Reading and Writing Standards for Grades K - 3*
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level.
Grade One
Standards for
First-Grade Reading Standard 1: Print-Sound Code
Phonemic
Awareness
At the
end of first grade, students should be able to:
separate the sounds by saying each sound aloud (for
example, /c/-/a/-/t/; and
blend separately spoken phonemes to make a
meaningful word.
Reading
Words
By the
end of first grade, students should:
know the
regular letter-sound correspondences and use them to recognize or figure out
regularly spelled one- and two-syllable words;
use onsets
and rimes to create new words that include blends and digraphs; and
recognize
about 150 high-frequency words as they encounter the words in reading.
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First-Grade
Accuracy
By the
end of first grade, students should be able to:
read Level I
books they have not seen before, but that have been previewed for them, with 90
percent or better accuracy of word recognition.
Fluency
By the
end of the year, first-graders should be able to:
read Level I books that have been
previewed for them, using intonation, pauses and emphasis that signal the
structure of the sentence and the meaning of the text; and
use the cues
of punctuation - including commas, periods, question marks and quotation marks
- to guide them in getting meaning and fluently reading aloud.
Self-Monitoring
and Self-Correcting Strategies
By the
end of the year, first-graders should be able to:
notice
whether the words sound right, given their spelling;
notice
whether the words make sense in context;
notice when
sentences don't make sense;
solve reading problems and
self-correct, through strategies that include using syntax and word-meaning
clues, comparing pronounced sounds to printed letters, gathering context clues
from surrounding sentences or pictures, and deriving new words by analogy to
known words and word parts (for example, using tree and my to get
try); and
check their
solution to a difficult word against their knowledge of print-sound
correspondences and the meaning of the text.
Comprehension
When
they independently read texts they have not seen before, students at the end of
first grade should be able to:
retell the
story;
tell what the
book is about (summarize it);
describe in
their own words what new information they gained from the text; and
answer
comprehension questions similar to those for kindergartners.
For
texts that are read to them, children at the end of first grade should be able
to:
extend the
story;
make
predictions about what might happen next and say why;
talk about
the motives of characters; and
describe the
causes and effects of specific events.
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First-Grade Reading Standard 3: Reading Habits
Independent
and Assisted
First-Grade
students should:
read four or
more books every day independently or with assistance;
discuss at least
one of these books with another student or a group;
read some
favorite books many times, gaining deeper comprehension;
read their
own writing and sometimes the writing of their classmates; and
read
functional messages they encounter in the classroom (for example, labels,
signs, instructions).
Being
Read To
We
expect first-grade students to:
hear two to four books or other texts
(for example, poems, letters, instructions, newspaper or magazine articles, dramatic
scripts, songs, brochures) read aloud every day; and
listen to
and discuss every day at least one book or chapter that is longer or more
difficult than what they can read independently or with assistance.
Discussing
Books
Students
at the end of first grade should be able to:
demonstrate
the skills we look for in the comprehension component of Reading Standard 2:
Getting the Meaning;
compare two
books by the same author;
talk about
several books on the same theme;
refer
explicitly to parts of the text when presenting or defending a claim;
politely
disagree when appropriate;
ask other
questions that seek elaboration and justification; and
attempt to
explain why their interpretation of a book is valid.
Vocabulary
First-Grade
students should be able to:
make sense
of new words from how the words are used, refining their sense of the words as
they encounter them again;
notice and
show interest in understanding unfamiliar words in texts that are read to them;
talk about
the meaning of some new words encountered in independent and assisted reading;
know how to talk about what words
mean in terms of functions (for example, "A shoe is a thing you wear on
your foot") and features (for example, "Shoes have laces"); and
learn new words
every day from talk and books read aloud.
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Writing
First-Grade Writing Standard 1: Habits and Processes
Habits
and Processes
First-Grade
students should:
write daily
generate
topics and content for writing;
reread their
work often with the expectation that others will be able to read it;
solicit and
provide responses to writing;
revise, edit
and proofread as appropriate;
apply a
sense of what constitutes good writing (that is, apply some commonly
agreed-upon criteria to their own work); and
polish at
least 10 pieces throughout the year.
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First-Grade Writing Standard 2: Writing Purposes and Resulting Genres
Sharing
Events, Telling Stories: Narrative Writing
By the
end of the year, first-grade students should produce narratives - both
fictional and autobiographical - in which they:
evidence a
plan in their writing, including making decisions about where in a sequence of
events they should enter;
develop a narrative retelling
containing two or more appropriately sequenced events that readers can
reconstruct easily, which the author then often reacts to, comments on, evaluates,
sums up or ties together;
frequently
incorporate drawings, diagrams, or other suitable graphics with written text,
as well as gestures, intonation and role-played voices with oral renditions;
demonstrate a growing awareness of
author's craft by employing some writing strategies, such as using dialogue,
transitions or time cue words; giving concrete details; and providing some
sense of closure (for example "The End," "And I will never
forget that day," "I was glad to have my dog back. I will never
forget to love him again");
imitate
narrative elements and derive stories from books they have read or had read to
them; and
in some
cases, begin to recount not just events but also reactions, signaled by phrases
like "I wondered," "I noticed," "I thought" or
"I said to myself."
Informing
Others: Report or Informational Writing
By the
end of the year, first-grade students should produce reports in which they:
gather
information pertinent to a topic, sort it into major categories - possibly using
headings or chapters - and report it to others;
independently
recognize and exclude or delete extraneous information according to appropriate
standards governing what "fits"; and
demonstrate
a growing desire and ability to communicate with readers by using details to
develop their points; sometimes including pictures, diagrams, maps and other
graphics that enhance the reader's understanding of the text; and paying
attention to signing off.
Getting
Things Done: Functional Writing
By the end
of the year, we expect first-grade students to produce functional writings
that:
give
instructions;
describe, in
appropriate sequence and with a few details, the steps one must take to make or
do a particular thing; and
claim, mark
or identify objects and places.
Producing
and Responding to Literature
Producing
literature - by the end of the year, first-grade students should be able to:
write
stories, memoirs, poems, songs, and other literary forms;
demonstrate not only an awareness of
but also an ability to reproduce some of the literary language and styles they
hear and read in the classroom (these may include alliteration, metaphor,
simile, rhythm, complex syntax, descriptive detail, sound effects, dialogue,
gestures, familiar story grammars or plot lines, and poetic line breaks and
rhyme schemes); and
imitate a
text or write a genre when they respond to it.
Responding
to literature - by the end of the year, first-grade students should be able to:
re-enact and
retell stories, songs, poems, plays and other literary works they encounter;
produce
simple evaluative expressions about the text (for example, "I like the
story because," "I like the part where");
make simple
comparisons of the story to events or people in their own lives;
compare
books by the same author;
discuss
several books on the same theme; and
make
explicit reference to parts of the text when presenting or defending a claim;
and present a plausible interpretation of a book.
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First-Grade Writing Standard 3: Language Use and Conventions
Style and
Syntax
Using
one's own language - by the end of the year, first-grade students should be
able to:
vary sentence
openers instead of relying on the same sentence stem (for example, "I like
books," "I like dogs," "I like my mom"); and
use a wide
range of the syntactic patterns typical of spoken language.
Taking
on language of authors - by the end of the year, first-grade students should be
able to:
embed
literary language where appropriate; and
sometimes
mimic sentence structures from various genres they are reading.
Vocabulary
and Word Choice
Using
one's own language - by the end of the year, first-grade students should be
able to:
produce
writing that uses the full range of words in their vocabulary; and
select a
more precise word when prompted.
Taking
on language of authors - by the end of the year, first-grade students should be
able to:
use newly
learned words they like from their reading, the books they hear read, words on
the classroom walls and talk.
Spelling
By the
end of the year, first-grade students should be able to:
produce
writing that contains a large proportion of correctly spelled, high-frequency
words;
write text
that can usually be read by the child and others - regardless of the scarcity
of correctly spelled words - because most of the perceived sounds in unfamiliar
words are phonetically represented;
draw on a
range of resources for deciding how to spell unfamiliar words, including
strategies like segmenting, sounding out, and matching to familiar words and
word parts; and
automatically
spell some familiar words and word endings correctly.
Punctuation,
Capitalization and Other Conventions
Although
first-graders will not have consistent control over punctuation, capitalization
and other conventions, by the end of the year, they should be able to:
demonstrate interest and awareness by
approximating the use of some punctuation, including exclamation points,
quotation marks, periods, question marks, ellipses, colons, and capitalization
of proper names and sentence beginnings; and
use
punctuation accurately and sometimes use conventions that are borrowed from a
favorite author to add emphasis, suggest mood, be clear and direct readers to
use particular intonations.
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*from Reading
& Writing Grade by Grade, New Standards Primary Literacy Standards ã 1999
National Center on Education and the Economy and the University of Pittsburgh.
New Standardsä
is a trademark of the
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