United States · Common Core State Standards
1st Grade English Language Arts
This curriculum develops foundational reading, writing, and speaking skills through a focus on phonics, text analysis, and narrative structure. Students transition from decoding simple words to analyzing complex story elements and composing their own structured narratives.
01The Magic of Reading and Phonics
Students explore the relationship between letters and sounds while building fluency in decoding and basic sentence structure.
Focusing on isolating, blending, and segmenting individual sounds in spoken words to build a base for reading.
Students practice blending consonant-vowel-consonant sounds to read simple words and identify common word families.
Students learn to identify and blend common digraphs (sh, ch, th) and consonant blends (bl, st, tr) in words.
Students explore the 'magic e' rule and other patterns that create long vowel sounds in words.
Building a bank of high frequency words to improve reading speed and comprehension of simple texts.
Students practice reading grade-level texts with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression to support comprehension.
Introducing nouns as naming words for people, places, animals, and things, and identifying them in sentences.
Introducing verbs as action words and identifying them in sentences, understanding their role in expressing what is happening.
Learning to form complete sentences and use capitalization and end punctuation (periods, question marks, exclamation points).
Students learn to identify and use adjectives to add detail and description to nouns in sentences.
02Characters and Story Worlds
Students dive into narrative texts to identify story elements and understand how authors use illustrations and words to tell a story.
Analyzing how characters react to events and how their feelings change throughout a plot.
Students explore why characters make certain choices and how their motivations drive the story.
Examining where and when stories take place and how the setting influences the plot.
Students identify the main problem characters face and how they work to solve it.
Learning to summarize stories by identifying the beginning, middle, and end.
Students compare two texts by the same author or about the same characters, identifying similarities and differences.
Students explore why authors write stories (to entertain, inform, persuade) and how to identify their purpose.
Students practice making personal connections to stories, connecting stories to other stories, and connecting stories to real-world events.
Introducing students to the joy of poetry, focusing on rhythm, rhyme, and sensory language.
Students read and discuss fables and folktales to identify morals and universal lessons.
03Exploring the Real World
Students engage with informational texts to learn how to extract facts and use text features to navigate non fiction.
Identifying headings, tables of contents, and glossaries to find information efficiently.
Distinguishing between the primary topic of a text and the specific facts that support it.
Developing the habit of questioning a text to deepen understanding and find specific evidence.
Students compare and contrast information presented in two different non-fiction texts on the same topic.
Students learn that authors have a point of view and how it might influence the information presented.
Students analyze how images, diagrams, and charts contribute to understanding in informational texts.
Students practice locating and recalling specific facts and details from non-fiction passages.
Students identify cause-and-effect relationships in informational texts, such as why something happens and what happens as a result.
Students learn to use context clues and glossaries to understand new vocabulary in non-fiction texts.
Students learn basic research skills by finding information from multiple sources to answer a question.
04The Young Author's Workshop
Students apply their knowledge of language and structure to create their own narrative, informative, and opinion pieces.
Writing about personal experiences using a sequence of events and descriptive details.
Students learn to plan their stories by outlining the main events for the beginning, middle, and end.
Students focus on using sensory details and descriptive language to make their narratives more engaging.
Learning to express a preference or point of view and providing a reason to support it.
Students practice providing clear reasons to support their stated opinions in writing.
Gathering facts about a topic and organizing them to teach others.
Students learn to structure informative pieces with a clear topic, facts, and a concluding statement.
Students learn to review their writing for clear ideas, correct grammar, capitalization, and punctuation.
Students prepare their final written pieces for sharing with an audience, focusing on neatness and presentation.
Students practice speaking clearly and listening attentively when sharing their writing and ideas with peers.