1st grade English Language Arts
13 units matched to the California Content Standards. Kids see this subject as “Letters & Words”.
Focus areas
- Reading literature and informational text: phonics, fluency and short texts
- Writing: writing sentences about a topic
- Speaking and listening: sharing ideas and building on what others say
- Language: grammar, vocabulary and conventions
Units
Unit 1
Blend It
Blending sounds into words (s-u-n makes sun), counting the sounds in a word and hearing the last sound. These listening skills are the base of reading and spelling.
Learning standard: RF.1.2 · blending and counting the sounds in words
Unit 2
Short Vowels
Hearing the short vowel in the middle of words like cat, bed, pig, dog and sun, and filling in the missing vowel to spell the word.
Learning standard: RF.1.3 · decoding words with short vowel sounds
Unit 3
Word Families
Words that share an ending, like cat, hat and bat. Once children know one word in a family, they can read and spell many more by changing the first sound.
Learning standard: RF.1.3 · reading words in common word families
Unit 4
Sh, Ch, Th
Letter pairs that make one sound (sh, ch, th) at the start and end of words like ship, cheese and tooth.
Learning standard: RF.1.3 · reading words with the digraphs sh, ch and th
Unit 5
Sight Words
Common words like said, was, they and where that are tricky to sound out. Children practice finding, using and spelling them so they can read them at a glance.
Learning standard: RF.1.3 · reading common high-frequency words by sight
Unit 6
Sentences
Starting sentences and names with a capital letter, ending with a period or question mark, telling whole sentences from parts, counting words and finding naming words.
Learning standard: L.1.1; L.1.2 · writing complete sentences with capitals and end marks
Unit 7
Story Time
Reading short stories, then naming who is in them and where they happen, and putting the events in order. Reading the story aloud together and talking about it helps a lot!
Learning standard: RL.1.3 · describing the characters, setting and events in a story
Unit 8
Describing Words
Opposites (hot and cold) and describing words that tell how something looks, feels, tastes or sounds, including finding the describing word in a sentence.
Learning standard: L.1.5 · describing words and opposites
Unit 9
More Than One
Plurals: adding -s to a naming word means more than one (one cat, two cats). Stretch questions add -es to words like box and fox.
Learning standard: L.1.1 · adding -s to name more than one
Unit 10
Kinds of Sentences
Knowing a telling sentence from a question, a command and an exclamation, choosing the end mark, and seeing sentences with two ideas joined.
Learning standard: L.1.1; L.1.2 · telling, asking and exclaiming sentences
Unit 11
Think It Through
Reading a short story, finding the main idea and details, and using clues to work out what is not said.
Learning standard: RI.1.1; RI.1.2 · finding the main topic and using details in a text
Unit 12
Messages All Around
Children look at everyday messages, like signs, ads, cards and videos, and practice asking who made them, why, and how they make us feel. This is the media literacy part of the standards.
Learning standard: SL.1.2; RI.1.6 · asking and answering questions about everyday messages in pictures, words and other media
Unit 13
Story or Facts?
Children practice telling books that tell stories from books that give information, and noticing what pictures add to the words.
Learning standard: RL.1.5; RI.1.6 · telling stories from information books and what pictures and words each tell
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