ELA Grade: 1st Grade
Cluster One
Suggested Time Frame: 1ST 9 Weeks
Standards (What should students learn?)
*RL 1.1: Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
*RL 1.2: Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrates understanding of their central message
or lesson.
*RI 1.1: Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
*RI 1.2: Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
*RI 1.4: Ask and answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases in a
text.
*RF 1.1: Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print.
a. Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence (e.g., first word, capitalization, ending
punctuation).
*RF 1.2: Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables and sounds (phonemes).
a. Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.
b. Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes), including consonant blends.
c. Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable
words.
d. Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds (phonemes).
*RF 1.3: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
b. Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.
SL 1.1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts
with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
a. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others with care, speaking one at a time
about the topics and texts under discussion).
b. Build on others’ talk in conversations by responding to the comments of others through multiple
exchanges.
c. Ask questions to clear up any confusion about the topics and texts under discussion.
*L 1.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing
or speaking.
a. Print all upper and lowercase letters.
*L 1.2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and
spelling when writing.
a. Capitalize dates and names of people.
b. Use end punctuation for sentences.
e. Spell untaught words phonetically, drawing on phonemic awareness and spelling conventions.
*L 1.4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on
grade 1 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies.
a. Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
Sample Learning Targets
Sample Strategies, Products, and Assessments
I can retell stories with key details.
(Formative and Summative*)
I can ask and answer questions details in text.
Buddy Read, Think-Pair-Share, retell to a partner
I can identify the main idea and key topic of text. *Students complete a story map to show
comprehension.
Socratic Circle
 During small group or partner reading time
students will select and read literary texts on
their independent reading level. Allow
students to work together to generate
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Academic Vocabulary/Key Terms
key details/ events, question/questioning
ask, answer, who, what, where, when
why,
beginning
middle
end
character
plot
setting
retell
central message/theme
lesson
sequence (beginning-middle-end)
characters
setting
problem solution events
topic
facts
reasons
steps
supporting details
conclusions
predictions
connections
answers
main idea (topic)
retell
restate
who what
where when
why how
text
meaning
clarify
phrases
long/short vowel sounds
single-syllable words
Consonant-vowel-Consonant (C-V-C)
orally
blending words
single-syllable
sounds(phonemes)
consonant blends
initial phonemes
medial vowel
final phonemes
Isolate
pronounce phonemes
segment consonant blends
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questions about key details in their text
selections (e.g., Who are the characters? What
is the setting? What happened at the
beginning, middle, and end of the story?)
Students will write their questions in their
journals. After reading the text, students will
answer their story questions, write their
answers, and share with the class.
Students retell a story they have heard or read
by including key details about the story.
Encourage the students to reframe the story
by changing the setting, problem, and/or
solution. Students then will share their story
reframes orally with the class. The students
will be encouraged to create pictures to help
with retelling key details in the story.
The teacher will guide the students in reading
informational text at their instructionalindependent reading level. Students will
complete a graphic organizer to help them
locate and record the key details or facts in the
text. Students will use their graphic organizer
to demonstrate how to ask and answer
questions about the key details in the text.
The teacher divides the class into groups to
identify the topic of an informational readaloud text. The teacher reads the story and
afterwards prompts the students with “wrong”
information concerning the topic and main
idea. The teacher will ask the groups to orally
provide the “correct” information about the
topic and key details of the text by requiring
them to provide details explicitly stated in the
text. Afterwards students will read books
independently, identifying the main idea and
key details in a text.
Provide small groups of students with text
about a first grade topic on their independent
reading level. Have students read the text
independently and make a list of unknown
words or phrases from the text. After reading
the text, students will share their list and work
together to ask each other questions to help
determine or clarify the meaning of any
unknown words or phrases they listed.
Students may also use dictionaries to check to
see if their meanings are correct.
The teacher will provide opportunities for
students to participate in recognizing the
features of a sentence. During a class writing
activity on a selected topic or previously read
text, students will dictate a paragraph about
decode
syllable
consonant
vowel
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the topic or text to the teacher. The teacher
will write the sentences/paragraph on chart
paper without appropriate capitalization and
ending punctuation. Students will take turns
adding the correct ending punctuation to the
sentences. Students will then read the
sentences aloud with the proper expressions
depending on the ending punctuation.
Provide students with picture cards of one
syllable words.(e.g., feet, cow, cup, moon,
night, goat, six) The students will sort the cards
into groups of pictures that have a long vowel
sounds and pictures that have a short vowel
sounds. Students will take turns naming the
pictures with short vowel sounds and long
vowel sounds. Encourage students to use these
words in their conversations and writings.
The teacher will play bean bag toss with the
students to orally produce single-syllable
words that contain consonant blends. The
students are in a circle. The teacher tosses the
bean bag to a student. Once the student
catches the bean bag, he/she must select a
word card and orally produce the word by
blending the sounds of the word on their card.
Repeat until all students have had a turn.
Students will listen to the teacher as he/she
pronounces a word. Students will be asked to
pronounce each sound in the spoken word
(e.g., the word is dog, teacher will ask students
to tell the initial/beginning sound /d/,
medial/middle vowel sound /o/ and the
final/ending sound /g/). Students will also be
given words to automatically segment into
their complete sequence of individual sounds.
Allow students to work with a partner taking
turns playing “sound in words” in which they
will say a word and their partner will
automatically segment the word.
Using letter tiles/cards, teacher will direct
students to select specific letters. Students will
then blend the sounds represented by the
words on the cards to decode and read
regularly spelled one-syllable words. Allow
students to write complete sentences using
words that they made using the letter titles.
For example, a student could write the
sentence (The cat sat on the mat.) using the
words cat, sat, and mat.
Suggested Resources (Texts, Art, Music, Media)
Socratic Circle video
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www.achievethecore.org
www.readwritethink.org
www.readworks.org
www.georgiastandards.org/Common-Core
readworks.org
readwritethink.org
ELA Grade: 1st
Suggested Time Frame: Beginning of 2nd Nine weeks
(approximately 4 weeks)
Standards (What should students learn?)
*RL 1.3: Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.
*RL 1.4: Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
*RI 1.3: Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas or pieces of information in a
text.
*RF 1.3: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
a. Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs.
c. Know final –e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds.
d. Use knowledge that every syllable must have a vowel sound to determine the number of syllables in a
printed word.
e. Decode two-syllable words following basic patterns by breaking the words into syllables.
f. Read words with inflectional endings.
*W 1.3: Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include
some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some
sense of closure.
*W 1.5: With guidance and support from adults, focus on a topic, respond to questions and suggestions
from peers, and add details to strengthen writing as needed.
*W 1.6: With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish
writing, including in collaboration with peers.
*SL 1.4: Describe people, places, things and events with relevant details expressing ideas and feelings
clearly.
*SL 1.6: Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation.
*L 1.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing
or speaking.
b. Use common, proper and possessive nouns.
d. Use personal, possessive and indefinite pronouns.
*L 1.2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and
spelling when writing.
c. Use commas in dates and to separate single words in a series.
d. Use conventional spelling for words with common spelling patterns and for frequently occurring
irregular words.
*L 1.4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on
grade 1 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies.
c. Identify frequently occurring root words (e.g., look) and their inflectional forms (e.g., looks, looked,
looking).
Cluster Two
Sample Learning Targets
I can describe characters, settings and major
events in a story using key details.
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Sample Strategies, Products, and Assessments
(Formative and Summative*)
Retell, story maps, character map, venn diagram,
I can describe the connection between two
characters in a story.
Academic Vocabulary/Key Terms
identify
identification
beginning
first
last
middle
end
setting
characters
problems
major events
solution
important event
main idea
key detail
Identify
feeling words
phrases
senses
story
poem
figurative language
text connections
individuals
events
ideas
information
connections
orally
blending words
single-syllable
sounds(phonemes)
consonant blends
consonant digraphs
spelling-sound correspondences
phonics decoding
vowel teams
long vowel sounds
final –e
decode short vowel sounds
syllable (s)
segment
vowel
decode consonant multisyllabic words
letter-sound correspondence
decode two-syllable words
open syllables
closed syllables
breaking words apart
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compare and contrast.
Students will tell how two characters interact and
create the story (Frog and Toad Are Friends)
*Students identify main character and how other
characters interact with them.
 Following the reading of literary text, students
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will be asked to use key details from the text to
tell about the characters, setting, and major
events in the story. Allow students to talk with
each other about what they have read.
Encourage them to ask each other questions
during their discussions. Have students
complete a writing activity that will require
them to write about what they have read by
describing the characters, setting, and major
event in the story. Encourage students to use
the words character, setting, and major events
in their writing.
Select a poem that will support a discussion
about feelings and senses. For example, after
reading aloud Alexander and the Horrible No
Good Very Bad Day, invite students to
participate in a discussion about why
Alexander’s day was “horrible.” Guide students
in naming other words for “horrible.” List these
words on chart paper for students to read, and
create poems and stories using some of the
words
Encourage students to describe connections
between main ideas and details in a text by
using a Story Map. Guide students in charting
the text. For example, the map can be
organized into nonfiction text structures (main
idea and details). After reading My Five Senses
by Aliki, have students summarize the key
events using details from the text to support
their answers. Engage the children in
discussions with props, dramatic play, writing,
art, and music activities to describe the
connections between two individuals, events,
ideas, or pieces of information in a text.
The students will engage in a digraph sorting
activity. The teacher will provide groups of
students with selected digraph cards (e.g., “ee”
and “ea”). The students will read the word
together. The group members will take turns
laying the card on top of the matching picture.
After the matching has taken place, the
students will place all the word cards face
down. Using a response sheet, the students
will write the name of the picture under the
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correct digraph.
Provide students with letter tiles. Using the
letter tiles the students will make a short
vowel word then add an e to the end to make
a long vowel word. (e.g., hop – hope, tap, tape)
Students will record the new words on a
recording sheet and practice using the new
words in written sentences and conversations.
Provide students or pairs of students with
words cards. Students will read the word card,
identify the number of vowel sounds they hear
in the word, and determine the number of
syllables in the word. Students will sort the
word cards according to the number of
syllables in each word. Remind students that
every syllable has one vowel sound and that by
counting the vowel sounds in a word, you can
tell the number of syllables. (e.g., the word go
has one vowel sound and one syllable.; The
word begin has two vowel sounds and two
syllables). After students have sorted their
word cards, they may share them with the
class and explain how they determined the
number of syllables in the words.
List two-syllable words from a class read-aloud
selection on chart paper. Guide students in
reading the words and then breaking the
words into syllables. Let students work in pairs
or groups to read books and make a list of twosyllable words from the stories to share with
the class. Students will read the words and
then decode them into syllables.
Suggested Resources (Texts, Art, Music, Media) Frog and Toad are Friends
www.achievethecore.org
www.readwritethink.org
www.readworks.org
www.georgiastandards.org/Common-Core
readworks.org
readwritethink.org
ELA Grade: 1st Grade
Suggested Time Frame: End of 2nd Nine weeks
(approximately 5 weeks)
Standards (What should students learn?)
*RL 1.5: Explain major differences between books that tell stories and books that give information,
drawing on a wide reading of a range of text types.
*RL 1.6: Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text.
*RL 1.7: Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting or events.
*RI 1.7: Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas.
*RF 1.4: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
a. Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.
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Cluster Three
b. Read on-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.
c. Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.
*SL 1.2: Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or information presented orally
or through other media.
*L 1.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing
or speaking.
c. Use singular and plural nouns with matching verbs in basic sentences.
e. Use verbs to convey a sense of past, present, and future.
f. Use frequently occurring adjectives.
g. Use frequently occurring conjunctions
h. Use determiners
i. Use frequently occurring prepositions
*L 1.4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on
grade one reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies.
b. Use frequently occurring affixes as a clue to the meaning of a word.
*L 1.5: With guidance and support from adults, demonstrate understanding of word relationships and
nuances in word meanings.
b. Define words by category and by one or more key attributes (e.g., a duck is a bird that swims; a tiger
is a large cat with stripes).
Sample Learning Targets
I can tell a fiction story from an informational
story.
I can identify who is telling the story.
I can use pictures and details from a story to
describe the characters, setting or events.
Sample Strategies, Products, and Assessments
(Formative and Summative*)
Students talk about what is real and what is
pretend.
Students sort a group of books into fiction and
informational.
*Label excerpts from fictional and informational
books correctly.
 Using a variety of text, conduct a picture walk
Academic Vocabulary/Key Terms
differences
fact
fiction
compare/contrast
text types
storybook
informational text
poems
nursery rhymes
illustrations
story details
describe
characters
events
settings
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through the book and have students explain if
the book tells a story or provides information.
Students, with the assistance of the teacher,
will complete a graphic organizer to compare
and contrast the types of text. Students may
also complete a writing activity requiring them
to write a narrative.
Have students to select a story to read with a
partner. Students will then participate in a
“book talk” to share their book with the class.
As students share their stories, they will
describe the character, setting, and events in
the story by using the illustrations and
information from the story. Students will then
create their own stories using drawings,
letters, and phonetically spelled words to
describe their characters, settings, and events.
Students will choose and read an informational
text on their independent reading level.
Following the reading of their selected text,
illustrations
describe
key ideas
identify
discuss
use graphic features
automaticity
word recognition
expression
purpose
understanding
orally
expression
accuracy rate
repeated reading
Reader’s Theater
Echo Reading
radio reading
choral reading
tape-assisted reading
partner reading
context
self-correct
confirm
automatic
word recognition
rereading
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students will share their book with the class by
using the illustrations and details in the text to
describe the key ideas. Students may also
create their own illustrations and write a
paragraph to describe the key ideas from their
book.
The teacher will provide opportunities for
students to read and reread a range of text at
their instructional or independent reading
level. Students may read individually, with a
partner, or chorally. Encourage students to
retell what they have read by including major
details and events from their stories.
Allow students to choose a text at their
instructional or independent reading level
or a teacher-selected passage. Discuss
reading behaviors such as rate,
expression, accuracy, etc. The students
practice their texts several times until
fluency has developed. Provide ongoing
feedback as students practice their
reading.
The teacher will use a big book and model
using context (information from pictures or
from sentences surrounding an unknown
word) to help students recognize and read the
unknown words. During the read-aloud, the
teacher will also model self-correcting and
rereading as necessary to understand a text.
Students will read with a partner to practice
using context to help them confirm or selfcorrect word recognition as they read for
understanding and reread as necessary.
Suggested Resources (Texts, Art, Music, Media)
Read 180 Informational books, story books, eStorybooks.
www.achievethecore.org
www.readwritethink.org
www.readworks.org
www.georgiastandards.org/Common-Core
ELA Grade: 1st Grade
Cluster Four
Suggested Time Frame: 3rd Nine weeks
Standards (What should students learn?)
*RL 1.9: Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories.
*RI 1.6: Distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations and information
provided by the words in a text.
*RI 1.9: Identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in
illustrations, descriptions, or procedures).
*RF 1.3: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
g. Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.
*W 1.2: Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the
topic, and provide some sense of closure.
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*W 1.5: With guidance and support from adults, focus on a topic, respond to questions and suggestions
from peers, and add details to strengthen writing as needed.
*W 1.6: With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish
writing, including in collaboration with peers.
*SL 1.5: Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions when appropriate to clarify ideas,
thoughts, and feelings.
*L 1.5: With guidance and support from adults, demonstrate understanding of word relationships and
nuances in word meanings.
c. Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., note places at home that are cozy)
d. Distinguish shades of meaning among verbs differing in manner (e.g., look, peek, glance, stare, glare,
scowl) and adjectives differing in intensity (e.g., large, gigantic) by defining or choosing them or acting
out the meanings.
Sample Learning Targets
I can find information in the pictures in the text.
I can find information in the text.
Academic Vocabulary/Key Terms
Compare/contrast
Similarities/differences
adventures
characters experiences
distinguish
pictures
illustrations
charts
graphs
artist
illustrator
information
ideas
diagrams
graphic organizers
topic
procedures
Illustrate
Illustrations
Description
detail
identify
irregularly spelled words
phonics
read/recognize high-frequency words and sight words
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Sample Strategies, Products, and Assessments
(Formative and Summative*)
Distinguish between information found in the
illustrations and that found in the text.
*Write a story and add more information using
drawings.
 Read aloud two or more versions of the same
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story by different authors (e.g., various
versions of Cinderella). Students will work in
groups to complete a graphic organizer to
identify similarities and differences in the main
character from the two versions of the story.
Once the groups have completed the graphic
organizer, guide the students in a discussion on
the similarities and differences of Cinderella in
the two texts. Provide two more versions of
Cinderella for the students to read in small
groups during center time. Each group will
complete graphic organizers about similarities
and differences within the two new texts to
share with the class.
The teacher will lead the students in exploring
the relationships between images and words
by looking at illustrations in informational text
to see how illustrations and texts can relate to
and strengthen one another. Students will
provide words for illustrations which are
missing the words and will provide illustrations
when only given the words.
The teacher reads aloud to the class two texts
on the same topic by different authors (e.g.,
books about dolphins). Guide the class in using
a graphic organizer to compare and contrast
the two texts looking at the illustrations, etc.
After the completion of the graphic organizer,
the teacher will lead the class in a discussion
about the information gained from the graphic
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organizer. Once students have an
understanding of similarities and differences,
they will begin to work on reading books
independently and completing a graphic
organizer.
Provide students with a list of gradeappropriate high-frequency/sight words.
Students will work with a partner to spell,
write, and read the words. Students will
recognize and read these words independently
in a variety of texts. Engage students in literacy
centers designed to help them practice
recognizing and reading high-frequency words.
Suggested Resources (Texts, Art, Music, Media)
www.achievethecore.org
www.readwritethink.org
www.readworks.org
www.georgiastandards.org/Common-Core
ELA Grade: 1st Grade
Cluster Five Suggested Time Frame: 4th Nine weeks
Standards (What should students learn?)
*RL 1.10: With prompting and support, read prose and poetry of appropriate complexity for grade one.
*RI 1.8: Identify the reasons an author gives to support points in a text.
*RI 1.5: Know and use various text features (e.g., headings, tables of contents, glossaries, electronic
menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text.
*RI 1.10: With prompting and support, read informational texts appropriately complex for grade one.
*W 1.1: Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they are writing about,
state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some sense of closure.
*W 1.5: With guidance and support from adults, focus on a topic, respond to questions and suggestions
from peers, and add details to strengthen writing as needed.
*W 1.6: With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish
writing, including in collaboration with peers.
*W 1.7: Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of “how-to” books on
a given topic and use them to write a sequence of instructions).
*W 1.8: With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather
information from provided sources to answer a question.
*SL 1.3: Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to gather additional information
or clarify something that is not understood.
*L 1.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing
or speaking.
j. Produce and expand complete simple and compound declarative, interrogative, imperative, and
exclamatory sentences in response to prompts.
*L 1.6: Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and
responding to texts, including using frequently occurring conjunctions to signal simple relationships
(e.g., because).
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Sample Learning Targets
I can use text features to find information in a text.
I can write an opinion piece.
Sample Strategies, Products, and Assessments
(Formative and Summative*)
Students will look at electronic menus and icons to
find information.
 The teacher will provide students
Academic Vocabulary/Key Terms
purpose
storybooks
poetry
fairytales
fantasy
nursery rhymes
Text features
Headings
table of content
glossary
electronic menus
icons
index
Background knowledge
Cause/effect
Similarity/difference
nonfiction
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opportunities to engage in reading books in
their text complexity band. Work with students
individually or in groups on comprehension
strategies. Students should keep a reading log
of books that they have read over the year.
Provide students with a variety of text that is
appropriate for their level. Students will read
their selected text with purpose and
understanding. Students will share their text
orally or in writing. Encourage students to add
illustrations to their writings.
Engage students in a Scavenger Hunt to locate
various text features in an informational text.
Students will work together in groups to locate
the index, table of contents, charts,
photographs, etc. As the features are located,
students will tell where they located the text
feature and its importance in locating key facts
or information in a text.
The teacher will provide students with
opportunities to read informational texts of
appropriate complexity for grade 1. Students
will create written responses about
informational text to share with others.
Suggested Resources (Texts, Art, Music, Media)
www.achievethecore.org
www.readwritethink.org
www.readworks.org
www.georgiastandards.org/Common-Core
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