Grade 1 English Language Arts
13 units matched to the Ontario Curriculum. Kids see this subject as “Letters & Words”.
Overall expectations
- A1 Transferable Skills: Demonstrate an understanding of how the seven transferable skills (critical thinking and problem solving; innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship; self-directed learning; collaboration; communication; global citizenship and sustainability; and digital literacy) are used in various language and literacy contexts
- A2 Digital Media Literacy: Demonstrate and apply the knowledge and skills needed to interact safely and responsibly in online environments, use digital and media tools to construct knowledge, and demonstrate learning as critical consumers and creators of media
- A3 Applications, Connections, and Contributions: Apply language and literacy skills in cross-curricular and integrated learning, and demonstrate an understanding of, and make connections to, diverse voices, experiences, perspectives, histories, and contributions, including those of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit individuals, communities, groups, and nations
- B1 Oral and Non-Verbal Communication: Apply listening, speaking, and non-verbal communication skills and strategies to understand and communicate meaning in formal and informal contexts and for various purposes and audiences
- B2 Language Foundations for Reading and Writing: Demonstrate an understanding of foundational language knowledge and skills, and apply this understanding when reading and writing
- B3 Language Conventions for Reading and Writing: Demonstrate an understanding of sentence structure, grammar, cohesive ties, and capitalization and punctuation, and apply this knowledge when reading and writing sentences, paragraphs, and a variety of texts
- C1 Knowledge about Texts: Apply foundational knowledge and skills to understand a variety of texts, including digital and media texts, by creators with diverse identities, perspectives, and experience, and demonstrate an understanding of the patterns, features, and elements of style associated with various text forms and genres
- C2 Comprehension Strategies: Apply comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading, listening to, and viewing a variety of texts, including digital and media texts, by creators with diverse identities, perspectives, and experience, in order to understand and clarify the meaning of texts
- C3 Critical Thinking in Literacy: Apply critical thinking skills to deepen understanding of texts, and analyze how various perspectives and topics are communicated and addressed in a variety of texts, including digital, media, and cultural texts
- D1 Developing Ideas and Organizing Content: Plan, develop ideas, gather information, and organize content for creating texts of various forms, including digital and media texts, on a variety of topics
- D2 Creating Texts: Apply knowledge and understanding of various text forms and genres to create, revise, edit, and proofread their own texts, using a variety of media, tools, and/or strategies, and reflect critically on created texts
- D3 Publishing, Presenting, and Reflecting: Select suitable and effective media, techniques, and tools to publish and present final texts, and critically analyze how well the texts address various topics
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.
Expectation: B2.1, B2.4 · blending and segmenting sounds to read and spell 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.
Expectation: B2.3, B2.4 · short vowel sounds and the letters that spell them
Unit 3
Sh, Ch, Th
Letter pairs that make one sound (sh, ch, th) at the start and end of words like ship, cheese and tooth.
Expectation: B2.3, B2.4 · the sounds sh, ch and th and the letters that spell them
Unit 4
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.
Expectation: B2.4, B2.5 · reading and spelling words that share a pattern
Unit 5
Sight Words
Common words like said, was, they and where that are tricky to sound out. Children practise finding, using and spelling them so they can read them at a glance.
Expectation: B2.4, B2.5 · reading and spelling common words
Unit 6
Word Jobs
Telling past, present and future apart, spotting describing words and action words, and choosing joining words like and, but, or and because.
Expectation: B3.2 · verb tenses, describing words, and joining words in sentences
Unit 7
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.
Expectation: B3.2 · singular and plural nouns
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.
Expectation: B2.7, B3.2 · describing words, opposites and vocabulary
Unit 9
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.
Expectation: B3.1, B3.3 · sentences, capital letters and end marks
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.
Expectation: B3.1, B3.3 · telling, asking, command and exclamation sentences, with the right end mark
Unit 11
Sound Play
Hearing rhymes, sound words (like buzz and splash) and repeated beginning sounds, and noticing how they make texts fun to read.
Expectation: C3.1 · rhyme, alliteration and onomatopoeia
Unit 12
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!
Expectation: C2.6, C3.3 · who, where and what happens in a story
Unit 13
Think It Through
Reading a short story, finding the main idea and details, and using clues to work out what is not said.
Expectation: C2.6, C3.2 · finding the main idea and making simple inferences
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