Ireland · NCCA Curriculum Specifications
1st Class Foundations of Literacy and Expression
This course develops foundational literacy skills through immersive engagement with oral language, phonological awareness, and diverse text types. Students transition from emergent reading to independent decoding while building a rich vocabulary and a love for creative storytelling.
01The Power of Oral Language
Focuses on developing listening comprehension and expressive speaking skills through social interaction and structured discussion.
Students will identify and analyze various persuasive techniques (e.g., ethos, pathos, logos, rhetorical questions) used in speeches, debates, and advertisements.
Students will investigate the origins of words (etymology) and the structure of words (morphology, e.g., prefixes, suffixes, root words) to infer meaning and expand vocabulary.
Students will analyze the structural elements of oral narratives (e.g., exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution) and their impact on audience engagement.
Students will develop advanced public speaking skills, focusing on rhetorical devices, audience awareness, and effective delivery for various purposes (e.g., informing, persuading, entertaining).
Students will participate in structured discussions and debates, formulating critical questions, supporting arguments with evidence, and responding respectfully to counter-arguments.
Students practice organizing thoughts and speaking clearly to present a short idea or opinion.
Students will analyze and interpret multi-step, complex oral instructions or procedural texts, identifying key information, potential ambiguities, and sequencing requirements.
02Decoding the Written Word
Building the bridge between sounds and symbols through phonics, word recognition, and fluency practice.
Students will develop reading fluency and prosody (expression, rhythm, intonation) when reading age-appropriate complex texts, focusing on how these elements enhance comprehension and audience engagement.
Students will analyze how various text features (e.g., headings, subheadings, captions, diagrams, indexes) and organizational structures (e.g., cause/effect, compare/contrast) contribute to meaning in non-fiction texts.
Students will analyze various complex sentence structures (e.g., compound, complex, compound-complex) and their impact on meaning, emphasis, and author's style.
Students will develop advanced inferential skills, drawing conclusions, making predictions, and interpreting implied meanings based on textual evidence and contextual clues, rather than explicit statements.
03Exploring Narrative Worlds
Engaging with fiction to develop comprehension, empathy, and an understanding of story structure.
Analyzing what characters do, say, and feel to understand their role in a story.
Investigating how the time and place of a story influence the plot and the reader's mood.
Using clues from the text and personal experience to make logical guesses about the story.
Students learn to identify the central message or most important point of a narrative.
Analyzing the conflict within a story and how characters work to resolve it.
Students identify common elements and themes in traditional fairy tales.
Students identify common elements and morals in fables.
Students will explore how stories are reinterpreted and adapted across different media (e.g., book to film, play to graphic novel), analyzing the impact of these changes on meaning and audience.
04Writing with Purpose
Introducing the writing process to help students communicate their own ideas, stories, and information.
Students write about their own lives, focusing on small moments and personal experiences.
Students will plan, draft, and revise informational essays and reports, focusing on research, logical organization, evidence-based arguments, and objective language.
Introducing the idea that writing can be improved through rereading and making changes.
Students learn various techniques to generate ideas before beginning to write.
Students will learn to construct grammatically correct compound and complex sentences, using conjunctions and subordinate clauses to express more sophisticated ideas and relationships.
Students learn to use descriptive words (adjectives) to add detail and imagery to their writing.
Students will learn the conventions of writing various forms of correspondence, including formal letters (e.g., letters of complaint, inquiry) and informal emails or messages, adapting tone and style to audience and purpose.
05Vocabulary and Language Conventions
Developing an understanding of how English works, from sentence structure to word relationships.
Exploring how words are put together to create complete thoughts and clear meaning.
Investigating synonyms, antonyms, and how specific word choices affect the reader.
Students will master the use of advanced punctuation (e.g., commas, semicolons, colons, apostrophes, quotation marks) to enhance clarity, create specific stylistic effects, and convey nuanced meaning.
Students will explore various functions of nouns within sentences (e.g., subject, object, complement) and differentiate between different types of nouns, including collective, abstract, and concrete nouns.
Students will analyze and apply various verb tenses (e.g., past perfect, future perfect), moods (e.g., indicative, imperative, subjunctive), and voices (active/passive) to achieve specific effects in writing.
Students will learn to use adjectives and adverbs effectively to add precision, detail, and nuance to their writing, exploring degrees of comparison and adjectival/adverbial phrases and clauses.
Students will apply advanced capitalization rules, including proper nouns, titles, geographical names, historical periods, and specific literary conventions, to ensure accuracy and formality in writing.
An initial exploration of common prefixes (un-, re-) and suffixes (-ing, -ed) and their impact on word meaning.