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 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 recognize that spoken words are represented in written language by specific sequences of letters. For example, they will understand that the word "cat" is made up of the letters C, A, and T. They will develop the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds in words through activities like saying the sounds aloud or using phonemic games, such as blending sounds together to form words, like /k/ /a/ /t/ to say "cat." This foundational skill supports their reading and writing development.

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 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 understand that words are separated by spaces in print. For example, during a reading activity, they will learn to identify where one word ends and another begins by pointing out spaces between words. They might practice this by reading simple sentences and saying, "I see spaces here, which means these are different words!" This helps them recognize the structure of written language and improves their reading comprehension.

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 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 recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet. For example, during a classroom activity, they might sing the alphabet song, point to letters on a chart, or play games where they match upper- and lowercase letters, such as finding and pairing "A" with "a."

Children will participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts.For example, they will engage in small group discussions about a story they read, sharing their thoughts and asking questions like, "What was your favorite part?" or "How do you think the character feels?"