Curriculum

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 speak audibly and express their thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly. For example, they will articulate their emotions by saying statements like, "I am happy because I got to play with my friends," or "I feel angry when someone takes my toy."

Children will follow words from left to right, top to bottom, and page by page. They will understand the basic directionality of print by practicing with books, learning that text flows in these specific directions. For example, as they read a picture book, they might point to the words and say, "I read this line first, then the next line." This helps reinforce their understanding of how print is organized on the page.

Children will gain new background knowledge and vocabulary related to animals, plants, household items, colors, shapes, clothing, greetings, and transportation.For example, they will learn the names of different animals like "elephant" and "giraffe," plants like "flower" and "tree," and common household items such as "table" and "chair."

Children will be able to use frequently occurring adjectives** in their writing and speaking, for example, describing a dog as "big," "friendly," or "playful."

Children will be able to capitalize the first word in a sentence and the pronoun "I," for example, changing "i am happy." to "I am happy."

Children will be able to 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.For example, when reading a story, they might figure out that "bat" can mean both a flying animal and a piece of sports equipment by considering the context of the sentence.

Children will be able to demonstrate understanding of frequently occurring verbs and adjectives by relating them to their opposites (antonyms). For instance, they might learn to identify "big" as the opposite of "small" or understand that "push" is the antonym of "pull" through various study exercises.

Children will be able to use frequently occurring conjunctions** such as "and," "but," "or," "so," and "because" to connect ideas in sentences, for instance, saying "I want to play outside, but it is raining."

Children will be able to recognize and name end punctuation, such as identifying periods, question marks, and exclamation points in sentences. For example, they might say, "This sentence ends with a period: 'She likes to read.'"