English Language Arts Curriculum
Northern Illinois District
Grade 1
I. Reading Skills
State Goal: As a result of their schooling, students will be able to read with understanding and fluency.
Learning Standard A: Apply word analysis and vocabulary skills to comprehend selections.
Phonemic awareness
Objective 1: Identify and produce rhyming words.
Objective 2: Identify beginning, medial, and ending sounds.
Objective 3: Blend separately spoken phonemes to make a meaningful word.
Objective 4: Orally separate the sounds that make up a word.
Objective 5: Segment and blend onset and rime.
Phonics
Objective 6: Identify and reproduce sounds associated with consonant letters.
Objective 7: Identify and reproduce sounds associated with vowel letters.
Objective 8: Use consonant blends and diagraphs.
Decoding
Objective 9: Use initial, medial, and final sounds to decode words.
Objective 10: Use letter-sound knowledge to decode regularly spelled words.
Objective 11: Apply knowledge of structural analysis strategies to decode new words.
· Rimes/word families/chunks
· Compound words
· Contractions
· Base/root words
· Word endings
Objective 12: Use multiple strategies to decode unfamiliar words.
Word analysis
Objective 13: Demonstrate understanding of the concept of a word.
Objective 14: Build words using onset and rime.
Objective 15: Recognize the rhythm of syllables in a word.
Objective 16: Recognize and use standard endings to base words.
Objective 17: Recognize compound words and contractions.
Vocabulary
Objective 18: Use context and prior knowledge to determine meaning of unfamiliar words.
Objective 19: Verify meanings with resource materials.
Objective 20: Recognize high frequency words and use appropriately.
Learning Standard B: Apply reading strategies to improve understanding and fluency.
Reading skills
Objective 1: Track print from left to right.
Objective 2: Develop pre-reading strategies (prior knowledge, predicting, picture clues).
Objective 3: Connect related ideas from text to personal experience.
Objective 4: Determine author’s purpose for writing a given text.
Objective 5: Self-select appropriate reading material for pleasure.
Text features
Objective 6: Know parts of a book including cover, title, author, illustrator, and title page.
Objective 7: Use illustrations to verify meaning of written text.
Objective 8: Interpret graphs, tables, maps, captions, and charts to communicate information.
Fluency
Objective 9: Identify high-frequency sight words in text and in isolation.
Objective 10: Use patterned text to encourage fluency.
Objective 11: Read instructionally appropriate material aloud with accuracy.
Objective 12: Identify and respond to punctuation clues with intonation and appropriate pauses.
Objective 13: Begin to read with rhythm, volume, and flow that reflect everyday speech.
Learning Standard C: Comprehend a broad range of reading materials.
Comprehension strategies
Objective 1: Make and confirm reasonable predictions using picture clues and text.
Objective 2: Retell a story in sequence.
Objective 3: Ask appropriate questions related to the text.
Objective 4: Apply multiple strategies while reading to aid comprehension.
· Prior knowledge
· Vocabulary
· Context clues
· Reread
· Infer
· Compare and contrast
· Identify cause and effect
· Self-correct
Objective 5: Recall and use details from text to verify and support thinking.
Objective 6: Identify the main idea of a story.
Genre
Objective 7: Identify different types of writing including fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
II. Literature
State Goal: As a result of their schooling, students will be able to read and understand literature representative of various societies, eras, and ideas.
Learning Standard A: Understand how literary elements and techniques are used to convey meaning.
Objective 1: Identify the literary elements of theme, setting, plot, and character.
Objective 2: Classify literary works by fiction or nonfiction.
Objective 3: Describe differences between prose and poetry.
Learning Standard B: Read and interpret a variety of literary works.
Objective 1: Recognize different styles of several major children’s authors and illustrators.
Objective 2: Explore instructionally-appropriate literature from a variety of genre, including poetry, fairy tales, folk tales, and fantasy.
Objective 3: Identify common themes.
Objective 4: Recognize how characters deal with conflict, solve problems, and reach their goals and relate this information to personal experience.
Objective 5: Relate character, setting, and plot to
real-life situations.
III. Written Communication
State Goal: As a result of their schooling, students will be able to write to communicate for a variety of purposes.
Learning Standard A: Use correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and structure.
Concepts of print
Objective 1: Differentiate between letters, words, and sentences.
Objective 2: Use appropriate spacing between words.
Objective 3: Use upper and lower case letters appropriately.
Objective 4: Write from left to right and top to bottom.
Grammar
Objective 5: Identify simple sentences using subject-verb agreement.
Objective 6: Identify and use the following parts of speech correctly: nouns, verbs, and adjectives.
Spelling
Objective 7: Demonstrate correct spelling of high frequency words in written work.
Objective 8: Demonstrate growth in developmental spelling stages in written work.
Objective 9: Use spelling patterns as strategies to spell unfamiliar words.
Punctuation and capitalization
Objective 10: Use capitalization correctly (i.e., beginning of sentences, proper nouns, and the pronoun “I”).
Objective 11: Use punctuation correctly (i.e., period, exclamation mark, question mark, and comma).
Sentence structure
Objective 12: Write a simple sentence using subject-verb agreement.
Objective 13: Identify three types of sentences: statement, exclamation, and question.
Word use and vocabulary building
Objective 14: Incorporate their expanding oral vocabulary into their written work.
Objective 15: Use new vocabulary to write descriptive sentences.
Objective 16: Become familiar with and use compound words, contractions, synonyms, and homophones.
Objective 17: Use appropriate word endings in their writing (i.e., -ed, -er, -s, -ing).
Objective 18: Demonstrate the use of possessive nouns.
Handwriting
Objective 19: Form uppercase and lowercase letters correctly.
Objective 20: Hold pencil correctly.
Objective 21: Position paper correctly.
Objective 22: Space letters and words correctly.
Objective 23: Accommodate size of letters to lines and spaces.
Learning Standard B: Compose well-organized and coherent writing for specific purposes and audiences.
Process writing
Objective 1: Use the writing process in group and independent writing to produce written pieces.
Support and elaboration
Objective 2: Support the topic sentence with details.
Organization
Objective 3: Use standard concepts of print in writing (i.e., left to right, top to bottom, front to back).
Objective 4: Write a story with a beginning, middle, and end.
Objective 5: Write a paragraph using a topic sentence, supporting details, and a closing sentence.
Learning Standard C: Communicate ideas in writing to accomplish a variety of purposes.
Modes of writing
Objective 1: Organize ideas around a given structure/format.
· Personal narrative
· Letter writing
· Expository
· How-to essay
· Compare and contrast
Visual presentation
Objective 2: Use available technology to produce a finished product.
Objective 3: Publish a variety of visually pleasing final products (clean, neat, legible).
IV. Oral Communication
State Goal: As a result of their schooling, students will be able to listen and speak effectively in a variety of situations.
Learning Standard A: Listen effectively in formal and informal situations.
Objective 1: Listen to teacher-selected read-alouds.
Objective 2: Display the following attentive listening behaviors with a partner or in a group:
Objective 3: Listen for a specific purpose (i.e., retell information, interpret information, sequence events, recognize main idea, express an opinion).
Objective 4: Make simple predictions based on information presented orally.
Objective 5: Be able to answer questions and contribute to discussions based on what was heard.
Objective 6: Follow multi-step oral instructions.
Objective 7: Listen attentively to information presented in audio-visual format.
Learning Standard B: Speak effectively using language appropriate to the situation and audience.
Objective 1: Make a brief, informal presentation to their group.
Objective 2: Demonstrate the following age-appropriate speaking behaviors:
Objective 3: Use spoken words fluently and meaningfully for a variety of purposes and audiences.
Objective 4: Participate appropriately in classroom discussions (take turns, listen attentively, look at speaker).
Objective 5: Stay focused on topic or subject.
Objective 6: Demonstrate the ability to respond appropriately, in a Christian manner, in a variety of social situations.
V. Application of the Language Arts
State Goal: As a result of their schooling, students will be able to use the language arts to acquire, assess, and communicate information.
Learning Standard A: Locate, organize, and use information from various sources to answer questions, solve problems, and communicate ideas.
Objective 1: Identify questions and gather information.
· Draw on prior knowledge
· Maintain topic focus
· Collect information
Objective 2: Locate information using a variety of sources.
Learning Standard B: Analyze and evaluate information acquired from various sources.
Objective 1: Gather information from various sources for a specific purpose.
Objective 2: Organize the information using tools such as graphic organizers.
Objective 3: Use discussion to further their understanding of the topic.
Learning Standard C: Apply acquired information, concepts, and ideas to communicate in a variety of formats.
Objective 1: Write letters, reports, and stories based on acquired information.
Objective 2: Use print, non-print, human, and technological resources to share information with others.