Grade 1

Reading Standards for Literature

Reading Standards for Informational Text

Reading Standards: Foundational Skills

Writing Standards

Writing Standards: Foundational Skills

Speaking and Listening Standards

Language Standards

Key Ideas and Details 

Craft and Structure

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

Key Ideas and Details

Craft and Structure

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

Print Concepts

Phonological Awareness

Phonics and Word Recognition

Text Types and Purposes

Production and Distribution of Writing

Research to Build and Present Knowledge

Range of Writing

Sound-letter basics and Handwriting

Spelling

Comprehension and Collaboration

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas

Conventions of Standard English

Knowledge of Language

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use

Ask and answer questions such as who, what, where, why, when, and how about key details in a text. 

Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their main idea, central message, or lesson.

Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details. 

Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.

Explain major differences between books that tell stories and books that give information, drawing on a wide reading of a range of text types. 

Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text. 

Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events. 

(Not applicable to literature) 

Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories.

With prompting and support, read stories, drama, and poetry of appropriate complexity for grade 1. 

Ask and answer questions such as who, what, where, why, and how about key details in a text.

Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.

Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text using key details.

Ask and answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases in a text.

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.

Distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations and information provided by the words in a text.

Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas.

Identify the reasons an author gives to support points in a text. 

Identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations, descriptions, or procedures). 

With prompting and support, read informational texts, including functional texts, history/social studies, science, and technical texts, appropriately complex for grade 1. 

Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print. a. Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence (e.g., capitalization of first word and ending punctuation).

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 one-syllable words of three to five phonemes into individual phonemes (e.g., /s/p/l/a/t/). e. Orally generate a series of rhyming words using a variety of phonograms (e.g., -ed, -ake, -ant, ain) and consonant blends (e.g., /bl/, /st/, /tr/). f. Manipulate phonemes (add, substitute, and delete individual phonemes) in words to make new words. 

Know and apply phonics and word analysis skills in decoding one-syllable or two-syllable words. a. Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs. b. Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words. c. Use knowledge that every syllable must have a vowel sound to determine the number of syllables in a printed word. d. Recognize and apply all six syllable types when decoding grade level texts. e. Read words with inflectional endings. f. Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. a. Read on-level text with purpose and understanding. 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.

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. 

Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.

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.

With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above).

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.

With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.

With guidance and support from adults, 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).

With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

(Begins in grade 4)  

(Begins in grade 3)

Demonstrate and apply handwriting skills. a. Write upper and lower case manuscript alphabet from memory using correct letter formation. b. Write the common grapheme (letter or letter group) for each phoneme. c. Write with appropriate spacing between letters and words. 

Demonstrate and apply sound-letter concepts. a. Segment all the phonemes in two and three-phoneme syllables and represent those phonemes with letters. b. Write the letters used to represent vowel phonemes and those used to represent consonants, knowing that every syllable has a vowel.

Know and apply phonics and word analysis skills when encoding words. a. Spell common, regular, single-syllable words using: 1. Short vowels and single consonants. 2. Consonant graphemes including qu, x, and -ck; digraphs (e.g., thin, shop, when, much, sing); and doubled letters (e.g., off, will, mess). 3. Initial and final consonant blends (e.g., must, slab, plump). 4. Long vowel patterns spelled correctly, including VCe (Vowel-Consonant-silent e) (e.g., came, like), common vowel teams (e.g., boat, play, wait, see, team, right), and open syllables (e.g., go, cry). 5. Vowel-r combinations, including er, ar, or (e.g., car, her, stir, for, burn). b. With prompting and support, spell on-level words with inflectional endings: 1. Verbs with -ing, -ed, -s, and no change in the base word (e.g., snowed, playing, jumps). 2. Nouns with -s, -es, and no change to the base word (e.g., rugs, kisses). 3. Adjectives with -er, -est, and no change to the base word (e.g. slower, slowest). c. With prompting and support, spell on-level two-syllable words, including: 1. Words that end in -y or -ly (e.g., smelly, gladly). 2. Common compound words (e.g., hotdog, mailbox). 3. Words with two closed syllables (e.g., rabbit, wagon). d. Spell grade-level appropriate words in English as found in a research-based list (*See guidelines under Word Lists in the ELA Glossary), including: 1. Irregular words (e.g., said, what, are, they, was). 2. Pattern based words (e.g., he, him, for, in, by, like). e. Spell unfamiliar words phonetically, applying phonemic awareness and spelling conventions. 

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.

Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.

Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to gather additional information or clarify something that is not understood. 

Describe people, places, things, and events with relevant details, expressing ideas and feelings clearly. 

Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.

Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation. (See grade 1 Language standard 1 for specific expectations.) 

Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. a. Use common, proper, and possessive nouns. b. Use singular and plural nouns with matching verbs in basic sentences (e.g., He hops. We hop.). c. Use personal, possessive, and indefinite pronouns (e.g., I, me, my; they, them, their; anyone, everything). d. Use verbs to convey a sense of past, present, and future (e.g., Yesterday I walked home; Today I walk home; Tomorrow I will walk home). e. Use frequently occurring adjectives. f. Use frequently occurring conjunctions (e.g., and, but, or, so, because). g. Use determiners (e.g., articles, demonstratives). h. Use frequently occurring prepositions (e.g., during, beyond, toward). i. Produce and expand complete simple and compound sentences. j. In response to prompts, distinguish between and identify declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences. k. Write multiple sentences in an order that supports a main idea or story. 

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. c. Use commas in dates and to separate single words in a series.

(Begins in grade 2)  

With guidance and support from adults, 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 frequently occurring affixes as a clue to the meaning of a word. b. Identify frequently occurring root words (e.g., look) and their inflectional forms (e.g., looks, looked, looking). c. Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.

With guidance and support from adults, demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings. a. Sort words into categories (e.g., colors, clothing) to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent. 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). c. Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., note places at home that are cozy). d. With prompting and support, identify synonyms and antonyms and distinguish shades of meaning among verbs differing in manner (e.g. look, peek, glance, stare, glare, scowl) and adjectives differing in intensity (eg. large, gigantic) by defining or choosing them or by acting out the meanings.

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).  

Answer questions about key details in a story (e.g., who, what, when, where, why).

Ask questions about key details in a familiar story.

Retell a favorite text, including key details.

Use details to tell what happened in a story.

Retell the sequence of events in a story.

Answer questions about the beginning, middle, and end of a story.

Use signal words (e.g., first, next, after, before) and text details to describe events of a story.

Identify and/or describe the characters from a story.

Identify and/or describe a major event (e.g., problem or solution) from a story.

Answer questions regarding key events of stories.

 Identify and/or describe a setting in a story.

Describe feelings of characters.

Ask questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words in a text.

Answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words in a text.

Ask questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of phrases in a text.

Answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of phrases in a text.

Read books to examine how certain genres are written.

 Identify the purpose of storybooks and informational text.

Identify who is telling the story in a text.

Use text features to aid comprehension.

Explain a key illustration in the story.

Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

Not applicable

Compare and contrast (what is the same and what is different) the experiences of characters in stories.

Choose informational and narrative text or adapted text to read and reread, listen to, or view for leisure purposes.

Answer questions about key details in a text read, read aloud, or viewed.

Discuss key details and main topic of a preferred text.

Identify the main topic of an informational text.

Retell/identify key details in an informational text.

Describe the connection between two individuals, events, or pieces of information in a text.

Ask questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words in a text.

Answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words in a text.

Ask questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of phrases in a text.

Answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of phrases in a text.

Identify text features to aid comprehension.

 Use text features to aid comprehension.

 Identify and use various text features (e.g., bold text, titles) to locate key facts or information in a text

Distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations and information provided by the words in a text.

Use the photos, diagrams, or graphics and details in a text to describe or identify its key ideas.

Identify the facts and details an author gives to support points in a text.

Identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations, descriptions, or procedures).

Choose text to read and reread, listen to, or view for informational purposes (e.g., to answer questions; understand the world around them).

Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence (e.g., first word, capitalization, ending punctuation) in informational texts. 

Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence (e.g., first word, capitalization).

Identify long or short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.

Produce single-syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes), including consonant blends.

Isolate and/or produce initial in consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words.

Isolate and/or produce medial vowel sound in consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words.

Isolate and/or produce final sounds in consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words.

Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds (phonemes).

Identify common consonant digraphs using their sound correspondence (e.g., write/state/select "ch" when sounded out).

Decode regularly spelled CVC words.

Recognize silent e as the reason the vowel sound is a long vowel sound in a word.

Read or identify frequently occurring words with inflectional endings.

Recognize grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

Read grade-level text with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression (when applicable) on successive readings.

Identify grade-level words with accuracy and appropriate rate on successive attempts.

Practice self-monitoring strategies to aid comprehension (e.g., reread, use visuals or cueing system, self-correct, ask questions, confirm predictions).

Use descriptions and details of familiar people, places, things, and events to support an opinion.

Write, draw, or dictate an opinion statement using accurate information as reasoning about a topic or book of interest.

Organize an opinion piece starting with a topical or opinion statement followed by a reasons.

Write an opinion piece that includes a sense of closure.

Write simple statement that name a topic and supplies some facts about the topic.

When writing information/explanatory texts represent facts and descriptions through the use of illustrations and captions.

Provide a concluding statement or section to a permanent product.

Provide a title for writing that tells the central idea or focus.

Describe orally or in writing a single event or a series of events that includes details about what happened.

When appropriate, write about a series of events in the order in which they occurred using signal words (e.g., first, then, next).

Write a narrative that includes a sense of closure.

No CCCs developed for this standard.

With guidance and support, use feedback on a topic (e.g., additional text, drawings, visual displays, labels) to strengthen informational writing.

With guidance and support, use feedback (e.g., elaborate on story elements) to strengthen narrative writing.

With guidance and support, use feedback (e.g., drawings, visual displays, labels) to strengthen persuasive writing.

With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools (e.g., word processing, internet) to produce and publish writing, including collaborating with peers.

Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., drawings, visual displays, labels).

Generate ideas and or opinions when participating in shared writing projects.

With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences (e.g., quote or paraphrase from source) to answer a question.

Identify various sources (e.g., word wall, book talks, visuals/images, Internet) that can be used to gather information or to answer a questions (how do we find out).

Use illustrations and details in a text to obtain facts and compose information on a topic.

With guidance and support from adults, gather information from provided sources (e.g., highlight) to answer a question.

With guidance and support, recall information from experiences to answer a question.

With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences to answer a question.

With guidance and support from adults, gather information from provided sources (e.g., highlight in text, quote or paraphrase from text or discussion) to answer a question.

Not applicable

Not applicable

No CCCs developed for this standard. 

No CCCs developed for this standard.

No CCCs developed for this standard.

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).

 Build on others' talk in conversations by responding to the comments of others through multiple exchanges.

Ask questions to clear up any confusion about the topics or texts under discussion.

Engage in small or large group discussion of favorite texts or topic presented orally or through other media.

Answer questions about key details in a story (e.g., who, what, when, where, why).

Ask questions about key details in a familiar story.

Ask questions about information presented (orally or in writing) in order to clarify something that is not understood.

Retell a favorite text, including key details.

Describe factual information about familiar people, places, things, and events with relevant details orally or in writing.

Present, orally or in writing, factual information of familiar people, places, things, and events describing subtopics of larger topics.

Describe ideas about familiar people, places, things, and events with details orally or in writing.

Describe people, places, things, and events with relevant details.

Describe a single event or a series of events that includes details about what happened orally or in writing.

Describe familiar people, places, things, and events with details orally or in writing.

Use drawings or visual displays to add detail to written products or oral discussions.

Engage in small or large group discussions by sharing one's own writing.

Produce (through dictation, writing, word array, picture) complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation.

Print upper- and lowercase letters.

Use singular and plural nouns with matching verbs in basic sentences.

Use frequently occurring nouns in dictating or writing.

Use personal, possessive, and indefinite pronouns (e.g., I, me, my; they, them, their; anyone, everything) in writing.

Use verbs to convey a sense of past present or future in writing.

Use frequently occurring adjectives in dictating or writing.

 Use frequently occurring conjunctions (e.g., and, but, or, so, because) in writing.

Use frequently occurring prepositions (e.g., on, in) in dictating or writing.

Produce and expand complete simple and compound declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences in response to prompts.

Use capitalization of first word in sentence, pronoun "I", dates, and names of people.

Use end punctuation for sentences.

Use conventional spelling for words with common spelling patterns.

Not applicable

Use context within a sentence as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.

Use frequently occurring affixes as a clue to the meaning of the word.

With guidance and support, identify the category for a given word (e.g., a duck is a bird). 

With guidance and support, sort labeled objects into categories (e.g., shapes, food) to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent.

With guidance and support from adults, sort words or picture cards with words into categories (e.g., shapes, food) to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent.

With guidance and support, use newly acquired words in real-life context.

Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, or when adding captions or simple sentences to illustrations or drawings, including using frequently occurring conjunctions to signal simple relationships (e.g., because).

With guidance and support, use newly acquired words in real-life context.

Use frequently occurring conjunctions to signal simple relationships.