English Language Arts-1st Grade

Catholic Standards for Writing

Writing Standards

Catholic Standards for Language

Language Standards

Catholic Standards for Speaking and Listening

Speaking and Listening Standards

Create written works that glorify the Creator, reflect the heart of the Redeemer and are inspired by the Spirit. 

Share well-crafted works, especially those with elements of unity, harmony, and radiance of form. CSDS4 

Write in ways to order our thoughts, align them with truth, and accurately express knowledge and feelings. CSWS2 

Text Types and Purposes

Production and Distribution of Writing

Research to Build and Present Knowledge

Exhibit an understanding that words are important to the Word.

Use language as a bridge for communication for the betterment of all involved. CSWS1 

Use language to order our thoughts and to accurately express knowledge and feelings. CSWS2

Conventions of Standard English

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use 

Listen attentively and display appropriate reverence during prayer time and in Church. 

Use language as a bridge for communication for the betterment of all involved. CSWS1 

Share beautifully told and well-crafted works, especially those with elements of unity, harmony, and radiance of form. CSDS4 

Delight and wonder at listening to creative, sound, and healthy stories, and poems and plays. CSDS7

Share the beauty and cadence of poetry. CSDS9 

Comprehension and Collaboration

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas

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, 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 traditional and digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers (e.g., age-appropriate prayer, class book on a topic including religious topics). 

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.

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. 

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. 

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.

With guidance and support from adults, demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word 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).

Participate in collaborative conversations with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

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.

CSIS5: Recite prayers and poems of substance that encourage all to strive for virtue and goodness. 

Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation. (See Grade 1 Language standards 1 and 3 for specific expectations.) 

Print all uppercase and lowercase letters.

Use common, proper, and possessive nouns.

Use singular and plural nouns with matching verbs in basic sentences (e.g., He hops; We hop).

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

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).

Use frequently occurring adjectives.

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

Use determiners (e.g., articles, demonstratives).

Use frequently occurring prepositions (e.g., during, beyond, toward).

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

Capitalize dates and names of people.

Use end punctuation for sentences.

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

Use conventional spelling for words with common spelling patterns and for frequently occurring irregular words

Spell untaught words phonetically, drawing on phonemic awareness and spelling conventions. 

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

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

Identify frequently occurring root words (e.g., look) and their inflectional forms (e.g., looks, looked, looking).

Sort words into categories (e.g., colors, clothing) to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent

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).

Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., note places at home that are cozy).

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 by acting out the meanings.

Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others with care, kindness, and respect; 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 that are respectful.

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