degree would help me compete with the talented people in the Valley.

I got accepted into a graduate program in computer science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. I left behind my family and friends in India and moved to the US with nothing but a suitcase and $65,000 in student debt.

Grad school was hard, but the doors it opened for me made the struggle worth it.

I was ecstatic to get a job at Apple

I finished grad school and got a job as a software engineer at Apple in Cupertino, California, where my base salary was $115,000.

I was ecstatic to work at one of the best companies in the world and felt my dreams were coming true. But I realized I wanted to work on more direct user-facing applications rather than on technology that ran under the hood.

Initially, I considered looking for new opportunities within Apple, but between high taxes, the high cost of living, and my student loans, I felt more compelled to switch companies, given that I'd likely receive a significant salary bump .

I had gotten a very small cost-of-living raise on my base salary at Apple, but it wasn't significant; not getting a bigger raise wasn't a big motivator in my decision to change companies, but it certainly made my choice easier.

My negotiation skills helped me get a 10% salary increase

At the end of 2017, I moved to Meta (then Facebook) in Menlo Park, California. I wanted to experience the culture of younger internet-based companies whose products are used by billions of people.

When I received my offer, I did my research to get a clear understanding of what my market value was and what salary I wanted to land on. I also learned what parts of my total compensation are negotiable, such as stocks and the sign-on bonus, and what is non-negotiable, like base salary and annual bonuses.

I was prepared to negotiate and walked away with an offer of $140,000, which was 10% more than their original offer.

In 2021, I landed a large-scale project at Meta that added a lot of value to the Messenger app and worked with several cross-functional teams across engineering, design, data science, and legal.

My accomplishments, such as this one, and high performance at work got me the promotions, visibility, and leverage to negotiate for higher pay and a successful salary journey.

Every year between 2018 to 2023, my base salary increased — as did my total compensation — through a combination of performance-based yearly stock refreshers, additional boosts from promotions, and stock market appreciation.

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Compensation in a tech career usually gets more and more equity-heavy than salary-heavy, so base salaries don't increase as quickly as equity, but my salary and total annual compensation steadily rose:

2012-2014: $15,000 total compensation

Grad School

2014-2016: $0 total compensation

Student loan debt: $65,000

2016: $130,000 total compensation

2017: $165,000 total compensation

2018: $230,000 total compensation

2019: $240,000 total compensation

2020: $350,000 total compensation (promotion)

2021: $510,000 total compensation

2022: $375,000 total compensation (promotion, but total compensation dropped due to stock price drop)

2023: $545,000 total compensation

In 2024, I'm projected to make $685,000 through a combination of base salary, bonuses, and stock.

Five strategies for increasing my compensation package

Over the years, I learned five salary strategies that helped me grow my salary and overall compensation:

1. Always do your homework about market rates for your role, level, and location — especially when you switch jobs.

Switching jobs is a good way to increase your income.

Even if money may not be the primary motivator for a job switch, I always make sure to be conscious and strategic about my compensation by doing salary research to avoid leaving any money on the table.

When I started doing salary research during my switch to Meta, I found out my market value was much higher than what I was making at Apple at that time. This helped me start my negotiations with Meta at the market rate rather than the salary I was making.

I used Levels.fyi , Blind , and Glassdoor to find salary information and clearly understand my market value. Keep yourself updated on these benchmarks even if you don't plan on a job change anytime soon, so you know you're on par with the market, and any salary difference is offset by other factors such as better work-life balance.

2. Never let your bad salary "baggage" carry over to your new job.

If your salary isn't up to market standards right now, don't let it affect your pay at the next job. Otherwise, it'll lead to a cycle where you'll be underpaid for the rest of your career.

Employers and recruiters could use your salary history to give you only a modest raise, while your actual market value could easily be double or triple your most recent salary.

In California, labor laws make it illegal for employers to ask you about your current salary and salary history. You're also allowed to ask potential employers for the pay range for the position you're applying for.

If your state has similar protections, just being aware of this law can help you make any corrections to your pay during negotiations. This helped me start offer negotiations from my market value instead of my current pay.

3. Sometimes, you have to take a leap of faith to make that 10x impact on your career.

That could involve switching from a non-tech job to a tech job or taking a short-term hit for long-term gain. For example, I picked Oracle for my first job despite the low pay and unappealing work so I could build credibility to get into a Tier 1 grad school.

I also took a loan of about $65,000 to pay for Carnegie Mellon, even though I could have chosen to go to a cheaper public university.

Deciding to work at Oracle and attend Carnegie Mellon cost me a few years and a lot of debt, but doing so opened doors unlike anything else, and I haven't looked back ever since.

4. Negotiate to keep your base salary from falling behind

It's inevitable for your salary to fall behind as you stay longer at a company, especially in tech due to restricted stock unit (RSU) "cliffs."

Most RSU packages offered to new employees in the tech industry have a two- to four-year vesting period. Unless the employer offers a significant pay bump along the way, total compensation usually takes a drop after this vesting period. Many companies also offer annual performance-based stock refreshers to lower this salary gap, but they're usually not as large as the initial grant. 

If you love working at your company and feel forced to move just to get a raise, you can ask your senior leadership to make a "correction." After all, it's much more expensive and time-consuming for employers to hire new people than to retain good employees.

Most Big Tech companies have employee retention programs like additional or discretionary equity. Additional equity programs are mainly used to retain high-performing employees, so they're usually highly selective.

This is how I was able to keep my compensation at or above market level despite spending six years at Meta. When I was reaching the end of my vesting period in my fourth year, I had a conversation with my senior leadership to see if there was any room for a pay correction so I could go back to focusing on my work 100% without worrying about salary.

Being prepared with my predicted compensation drop and market data greatly helped me build a cogent narrative going in. If you're consistently a top performer at your organization, it's certainly possible to keep your pay at or above market level and have a rewarding career within your company.

5. Don't assume people will reward your work or anticipate your needs — ask.

Always ask for what you want , whether it's a raise or that interesting project that just came in. The worst that will happen is you'll get a "no." If you don't ask, nobody will know, or even worse, people may assume that you're happy with what you have and move on. 

I used this strategy when I heard of a new company initiative and asked to be a founding engineer because I was looking to create more impact in my role. Despite the high risk and ambiguity involved, I successfully delivered on the projects, which eventually led to a promotion. None of this would've been possible if I hadn't asked. 

At the end of the day, you're your biggest advocate when it comes to your salary and career journey. There's no substitute for hard work, but being strategic about how you achieve your goals can go a long way. Sometimes, you have to take big risks and step out of your comfort zone to get that high-paying dream job.

If you want to share your career progression and salary journey, email Jane Zhang at [email protected] .

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