First Grade Language Arts

In this course, students get structured lessons on reading skills, language skills, and literature to help develop comprehension, build vocabulary, and promote a lifelong interest in reading.

PHONICS
Using magnetized letter tiles and multisensory activities, the advanced PhonicsWorks program builds decoding skills and helps students become confident, independent readers. Handwriting Without Tears focuses on careful practice at a pace that matches your student’s development of fine motor skills.

LANGUAGE SKILLS

• Composition—Students progress from writing words and sentences to writing a paragraph
• Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics—Students learn basic rules of usage, as well as sentence structure and types, parts of speech, punctuation, and capitalization
• Primary Analogies—Students develop test-taking and critical thinking skills as they connect words and ideas
• Public Speaking—Reciting a poem or reading a literary passage helps students learn to address a group confidently

LITERATURE
Literature lessons focus on classic folktales, fairy tales, fables, and poetry, such as “The Elves and the Shoemaker,” “The Lion and the Mouse,” and “The Tortoise and the Hare.” Read-aloud and guided reading lessons help students apply and extend the skills introduced in Phonics.

PHONICS

Introduction to Advanced Phonics

• Review Letters and Vowel Sounds

Introducing Ending Blends

• Ending Consonant Blends nd, ft, lk, and ct
• Ending Consonant Blends lp and lt
• Ending Consonant Blends mp and sp
• Ending Consonant Blends sk, st, nt, and nch
• Review Ending Blends sk, st, nt, and nch

Introducing Beginning Blends

• Beginning Blends bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, and sl
• Review Blends bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, and sl
• Blends br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, and tr
• Digraph Blends shr and thr
• Blends sc, sp, st, sw, sk, sm, sn, and tw
• Blends spr, str, squ, scr, and spl

More Advanced Phonics

• Words Ending in ank, ink, onk, and unk
• Words Ending in ang, ing, ong, and ung
• Blends, Digraphs, and Ending Sounds

Long Vowel Sounds

• Long Vowel Sounds for a, i, o, and u
• Long u
• Blends and Super e

Building on Advanced Phonics

• Contractions and Another Sound for s
• Two-Syllable Words and the schwa Sound
• ck and ed
• le and ph
• c, g, and dge

Mastering Long Vowel Sounds

• Long a
• Long i
• Long o
• Long e
• Long u
• Double o
• Long Vowels and Double o

Mastering Advanced Phonics

• er, ir, ur, and –ear
• Short e Spelled ea
• oi and oy
• au and aw
• ou and ow
• ow, as in grow

LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE SKILLS

Read Aloud

• Listen to and discuss literature read aloud from a variety of genres
• Recall details of a story read aloud
• Sequence events from a story read aloud
• Ask and respond to questions about the text
• Predict what will happen next in stories
  

Junior Great Books

• Listen attentively for different ideas and details
• Support opinions with reasoning and evidence, citing specific passages from the text
• Build vocabulary through exposure to rich literary language
• Understand and appreciate literature through writing, dramatization, and art activities

Poetry

• Listen to, memorize, and recite poetry from classical and contemporary authors
• Identify words that rhyme
• Make up original rhymes
• Write simple rhyming poems

Grammar/Usage/Mechanics

• Demonstrate knowledge of the mechanics of language in written work
• Identify and use effective sentence construction in speech and writing
• Identify nouns, verbs, and adjectives in sentences

Analogies

• Solve and create analogies
• Make connections and use information and skills to identify relationships

Composition

• Use prewriting strategies
• Compose paragraphs that follow the conventions of mechanics and usage
• Write for a variety of purposes and audiences, for example, friendly letters, invitations, personal narratives, and brief book reports

Shared Reading

• Begin to use decoding strategies with texts beyond decodable readers
• Ask and respond to questions about the text
• Predict what will happen next in stories

Guided Reading

• Discuss literature from a variety of genres
• Discuss main idea, plot, cause and effect, and characters
• Relate stories to personal experience
• Make predictions about what will happen next and why
• Recall and retell a story

HANDWRITING

• Write legibly when printing uppercase and lowercase letters on standard-ruled paper
• Write legibly and with proper spacing when printing words and sentences
• Copy sentences neatly and accurately

Total Lessons: 180

Lesson Time: 120 minutes
You might choose to split the lessons into smaller segments. The online lesson tracking system will allow you to pick up wherever you left off in any given lesson.

Standard Curriculum Items

• Printing Grade 1 Teacher's Guide by Jan Z. Olsen
• Printed Alphabet Desk Strips
• Wide Double Line Paper
• EPS Primary Analogies, Book 1
• Junior Great Books, Sun Series, Vol. 1-3
• Junior Great Books, Pegasus Series, Vol. 1-3
• Listen, my Children: Poems for First Grade (Core Knowledge Foundation)
• Classics for Young Readers Vol. 1
• Ready...  Set...  Read! The Beginning Reader's Treasury, compiled by Joanna Cole and Stephanie Calmenson
• Weather , a book of poems selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins
• My Printing Book, 2008 edition

Basic Phonics Kit

• Beginning Phonics Flash Cards
• Dry Board Eraser
• Black Dry-Erase Marker
• Blue Dry-Erase Marker
• Magnetic Board (new version)
• Phonics Reader, Volumes 1-9
• Small Dry Erase Board
• Phonics Basic 3-Ring Binder
• Magnetic Pages with Basic Tile Set
• Folding Magnetic Board
• Phonics DVD

Advanced Phonics Kit

• Advanced Phonics Flash Cards
• Phonics Reader, Volumes 10-20
• Phonics Reader, Volumes 21-30
• Magnetic Pages with Advanced Tile Set
• Phonics Advanced Portfolio
• Phonics Advanced 3-Ring Binder

Additional Curriculum Items

• Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald (1957; HarperCollins, 1978)
• Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig (Simon & Schuster, 1969)
• Bedtime for Frances by Russell Hoban (1960; HarperCollins, 1995)
• Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff (1958; HarperCollins, 1993)
• A Picture for Harold's Room by Crockett Johnson (1960; HarperCollins, 1985)
• Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel (1970; HarperCollins, 1979)
• Owl at Home by Arnold Lobel (1975; HarperCollins, 1982)
• Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik (1957; HarperCollins, 1978)
• No Fighting, No Biting by Else Holmelund Minarik (1958; HarperCollins, 198)
• Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish (1963; HarperCollins, 1992)
• Who Will Be My Friends? by Syd Hoff (1960; HarperCollins, 1985)
• And I Mean it, Stanley! by Crosby Bonsall (1974; HarperCollins, 1984)
• Harry and the Lady Next Door by Gene Zion (1960; HarperCollins, 1978)
• The First Thanksgiving by Linda Hayward (Random House, 1990)
• Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne (1926; Penguin, 1992)
• Tales of Amanda Pig by Jean Van Leeuwen (Penguin, 1983)
• The Legend of the Bluebonnet by Tome dePaola (1983; Putnam, 1996)