Curriculum

Children will be able to identify real-life connections between words and their use.** For instance, they might note places at home that are cozy, such as saying, "My blanket is cozy," or "The reading nook in my room is a cozy place to relax."

Children will produce complete sentences when appropriate to the task and situation. For example, during a show-and-tell, a child might say, "I brought my favorite book because I love the story," rather than just saying, "My book." This encourages clear communication and helps them express their thoughts more effectively.

Children will be able to distinguish shades of meaning among verbs differing in manner and adjectives differing in intensity.** For example, they might explore verbs like "look," "peek," "glance," "stare," "glare," and "scowl" by defining each word, discussing contexts for their use, or acting out the meanings to show the differences. They can also compare adjectives like "large" and "gigantic" by discussing their intensity.

Children will be able to use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts.** For example, they might incorporate new vocabulary into their sentences such as "I like to read books because they take me on adventures," using the conjunction "because" to signal the relationship between liking books and the reason for it.

Children will participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.For example, during a small group discussion about a story they read, children might take turns sharing their favorite parts, asking questions like, "Why did the character do that?" or "What do you think will happen next?"

Children will follow agreed-upon rules for discussions, such as listening to others with care and speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion. For example, during a classroom discussion, children will practice waiting for their turn to speak by raising their hands and allowing their peers to finish before they respond. They might say, “I agree with what Maria said about the story,” demonstrating that they listened carefully.

Children will build on others’ talk in conversations by responding to the comments of others through multiple exchanges. For example, if one child says, "I loved the way the main character helped his friend," another child might respond with, "Yes! That part made me feel happy," and then the first child can build on that by saying, "I liked it because it showed how important friendship is."

Children will ask questions to clear up any confusion about the topics and texts under discussion.For example, during a conversation about a story they just read, if a child hears a classmate mention a character they don't understand, they might ask, "Can you tell me who that character is?"

Children will be able to produce and expand complete simple and compound declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences** in response to prompts. For example, they might respond to a prompt by saying, "I like ice cream" (declarative), "Do you like ice cream?" (interrogative), "Please pass the ice cream" (imperative), or "Wow, that ice cream looks delicious!" (exclamatory).

Children will be able to demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.** For instance, they might discuss similes and metaphors, such as "as fast as a cheetah," and explore the meanings of words that are similar or related, like "happy" and "joyful."